Collection Item

Air Raid Shelters

The threat of attack by enemy bombers led to the construction of a series of shelters around the Vickers aircraft factory. 

These include the small shelters at either end of the original location of the Museum’s Bellman Hangar and the small brick structures at the base of the Members Banking, once the site of another Bellman Hangar.

The largest air raid shelter provision for Vickers workers was in the ‘Sand Pit Shelters’ on the opposite side of Brooklands Road. These shelters were capable of housing over 5,000 people in the event of an attack and were in use throughout the Second World War.