Wartime team who broke plane record are reunited

Members of a group of factory workers whose exploits were made into a Second World War propaganda film have been re-united.

The group, who made RAF Wellington bombers at a factory in Broughton, north Wales, were filmed as they built a plane from scratch in just under 24 hours - beating a record set by the Americans by more than a day.

The 12-minute film, complete with an American voice-over, was shown in the United States to prove that Britain was not beaten by the Blitz.

Filmmaker Peter Williams tracked down some surviving members of the group and took them back to the factory, where they saw the film for the first time. He said: "It is a snapshot of a completely different age.

"Women were doing the jobs of men who had gone away to war. They were as much a part of the war effort as any of the fighting services.

"One woman was able to use a sewing machine and now she was producing miles and miles of felt for the wings and fuselages of these planes.

"Taking them back was a very moving experience."

A US factory had built a bomber in 48 hours, but the employees at Broughton smashed that record - making the plane in 23 hours and 48 minutes.

The Britons worked so quickly that the pilot had to be turfed out of bed to get it into the air less than 24 hours after work had started.