Vauxhall
Motors Subsidiary of General Motors Corporation in World War Two
Luton, Bedfordshire,
England
1857 to Present
1925-2017 as part of General Motors
This page updated 6-1-2020.
Vauxhall Iron Works was formed
in 1857 by Alexander Wilson to produce pumps and marine engines and in
1903 it began the manufacture of automobiles. It was purchased in
1925 by General Motors which owned it for 92 years before selling it to
Groupe PSA in 2017. In 1930 the Bedford Subsidiary of Vauxhall
Motors was created to produce trucks.
The Vauxhall Luton factory
was bombed twice during World War Two, of which the one on August 30,
1940 was the worst. Thirty-nine employees were killed in that
attack. Full production was restored within several days.
Vauxhall Motors
World War Two Production Statistics: Churchill A22 Infantry
Tank - A portion 5,640 Churchill Tanks with 2,000 spare engines.
After the loss of most its equipment at Dunkirk in May-June 1940, the
British Army only had 100 tanks remaining. Vauxhall was given the
task of designing and producing the A22 within a year. The pilot
model was ready by November 1940, and the first fourteen production
models came off the assembly line in June 1941. Production of the
Churchill A22 was shared with Vauxhall by ten other companies.
Vauxhall produced the majority of the parts which were then assembled by Vauxhall
and the other companies under Vauxhall's guidance. It is unknown
the number of actual A22s produced by Vauxhall or the other companies.
Other: 5 million sheet metal sides for jerrycans, four million rocket
venturi tubes, 6-pounder armor piercing shells, and 750,000 steel
helmets.
Vauxhall was instrumental in the building of
the first 12 jet engines built in Britain. The Luton factory did
95% of the work on these first 12 engines.
Vauxhall also designed inflatable decoy trucks
and string and canvas decoy aircraft. It also made tooling for the
Hercules aircraft engine, and assisted in the development of the
Mosquito, Lancaster, and Halifax aircraft. The GM subsidiary on
mines, torpedoes, radiolocation equipment and bombs.
Bedford Subsidiary
World War Two Production Statistics: (5,995) MW 1-1/2-ton 4x2
trucks, (52,247) QL 3-ton 4x4 lorries, 73,385 OY 3-ton 4x4 lorries, and
24,429 OX 3-ton 4x4 lorries
Note: The British army designated 1-1/2
ton vehicles as trucks, and any over that size were considered lorries.
An inflatable decoy truck comes out of the
Vauxhall Luton factory.
At the end of the war Vauxhall was working
on the development of this half-track for use as a artillery prime
mover. This is one of six protyypes built and was powered by two
Bedford engines.
Vauxhall's automotive car output was only
100 10hp cars during World War Two. One of the cars is seen next
to a Churchill tank.
This Churchill Tank is part of the Armor and
Cavalry Museum's collection at Fort Benning, GA. This particular
is one of approximately 800 that was converted to a flamethrower.
It was designated as the A22F and known as the Churchill Crocodile.
The final assembly point of the tank is unknown, but the most of the
parts were produced by Vauxhall. The Churchill was a
Vauxhall design. Author's photo.
The flamethrower nozzle was located where
the bow machine gun was originally located. It had a maximum range
of 150 yards and an effective range of 80 yards. Author's photo.
The fuel was supplied from an armored
6.5-ton wheeled trailer that carried 400 gallons of flamethrower
material and five tanks of liquid nitrogen . The tank and the
trailer were connected by three articulated links on the rear of the
tank. One of the links is still attached to this Crocodile.
Author's photo.
This
Churchill Crocodile is on display at the
American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA. Author's photo added
8-25-2019.
Author's photo added 8-25-2019.
Author's photo added 8-25-2019.
This Churchill Mark III Infantry tank is on
display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ont. Author's
photo.
This
Churchill Crocodile was on display in front of the Land Warfare Hall at
the Duxford Airfield at Cambridge, UK in May 2008. Author's photo
added 6-1-2020.
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