Shorts Brothers’ Seaplane Factory & Air Raid Tunnels

Video from the channel Beyond the Point about Short Brothers, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 3:19. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

A short piece about the tunnels that Short Brothers dug beneath Rochester, used as an aircraft factory and as an air-raid shelter.

The company, founded in 1908, opened its first factory buildings in 1915. During the Second World War its factories were bombed, and with heavy government orders, it began digging a 12,000-square-foot underground space in 1941. One end was used as a workshop and the other as a shelter for staff and the public; graffiti and emergency escape shafts are still visible. In 1943 the Government took control of the company. After the war, with little demand for flying boats, Short closed the site and moved to Belfast. The surface factories were demolished to build housing, and the sealed tunnels are only opened for occasional visits.