Memories… the Hamble canteen was fantastic. As hungry apprentices we would race up there for lunch every day. 40p went a long way in 1979.

Thanks for posting, very interesting as my Dad's first job out of school was working at Follands helping to produce ejector seats for fighter planes. I'd say about 1957. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Perth Oz.

Excellent video - However, one minor misunderstanding - The AW Ensign was not meant to replace the Empire Flying boats but to supplement them. The flying boats were supposed to take passengers over the Mediterranean and then hand them over to the Ensigns for the overland bit over the Middle East and India before they transferred back to flying boats for the rest of the trip out to Australia. However, the original AS Tiger engines could not give the Ensigns the performance for the hot and high conditions in the Middle East. Later, during WW2, after they had been fitted with Wright Cyclone engines they ended up covering that same route quite successfully. It was always meant that some of the Ensigns, fitted out for more passengers, would do European routes, linking capital cities, and before the war they operated between Croydon and Paris briefly.

Good film!

The Avro factory with the square tower was destroyed by fire in 1973. It was part of the Petter’s site with only the Social Club and Canteen building remaining (originally the Drawing Office and Control Tower).