AN appeal by author and naturalist Ron Freethy for stories from the shopfloor of East Lancashire’s aerospace industry has really taken off.
In his quest for information, the Lancashire Telegraph columnist has also been unearthing stories about Samlesbury Engineering.
Founded in 1947, the company’s products included assemblies for jetliners, the five-seater Prospector light aircraft, as well as buses and personnel carriers.
It was taken over in 1961 and closed in the early 70s.
But it is best remembered as the site where Donald Campbell’s 26ft Bluebird K7 boat was built over a period of four months.
The firm was also responsible for building the Bluebird car, in which Campbell made his name.
As a 12-year-old, Carol Thornley, from Helmshore, watched the Bluebird motif painted on the jet craft’s nose, before Campbell arrived for the boat’s handover.
Carol and her twin sister, Christine, were included with the 17 workers at the plant presented with brochures bearing his autograph.
Campbell was killed in January 1967 while attempting to become the first person to break 300mph on water, on Coniston.
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