The Royal Ordnance Factory at Hayes

This is the fascinating story of a World War II tank and gun factory in west London. Using wartime documents, specially commissioned architectural photographs and - most importantly - the recollections of some of the factory's workers, the book aims to tell the little-known story of how ROF Hayes played its part in the war effort. The story of the home front has often been overshadowed by the story of great leaders and dramatic battles in histories of World War II, but this book aims to shed some light on the important contribution of the Royal Ordnance Factories, and to show how the workers of ROF Hayes helped to win the Battle of Normandy in 1944 with the Sherman Firefly tank. After the war, ROF Hayes became a high-security government records centre and so, most unusually, all the wartime buildings survived intact. Today, ROF Hayes has become ProLogis Park Heathrow, a major international freight and cargo hub, and an important local employer.