REPAIRING damaged aircraft wasn’t Cowley’s only role during the Second World War.

It was also home to 50 MU (Maintenance Unit) RAF, a salvage organisation that sent out gangs in all weathers to pick up crashed aeroplanes.

We recalled last week how 1,200 men and women in No 1 Civilian Repair Unit Cowley (CRU), many of them Morris Motors’ workers, adapted their skills to get damaged RAF planes back in the air.

Other car workers were assigned to 50 MU, which distributed crashed planes to repair depots and salvaged parts from planes which were too badly damaged to be saved.

Reader Peter Tothill, of Stadhampton, has sent in extracts from a book, Calling All Arms, by Ernest Fairfax, which explains the work of the two organisations.

Of the 12,000 aircraft 50 MU handled, none had more significance than the discovery of a Messerschmitt 110 brought down at Wareham, in Dorset after it was attacked by an RAF Spitfire.

The German fighter plane was only slightly damaged, allowing 50 MU to retrieve it and transport it to Farnborough for detailed inspection.

According to the book, the intelligence the British gained was immeasurable.

“Three weeks later, when the Battle of Britain opened, the RAF pilots in their Spitfires and Hurricanes knew precisely what were the most vulnerable parts of the Me110 and the angle of fire of its guns.

“Eventually, that Me110 was flown again – by RAF men – and all its secrets were ferreted out.”

The unit was also involved in the puzzling case of Rudolph Hess’s plane.

In May 1941, Hess, the deputy to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, flew solo to Scotland, apparently in an attempt to negotiate peace with Britain.

He was arrested and his badly damaged plane was confiscated and brought to Oxford in a secret operation aboard a ‘Queen Mary’ transporter.

The wreckage from the aircraft was put on public display for a day in St Giles.

Mr Tothill started work in the experimental department at Morris Motors in 1950, after completing an apprenticeship at the Radiators’ branch in Woodstock Road.

He writes: “Initially, I worked with two men, one of whom had worked in No 1 CRU and the other in 50 MU, hence my interest.

“Among your readers, there must be some with first hand experiences and many whose parents, uncles and aunts were involved.”

Any more memories to share with readers? Write and let me know.