AIR RAID SHELTERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 29 November 1939, Page 9

AIR RAID SHELTERS

INTERESTING FACTS. Twenty square miles of corrugated steel are being produced by steel works in strategic positions scattered over England, Scotland, and Wales for the 2.500.000 "Anderson" air raid shelters ordered by the Government to shelter 15.000.000 people in their own gardens. Production of the first [ 1,000.000 shelters, which began in midFebruary. was completed, and the I shelters delivered by the second week in September. The rate has now been increased from 1,000,000 in seven months to 1,500.000 in about seven months. Yet this vital defence measure is not hampering the supply of armaments, for the shelters’ requirements represent only about 31 per cent of the total production of all classes of British steel. With these figures in mind, the following facts about the shelters, given by the British Steelwork Association, supply some indication of the immense total capacity of the British steel industry. Each shelter contains 14 sheets of corrugated steel, six of them curved for the roof; 1501 b of structural steel; and 24 bolls and nuts. The total weight of the 1.000.060 shelters now completed is about 420.000 tons, in which is represented 17.000 miles of 2ft wide sheets. And there are 1.500,000 more shelters to come.