Isle of Wight manufacturing history

 King Harold stationed his navy off the Isle of Wight to fend off the fleet of William the Conqueror. The attack was delayed by bad weather for three months and the fleet returned to port. William attacked at Hastings and the rest is history. The island had been a centre for pottery in Roman times. Shipbuilding and the sea were in its DNA

Samuel White shipbuilding based at Cowes originated at Broadstairs but moved to the island in 1802. The company built frigates and other vessels for the Royal Navy. It also built seaplanes before the First World War.

In the Second World War the island became famous for being the terminal for the PLUTO pipeline of which I wrote in War on Wheels.

The island has many smaller shipbuilding and repairing yards and remains at the heart of the yachting world. Clare Lallow built Morning Cloud for Edward Heath.

The seaplane originated across the Solent at Pemberton-Billing in Southampton. For the island it was Saunders-Roe which developed the aircraft eventually becoming involved in Helicopters and hovercraft which Christopher Cockerel invented on the Solent. I write more on Saunders-Roe in Vehicles to Vaccines.

In 1964 Decca built a factory to manufacture radar for non marine applications. Group Captain Edward Fennessy had worked in radar during the Second World War and then became managing director of Decca Navigation as they developed systems for both military and civil use. The Cowes factory was later owned by Plessey, then GEC and is now part of BAE Systems.

In the sixties Britten-Norman began manufacturing small aircraft near Bembridge. Production moved abroad but recently returned to the island.

Skills in shipbuilding and aircraft production are perfectly suited to the design and manufacture of wind turbine blades. Vestas manufacture wind turbine blades just outside Cowes.