where are the iron railings?

[hiflier]

During the last war, railings were ripped up from all over Britain. I have heard that it was found to be useless for turning into tanks, ships, aeroplanes armaments etc: is this true, and if so, what happened to all that metal?

[dot.hawkes]

It was supposed to be used for guns, casings, pontoons etc, i know it was used for rebuilding after air raids.

[Catso]

You're right in that being low-grade, and probably cast-iron, it wasn't suitable for 'high-performance' uses, no. But by being used for low-spec jobs, it released the better quality iron for the high-spec jobs. It was all used during the war, and then for rebuilding afterwards, as dot says.

However, the aluminium pan collection for aircraft making was a different matter. The pans (usually) weren't pure aluminium, they were an alloy. And you can't easily undo alloying. In their 'raw' state they were useless for making aircraft. They got used for all sorts of odd jobs, including (it is claimed by some) making pots and pans.

[dot.hawkes]

Oh and civil defences, it was used for those too

[Rock'n'Roll]

I believe it's main purpose was a moral boosting project to the population, to make them believe they were helping the war effort

[Cetti]

Was it really just a propaganda exercise Rock 'n' Roll?

My parents thought they'd given their new wrought iron gates to boost the war effort. I'm glad they never knew the truth.

[dot.hawkes]

In the United States it was a tremendous effort and many many tonnes were donated.

[Rock'n'Roll]

CETTI: I have yet to find anthing definite about the full value of the exercise. I'm sure your without your parents and other patriotic Brits ,the war would have been much more difficult.
I didn't mean it was useless,just that the moral boosting impetus was more than the worth of the scrap to the nation

[Cetti]

Thank you for coming back Rock 'n' Roll. Yes, you are right about morale - from what they told me it was very high, particularly in the aircraft assemby workshop where my mum worked - and in many other factories across the country.

[luckyeight]

Rock n Roll is right in the sense that retrospectively the biggest impact of collecting metals to use to build planes etc was the psychological impact of feeling like ppl had contributed in a helpful way to the war effort, so it's effect was extremely good for the morale of the country. Having said that I don't know the answer to the question - what actually happened to all the scrap metal collected?