LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON – more than one life-time behind the wheel

Harry Larcombe shares his memories of both his father’s and his own driving careers.

The thought-provoking article by Malcolm Bates prompted me to write my contribution, so here goes! Please excuse any ‘typos’. I will try to find a couple of photos to go with this article and send you copies. I have somewhere a photo of one of the Albion tippers at Esholt and one of me with a wagon at Heathrow. At the moment, I have no idea where they are, so they could take some finding, but I’ll do my best! (Meanwhile, being impatient to see Harry’s story in the magazine, we’ll find some suitable pictures to illustrate it – Ed.)

During the war, my father was in a reserved occupation and was away most of the time, building runways and other war ministry works. He had been a mascot during World War I, for the ‘Leeds Pals’ West Yorks Regiment at Breary Banks, in the Yorkshire Dales, while his father was a navvy driver, building a reservoir, so was exposed to all things mechanical and prior to World War II had worked with his dad on works such as the new road at the Rest and Be Thankful.

He was also a navvy driver with his own crew and, among other works, built the runways at West London Aerodrome (now Heathrow) and Liverpool at Speke (now John Lennon Airport) and didn’t get much time at home.

Father also dug out for the AVRO factory at Yeadon Aerodrome (now Leeds Bradford Airport) where I was born. Two thirds of the factory, which was building Lancasters and other aircraft, was effectively underground and had the largest single span roof in the world, I understand. With Dad’s occupation, it’s no wonder I was brought up with a overriding interest in all things mechanical, while my Grandad had also been a navvy driver, though in his case, it was steam-driven ones.