WORKERS at Westhoughton aerospace firm Bellhouse Hartwell are to complete their final shift on Friday before the factory gates shut for good.

All of the 170 engineers are being made redundant and the work is being transferred to a sister factory in Wigan.

Union leaders fought a six-month battle to save the jobs, but parent company Hampson Industries rejected the workers' £4.5 million bid to buy the site.

Bill Choda, a steward in the Amicus MSF union, said: "It will be a sad day for the workforce and for the town of Westhoughton.

"There were more than 280 workers at this company before the first redundancies were made last year. Now the final 170 jobs have gone and the factory is closing for good."

Directors at parent company Hampson Industries announced in February that the factory, which has won awards for business excellence, might have to shut.

They said the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks had sent the aircraft industry into freefall.

But Mr Choda said: "None of the workers believes that September 11 was the reason behind the closure.

"The civil aviation industry was affected by the attacks, but we do military work.

"We still had orders coming in -- right up to this week."

The union said Bellhouse Hartwell's order book for the next 12 months was worth £10 million. The closure is expected to cost the local economy £5.5 million a year.