USAAF Eighth Air Force Mustang English port arrivals and test flights

For the record, the photo of the P-47 dispersal was taken at Burtonwood NOT Speke. It first appeared in Roger Freeman’s Mighty Eighth War Manual but I had doubts about it. Borrowing the ATC vehicle, I toured the old Speke Airport’s perimeter but, as suspected, could find no likely area. Soon afterwards, I checked a wartime aerial photo of Burtonwood which accurately showed the dispersal later to be occupied by the P-47s. The photo was in one of the many volumes of The Army Air Forces in WW II, I forget which. but they are now available online. I wrote to Roger with the correction and in defence he told me that the back of his photo was stamped ‘Speke’ and it seems that it remains uncorrected in the IWM collection of his archive. Roger agreed with my findings and that the photo had been mis-captioned. Thus are myths perpetuated!

I would also suggest that the caption is wrong in that the P-47’s are there for scrapping & not redeployment, as dozens if not hundreds of P-51’s were scrapped there & the P-51 was replacing P-47’s in front line sevice at the time.
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For the record, the photo of the P-47 dispersal was taken at Burtonwood NOT Speke. It first appeared in Roger Freeman’s Mighty Eighth War Manual but I had doubts about it. Borrowing the ATC vehicle, I toured the old Speke Airport’s perimeter but, as suspected, could find no likely area. Soon afterwards, I checked a wartime aerial photo of Burtonwood which accurately showed the dispersal later to be occupied by the P-47s. The photo was in one of the many volumes of The Army Air Forces in WW II, I forget which. but they are now available online. I wrote to Roger with the correction and in defence he told me that the back of his photo was stamped ‘Speke’ and it seems that it remains uncorrected in the IWM collection of his archive. Roger agreed with my findings and that the photo had been mis-captioned. Thus are myths perpetuated!

B-24 and B-17 fuselages at RAF Pulham 1947, zoom&crop from Britain from Above

P-51Ds being towed through Liverpool
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Plenty of B-17s and B-24s scrapped at RAF Pulham by 1947..
https://britainfromabove.org.uk/en/search?keywords=Pulham&country=global&year=all
(sign up for the zoom function)

Interesting subject. Post war were any USAAF aircraft scraped in the UK? I can see the P-51’s,C-47’s, B-25’s and A-26’s being desirable in the US but what about P-47’s, B-26’s, B-17’s etc that were older types unlikely to see much front line service post war?

Some 20 years or so ago I briefly talked to a guy who worked with Lockheeds at Speke, although he was suffering from Alzheimer’s. The aircraft coming across the Atlantic as ‘deck cargo’ were inhibited with a black tar-like grease. This was removed with what he (being British) called ‘paraffin’ – so yes the aircraft were cleaned with kerosene. Hot kerosene though sounds somewhat alarming both in terms of flammability and toxic fumes.

They washed them with kerosine??:eek:

Yes the last photo is at the end of hostilities in Europe, but not in the Pacific.




And below taken December 14th 43.

I’ve seen the final photo described as being post-hostilities in Europe, where the aircraft were gathered for return to the US. That would explain the in-service markings which would not have been applied at Speke on the way in.

In my plane-spotter days of the early 1960s the big black sheds adjacent to Speke Airport still carried the word ‘Lockheed’ painted in large white lettering.

Moggy

As a very brief outline, P-51s delivered to Liverpool were trucked to Speke for assembly by Lockheed Overseas Corporation. Then test flown by British test pilots (possibly there were Americans involved as well). When satisfactory they were collected by USAAF pilots from Ferrying Squadron detachments and flown to Base Air Depot No 2 at Warton which was the main reception for P-51s. Some, however, were handled by BAD No 1 at Burtonwood. They were then prepared for operational use and again flown out by ferry pilots to the southern UK or Europe. P-51s also passed through Avonmouth for assembly at Filton and, I believe, some went via Clydeside to Lockheed at Renfrew. BAD 3 at Langford Lodge in N Ireland may also have handled small numbers, but I’m not sure about that. The subject is complicated but extensive research in the archives is currently in progress.

Great photos 🙂

A North American P-51 Is Degreased With Hot Kerosene At The Lockheed Reassembly Plant At Liverpool, England. 5 December 1943.


Lt. Charles H. Clark Of Los Angeles, Calif., Climbs Into A Reassembled North American P-51 At The Lockheed Reassembly Plant At Liverpool, England. He Will Fly It To A U.S. Air Force Airplane Pool Somewhere In The Eto. 16 December 1943

A North American P-51 Is Moved Into A Hangar For Reassembly At The Lockheed Reassembly Plant At Liverpool, England. 7 December 1943.

The Engine Of A North American P-51 Is Tested Before The Test Flight At The Lockheed Reassembly Plant At Liverpool, England. 14 December 1943.

AND THIS

I seem to recall BAD’s at Burtonwood and Warton doing this type of work. Can anyone confirm?

From my readings, you’re correct.
At least there are well knows photos of P-38s and early Mustangs being towed through the streets. I don’t think I’ve seen any of P-51Ds being towed.