Aircraft Recoveries

Leconfield was the home to 60 MU aton point in its history. They were no always there.

For 1939 -45 they (according to the ORB title) were at Shipton by Beningborough and Rufforth. From 1946 to the end of 1960 they were at Rufforth then they moved to Dishforth. They went to Leconfield in 1966, from then I don’t know.

didnt know leconfield had a recovery unit any info?

Sorry, I’ve been away and missed the next few posts. Yes, Faygate IS in Sussex – forgive an ignorant Northerner! There was also 50 MU Cowley in Oxfordshire with, in April 1942 at least, detachments at Stroud and Wylye. 71 MU at Slough was one I forgot about (seems to have covered from Bucks into Essex), plus 235 MU, Netheravon, responsible for glider recovery and/or salvage from 14/1/43.

63 MU’s ORB states that its area covers “the whole of Scotland, with the exception of the area covered by 56 MU, which is north of a line between Fort William and Stonehaven and east of the Caledonian Canal.”

Thanks Forestfan.
Do you think that 58 MU would have covered North Norfolk ?

58 MU covered Lincs from its base in Newark – Sid Finn’s Lincolnshire Air War had a good chapter on them, plus detailed their recoveries.

Hi
Which MU would have covered East anglia ?

AT – Isn’t Faygate near Horsham in Sussex?

correct.. there was an article about 49 MU in an After The Battle mag…I lived a mile or so down the road from it a couple of years ago, was a woodyard(may still be) with somw WW2 buildings still there/in use

and heres an idea of what one gang at 50 MU got up to over 6 months of 1940..
http://www.wildrose.flyer.co.uk/fiftyMU.html
interesting that it wasnt just crash recovery but also collecting old/damaged a/c that were laying around airfields.. I believe 50MU was at Cowley Oxfordshire and was main collecting point for parts to be recycled?

Neil

Apart from 34 MU, whose records are disappointingly sparse, the others are:

56 Inverness (Lots of detailed stories)
63 Carluke, Lanarkshire (Ditto)
60 Leconfield
67 Taunton
75 Wilmslow
78 Bynea, S Wales
83 Woolsington
226 Mullusk, N Ireland

There was one in Kent (Faygate) but I can’t find the number.

The ORBs of the last five listed are not very detailed, but there are a few full stories included as examples of the units’ work.

Would 56 MU have covered all of Scotland?

Ali

AT – Isn’t Faygate near Horsham in Sussex?

Dave Smith

Apart from 34 MU, whose records are disappointingly sparse, the others are:

56 Inverness (Lots of detailed stories)
63 Carluke, Lanarkshire (Ditto)
60 Leconfield
67 Taunton
75 Wilmslow
78 Bynea, S Wales
83 Woolsington
226 Mullusk, N Ireland

There was one in Kent (Faygate) but I can’t find the number.

The ORBs of the last five listed are not very detailed, but there are a few full stories included as examples of the units’ work.

34MU operated in North Wales during WWII, lots of wrecks up there. They had a wooden hut in Bethesda and used the local garage yard to store bits. The hut still had a 34MU badge/sign attached into the 70’s when it started to be used by ATC cadets as an ‘Adventure’ base for Snowdonia. There are a couple of books about 34MU in North Wales by a former ’employee’

What books? ISBN numbers?

Ali

34MU operated in North Wales during WWII, lots of wrecks up there. They had a wooden hut in Bethesda and used the local garage yard to store bits. The hut still had a 34MU badge/sign attached into the 70’s when it started to be used by ATC cadets as an ‘Adventure’ base for Snowdonia. There are a couple of books about 34MU in North Wales by a former ’employee’