Burtonwood Royal Air Force Station - Yearbook (Burtonwood, England)

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Decade. . . . . t ther Reconnaisance Squad- The initial aSSIgnment of the 53rd I9VV5e3a saw Burtonwood on the ' ber . m Bermuda In Novem , . . C I949, EOCisfeto The Squadron had been operatlng In BermudlapljlnneseWOUId tracing an average of about I2 hurricanes each season. ' out be sent into the center of the hurricane and follow them for ab ' task. H . 7 days to trace the storm 5 ow the famed HurrIcane OPE had changed, for n . Hu-hlt-efs'55vould now be flying triangular patters coverIng about - ' I6 hours a flight. 2.600 miles and averaglngweather observations from the great The were to ma . . northyto be funnelled to all countries In the world. Th: first Commander of the 53rd to be stationed at Burtonwoo was Lt. Colonel Richard D. Stowell. Burtonwoodis Press Relations There is nothing wrong with the Yanks, except they are over: paid, oversexed and overhere and they make damn good news copy. An editor of a famous British newspaper said this In l95l. They made good news copy then, and they still do. . . THE PAPERS have been riddled with offenses commltted In the British Isles ranging from sex to black marketing. Burtonwood's position is very much like that of any other American base In Britain. Servicemen, whether they be British or American. always make news copy. Frequently, even if not servicemen now but have been in the past, the newspapers often headline a story llEx-Gl commits crime. One of the first big press cases at Burtonwood was labeled the Beauty and the Beast. This case involved a Corporal in the American Air Force stationed at Burtonwood and a l6-year-old chorus girl from Manchester. The case was played widely in the British press; the GI was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years for rape. Mainly due to the way the case was reported in the British press, a wave of protests swept over Burtonwood demanding that the sentence be reduced. or the airman be acquitted altogether. Largely because of the public opinion, this Corporal's case was reviewed and his sentence was reduced considerably. ills ill: Si: We have been involved in some real hum-dingers, ranging in form from Burtonwood to expand to the point where the community could not accommodate them, until in later years, the newspapers were riddled with the persistent rumors that the base was going to close. OF COURSE, the most famous stor about Bu ' closure appeared in The Daily Herald on Mall'ch 28. l957it3vnhvzzotdh: lead story on page one ' - .. . . . ertten b Journalist Paul D ' Gl S to QUIT. Giant Air Base. Y ean. sald, Mr. Dean, in his stor as 30 June, I957 iif this months agoi. thrlocglean hiththe usual haunts to find out the reaction of merc ants. He queried taxi drivers, pub keepers, in dance halls, garages, restaurants, wine stores and even dry cleaning factories and Home, Yanks t0 Uplbase Sttahye'ncry had changed frOm Go The Manchester Evening News, on seeing the story, dispatched a nwood immediately; officials of on 30 June y. quoted a S Sgt. and gave the closing date was the case we would have been gone l8 Though The Her revealed their fle Wood's famous r THIS CASE ald may have looked lik . s . du XIbIIIty and v e omances. ersatIlIty by co concerned a PES'On this story, they vermg one of BurtOn- memb . girl, who was ' er of the U.S. AIr Force who was, at th::tpi$rc1temign :hleaftloclltnd a , a e. The American authorities were doing ever thin in th ' expedite the marriage of the couple. It Wlas a gear-jeilzihgwlfgat: puller that every paper in the country was following. , r Eventually, the airman left the stockade, under escort to meet his future bride. They were married in the Warrin ,ton Registry Office. The newspaper boys had been houndinggthe base, phoning constantly about two hours, trying to findlout the exact date the wedding would take place. Some papers even posted look-outs outside the girl's home in Man- chester Road. When the hour arrived, several of the news. paper boys had been alerted from contacts in Warrington. At the request of the girl, the American authorities had told no one. The party, which included the bride, bridegroom, AP gllard Public Relations Officer and Legal Advisor from Burtonwood, made their way to the Registry Office for the ceremony. One of the requests of the bride was, ul have a very good friend that I want to act as bridesmaid. This bridesmaid had received llspecial permission from the Public Relations Officer and t e okay to take pictures. The bridesmaid was quoted as saying, I m so clumsy that I am not sure just which knob to turn. She turned out to be one of the slickest reporters and photographers in the trade, for this bridesmaid was the Daily Heraldls Margaret Pycroft. Pycroft had an exclusive that Was the envy of every new- paper editor from Southampton to Glasgow; our faces were red. It was the slickest piece of reporting we had ever witnessed. Later. the bride said she did not know this girl, but that she had promised her a set of the wedding pictures for the exclusive story. Another newspaper editor said, ill think we would have given her il00 for the same privilege. But these are only a few of the amusing stories. Flt ill: 3? Last year, Burtonwood won the Ambassadors Award in Com- munity Relations for United States Air Forces Bases in Britain. This was due largely to the efforts of good publicity given by the British press. In summing up, base authorities like to feel that the honorable newspaper people that contact Burtonwood have a cordial relation- ship with the United States Air Force that will continue in the future. . Points of Interest When you speak of Burtonwood as a city with its many fatlllt'esv one doesn't realize just what sort of city we have here until they check with certain people to find the real facts. Very few realize that in the last l0 years the dependentscheol has had over 6,000 students, 49 of which received theIr hlgh school diplomas; that over 800,000 cups of coffee are served by AFEX a year; that in the past l0 years 3,000 British cars have been purchased by Burtonwood people and that over46,800,000telepl10ne calls were made during the same period. . . . the If these figures sound astounding then try to 'PV'S'O . e 48,l36 English guests that have visited the Sle' e servf Club in the last decade. The Skyline Club ayeragesl st parties a year and has had over I,000 dances during the a lo years. 5- In higher education, l0,l02 students have either taken Corhid pondence courses from stateside Universitiestor have been Tariade as students in the University of Maryland during th's eventfu e at Burtonwood. . . l - awling Other Points of interest include the size of this S'gant'c-SPrunwaY Lancashire base. There are l8 miles of roadways; the 1362; nissen is two miles long. Burtonwood has seven hangars. I, This huts, 569 buildings other than nissen huts and warehcglgze: lt-li giant base has 22 warehouses tcovering an area of 3,535. wgc', to these ngures bring the total number of buildings 0 Bum L636 engrossed within l6.85 miles of fencing; The whole of the base covers the amazmg nu acres within this gigantic industrial network. mber of I947I It also has x:

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ke the Ip to a ickside nd the rive at 1. 1 wel- tonio. I took 1 been swere en and room. embers cessors iooklet reeting r. The as well ut the g, was ind the tcoffee. day to s. d Kelly d large re the hen it r base, PPlIeSy nected uadron a basic erseas. ing the' - pered Omage ic field5 i i52l53' tennis: nWOO ring of troun' an era awling a V W. wwwn ..,,.,..;.....,r..,,,.-t WW ; swam..r.,....,.m1 In I95l Burtonwood won the Third Air Force baseball champion- ship, the U.K. championship, then journeyed over to Germany and won the USAFE championship. ill: 38 :X: THE EAGLES, as they were then labelled, departed Burton- wood to enter the USAFE Tournament with less than one dozen bats and no uniforms. The boys played in blue jeans and dungarees. This did not dampen their enthusiasm. They made the trip to Germany with the hopes of winning; it takes more than pretty uniforms and good bats to win tournaments. This was proved by the tea sippers, as our German-based colleagues called the U.K. visitors. They made a clean sweep, they brought Burtonwood the only USAFE trophy ever won in any sport by a Burtonwood team, but the other athletic squads came remarkably close. In football, the first year Burtonwood fielded a team they won the Third Air Force Championship, the United Kingdom Championship, and were the runners-up for the USAFE Crown. With stars like Jim HPappy Simmons, Lonnie Ward, and Ollie Linborg, the Bullets gridiron machine rolled to victory after victory on the field of play and in the mud holes of England. BURTONWOOD was building a reputation, she was now the most feared base in athletics in Europe. In l952 the Bullets again swept all the opponents in the U.K. conference aside to be the best gridiron squad in Great Britain, only to lose later before a powerful Furstenfeldbruck Air Force Base, Germany, 32-I8. before 35,000 fans in Londonls Wembley Stadium. In I953 the Bullets were downed for the first time in U.K. play with an unexpectedly strong Wethersfield eleven, I3-7, before 6.000 home fans at Burtonwood. Burtonwood proceeded after this point to beat every opponent to cross their path until they met London in November, to whom they lost by 20-6. For the first time in three years the Bullets were not crowned U.K. champions. Revenge, however, was sweet for these Bullets, for on November 2l, I953, before the largest European crowd ever to witness a US football match, saw them smash Wethersfield in their second meeting of the season, 27-0, before 59,000 fans in Dublin, Ireland. Linborg, Simmons, Bob Yates, ran wild in the last game to be played together by this great team. DURING THE PAST SEVEN YEARS Burtonwood has won 47 football games while suffering only l8 defeats. Individual coaches that have appeared on the scene at Burtonwood, but one stands out among all others. That man, Lt. Col. Bill Kenna, led the Burtonwood Bullets to I6 victories and 4 defeats for the I952l53 season. Both times the sacred and coveted USAEF crown eluded him; his teams came second on both occasions. 3K! ilk 3!: It was I957 before Burtonwood won another U.K. title on the gridiron. This time coach iCath Thomas Brown led the underrated Bullets to another title. In boxing, Ralph Paterson, Bill Cherry, Howard Greene won worId-wide Air Force titles for Burtonwood. Never before in the history of the Air Force has any one base ever had three world wide Air Force champions in separate divisions. In addition to this; featherweight Willy Thomas was runner-up in his division in I953. In soccer, Johnny Mulligan, Frank Tollan, Joe OlMalIey led Burtonwood Gunners to the Manchester Wednesday League Title for the first time that an American AF team had beaten the British at their own game. IN BASKETBALL, the Burtonwood Bullets, during the sports era I95Ii53, won the U.K. championship twice, only to lose out in the finals of the U.S.A.F. tourney on the Continent. In track, David Snow will long be remembered as possibly the greatest all-round athlete ever to don the thin clads. Snow ran the high hurdles, the loo yards and 220 yards, and the 440 yards, ran the haIf-mile and the mile. . . . . . Decade In addition, Snow proved to be one of the few American sports car drivers of an ameteur status to win several British and U.S.A.F. sports car rallies. In tennis, Captain David Dozier monopolized the base tennis championship during this era. Though Dozier never won the U.K. championship, he was frequently in the finals. In golf, Captain George Hill Cater Majory was third Air Force champion two years in a row. Hill, the plus 2 handicap golfer. is without a doubt one of the finest US. service golfers to ever walk on the links of a British course. Basketball teams, football teams, tennis squads, golf teams. base- ballers come and go, but no base can hope to dominate the athletic scene like Burtonwood did in I95l, I952, and I953. Civilians Come to Burtonwood The military man has been at Burtonwood off and on since I939. The Americans first arrived at the base in early I942. They were here right through the war and like the period I949 to I958, Burton- wood served as a depot. LIKE MOST DEPOTS in the States, Burtonwood planners were anticipating the use of civilians on a large scale. Labor was already scarce in industrial Lancashire. Industry was going full blast. Labor had to be imported. but Air Force planners had decided to replace the American airmen with United Kingdom civilians, and on a gigantic scale. Labelled operation HNative Son, the new influx of UKC's were supposed to eliminate the high cost of employing the military men. who so often had to bring their families with them. Now Burtonwood had earned, and rightly so, the reputa- tion of being the largest dollar earner in the north of England. Would this new influx of British civilians, employed in all capacities, from a top executive level all the way down to a stock man in the stores, effect the dollar income of Lanca- shire? Hardly, for this was a new era at Burtonwood. Not only were we employing British people for the first time in great numbers, but we were going to spend more money through local purchases and contracts than in any other time in the history of this giant RAF station. 5X: Ill: 3? The time: December, I953. To fill the vacancies that would occur in the absence of the American airmen was a large project undertaken under the guidance of Brigadier General Troup Miller Jr., Commander, NAMA. The Personnel Director, Lt. Colonel Wilfred Kenna, was faced with many problems. One example: There was not enough estab- lished iipermanent Air Ministry British employees available for assignment for such a giant operation. Consequently. the Air Ministry, through the guidance of Mr. Harry C. Redman, then Chief of the British Staff Organization, was authorized to employ ex-RAF equipment officers to fill the gap at executive level. BURTONWOOD needed trained supervisors now. she could not wait. The supplies were in the warehouses; they had to go to all parts of Europe. It was later discovered that some 75 career fields could not be converted from the military to the UKC trainees in the time allotted. The supplies had to be moved, so, during the interim, Burtonwood had both military and UKCis. This continued until the UKCis became accustomed to the American way of doing things. They were trained, and as a result, some 2.500 American military men were declared surplus. They were reassigned to other American bases throughout the world. Burtonwood was now a full fledged depot. She performed maintenance on all types of aircraft, and supplied everything from food to a small second hand on a wrist watch. It was during these months, in early I954, that the famed Header House was constructed. It has been called the laggest ware- house in Europe. alt II: is But not only was NAMA changing from military to civilians, she was acquiring new units. Burtonwood was truly expanding.

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rto eart . to ton 3the out oers an- ws- ' n.,, told lard, ade iend ived the 0'; ned the roft. -ws- ere -ter, ised ther D for ries. This the 'able :ion- the ties, they hool high 1 by :een lone the vice 260 last tres- illed cade Iling iWBY ssen This ftJ: d to ,411 has H r' f e.gul'ulk WW yr 4.65 miles of railway tracks and an aircraft parking apron covering 436,860 sq. yds. A record must be kept of what has been going on; photographs play an important role in keeping records. Over 50,000 photographs have been made by the base photo lab in order to keep the records straight. The motor vehicles on the base covered over ll.000,000 miles in the last l0 years. You worry when you have a flat tire, think of what happens when the motor pool starts getting flats because in the last l0 years over l00,000 tires and tubes have been repaired by the maintenance boys in the motor pool. Some yield has been shown because in the last l0 years the base motor pool vehicles have transported some 25,000,000 passengers. In doing so, these vehicles used 23,38l ,200 gallons of petrol and 35,380 quarts of oil. The flying safety figures reflect that Burtonwood has had only one fatal crash in IQ years and this accident involved a Naval and Air Force airplane back in I952. This remarkable record concerning flying safety includes 30,000 landings and take-offs annually since I948. On relations with the British public the figures reflect that 250,000 Britons have visited Burtonwood. The Base has hosted an average of 30 tours a year for the past l0 years and some I2,000 visitors have been personally conducted around the base. 3? it as Believe it or not, 6,500 American boys now have British relatives by marriage, because this is the number of British brides that have tied the knot with Burtonwood service people. News of the base has averaged approximately I0,000 column inches of news copy a year for the past l0 years in the British press. The Burtonwood Beacon has published enough copy to fill several good size volumes of encyclopedias. People look upon the Americans as coffee drinkers. Few people would realize that we at Burtonwood buy over 63,000 Cocoa Colas a year and we must have consumed about 600,000 during the past decade. And. as one final point of interest, just over 8,500 UK civilians have been employed here. These people have been instrumental in achieving the mission of the base. Keeping in Step Since the Americans first came back in I948 there has been a constant period of expansion and retraction. First, it was the Berlin Airlift, then the Korea War caused an increased build-up, in line with OUr NATO commitments. Then came ilOperation Native Son and Burtonwood came under the control of the Air Material Command. THE BASE was virtually a Hmud-hole in I948, only to become one of the largest air bases in the world and certainly one of the most important in Europe. Then came the new direct support concept. This led to a reduction in work-force and later even the primary mission changed. The reduction in workers. both military and civilians, caused the local and national press to speculate as to the future of this large base. In the community the relationship first was warm, t'hen cool tnever coldi, and then, in I956-57, a survey revealed that the British had really got used to us being here. On the contrary, Burtonwood won the annual U.S. Ambassadoris award for community relations in I957. The Office of Information Services, under the directions of Lt. Col. Anna M. Hunter, and with the help of all base organizations, produced a community relations report that reflected just how we do fit into the local scene. iiiK 3X: :X: This immensely detailed liCommunity relations report for the period July l. I956. to June 30, I957 showed that there was an average of more than three Anglo-American events a day organized at Burtonwood. These I,200 events were described in detail under such headings as education, religion, sports, and industry. . . . . . Decade POINTING OUT that the Base Information Office has to deal with l7 national and I8 local newspapers, the report went as far as to record the number of inches gathered by the installation last year-l0,09l inches, both good and bad. HPerson to person contacts pay off in lasting friendships and closer understanding between us and our British neigh- bors, in the interests of preserving freedom and world peace, the report stated. I Such lofty ideals may be far from the minds of the Gls as they Play in the village pub dart teams or enjoy a round of golf at the country club, but they and their wives are regarded as the real ambassadors in the report. I Although Christmas is the peak period for well-publicized American social activities, such as a party for 600 Lancashire orphans and the North Pole delivery by air mail to Santa Claus, there is a day-to-day semi-official interchange of hospitality built up by senior officers and their wives. $6 $6 $6 There is also the very tangible advantage to South-West Lan- cashire of having an employer on the doorstep with several thousand men and women on the payroll. . These United Kingdom civilians-from all walks of life- employed on the base, act as a bridge spanning the gap to express ,the American way of life and the general good neighbor policy. 50, in the past decade the Lancashire community has seen a derelict WWII installation rise, expand and retract. It has been a colorful I0 years. I wonder what the next IO years will bring? Burtonwoodis present RAF Commander Wing Commander A. W. G. STUART