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

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COLONEL SANFORD W. HlCKEY Deputy Commander OR SALE! No, not Burtonwood, but , to-an-elephant stock which once cramrztzh tthfettif Fm- of Burtonwood's giant warehouses. A vast job f flves youthful European Northern Disposition Task Force a:hthe primary mission is the marketing of e property. When the Northern Air Material Area, Europe.a . of men, machines and offices which commanded BUr:JnIt wood and other bases fortalmost five years-terminagnc; functions on 30th June, l958, ENDTF, under the Comm ed of Col. Edwin J. Hamilton, took over. an 058 XCESS govern ment Until ENDTF took command, the basic mission of Burton- wood was supplying material and giving logistic support to all USAF activities in the UK and certain Continental spots With the arrival of AMCls new Logistical Concept Program. this changed, and the resultant phase-down meant that man, of the supplies stored at Burtonwood would become excesi and available for marketing. Although marketing is the primary mission, other im- portant aspects of ENDTF's job include maintaining the base, ensuring that omces and warehouses have light and power, providing transport and a bus service, maintaining a water supply, and the hundreds of such amenities which are necessary to keep a giant airdrome functioning. European Northern Disposition Task Force-a young unit doing a great job in the old Burtonwood tradition. European Northern Disposition Task Force

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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

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ShelVes for the h WhOSe rnment V g $xx?f$?N7' xx gxw; x??? a unit Burton. minated mmand Burton- port to -l spots. rogram, at many - excess l her im- ing the :ht and taining s which LT. COLONEL MELVIN F. FRENCH Chief, Programs and Analysis y x h WA MM Q .t . ng m LT. COLONEL FRANK A. KULAS Chief, Installations Div. LT. COLONEL WILLIAM F. CONNER KXKW ; ,, ,. , I Dir. of Redistribution XV? $ay$ Z ; QWCN $7$ K V kW LT. COLONEL JAMES C. GRIFFIN Base Chaplain LT. COLONEL LOUIS R. KITTEL Dir. Base Services LT. COLONEL FRIEDRICH EISNER Chief, Material Division LT. COLONEL CHARLES F. SPENCER Comptroller