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

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T- B at Burtonwood d the were Heat :nail's states. as. It im his ait up I948 ed in great ation Hon- lCl his d for aneral iortly Force WOVE- l with ; halls Xls, a 2nd, a 5, six icers' were y-five i-type arter pound al low- I948. Jnable .assed. iome- :es of n base idlineS ispatch vaders :Iitclig, Ph - on A- , came Berlin, The first known entertainer to visit our troops, however, wasnit an American, but a beautiful British gal who visited Burtonwood on December I5th. Her name: Jean Simmons. The Mission Through the mist drove the trucks carrying airmen from their nissen huts to hangars scattered along the flight-Iine. These men were going to work under impossible conditions, trying to do an impossible job. That job: supporting the Berlin Airlift. These men performed the impossible, and in doing so won a place in the history books as those who engaged the Russians in the initial battle of the cold war'ieand won. Why impossible? Because no sooner had the first troops arrived than they were immediately thrown into doing a job without proper equipment-and for that matter-with- out proper training. Planes had to be maintained-food and supplies were needed desperately in the German capital. We had to keep 'em flying. :li: :X: :XE llThe new depot should be able to do the job of maintenancee with a little prodding , said Major General F. S. Borum, the'first of five USAF generals to command the sprawling Lancashire base since I948. General Borum, on TDY to open the base, was on loan from Tinker AFB, Oklahoma. THE BURTONWOOD DEPOT operated on a production line basis. A group of large hangars were used for the overhaul lines. Planning for the operation was somewhat simplified since only one type plane, the C-54, was to be processed here. Planes used in the airlift were scheduled to be sent to Burtonwood for checkup and overhaul after each 200 hours of flying. When the depot was in full swing the base was turning out IO-ll planes a day-they originally had hoped for seven or eight at the most. ilk 5X: ill: Getting the new depot started in England was a gigantic under- taking, and since it was to be operated by U.S. airmen it was the first time foreign troops had been based in England during peace- time since IO66. CLEARING MATERIALS was one big problem. Tools and machinery were shipped-much of it by air-from the United States. Parts, nearly I50,000 pounds of them. came from Tinker. Wood and other construction materials had to be shipped from Germany. Then came the personnel problem. Most of the men had to be educated to production line methods. They had been accustomed to bucket shop methods, one airplane at a time. They were given on-the-job training to show how to work on planes moving down a production line. Then-since they were airmen-they had to be fed and housed. Nissen hutseused as barracks-were available on the base, but but had been dispersed for protection from wartime air raids. leINALLY we were able to get about 30 trucks from the British to transport the men from their huts to the plants , explained General Borum. Drivers for these trucks were needed too. As a matter of fact, plans for hiring some 800 Britons for all types of jobs were under- taken. Add 3,000 American airmen to these 800 Britons, stir them up. and you come out with a working force that played a vital part in the first battle of the Hcold war . Not all was rosy at Burtonwood. The giant base. with its new arrivals, was beginning to have its social troubles. Camp followers were a serious problem. They always appeared to rise bright and early, even if .the sun didn't. :K: it ail: The Mayor of Warrington, Councillor W. L. Challinor, com- menting October 7th, I948, on the visits paid to the town by strange girls, said: ,,u..-mw-, m. t...e.-;.-.s.....-.r,m:t.;...;t-t-;w.v:.4mmany. cw 1958 This is likely to embarrass the good name of our local girls and the happy relationship now existing between the Americans and the toWnspeople. Hl see no reason why the presence of the Americans should attract a host of undesirables from other parts of the country. Warrington is a proud town and lstrongly deprecate the possibility of it becoming a modern Klondyke.H They came just the same. But what most of the girls didn't realize was that the average G.l's wage was only E26 a month. Out of this there was a compulsory reduction of 20 per cent, which covered allotments home and insurance. i In addition there was a voluntary deduction of 35 per cent for commitments at home. It was ascertained that some $30,000 was going through the post-homeward bound-each month. This left lean pickings-in any accent. Operations were in full swing-each day saw USAF liaison ofhcers arriving from Germany, placing heavier demands on Burtonwood. Over 2,000,000 West Berliners had to be kept alive. Base personnel were working round-the-clock. The G.I.,s Life in England When most Gls come home from overseas, chances are theyire mighty glad to be back. They aren't thinking of any more Govern- ment sponsored trips abroad. But in l950-5l there were over 50 per cent of Burtonwood's personnel applying for an overseas extension-they wanted to stay in England. . WHY did they like it so much here? liWe speak the same language, we have ideas along the same lines, and we like the people, said one base official. This generally summarized the setup. World War II had been over for five years, but the Britons were still plagued by rationing, housing was short, even electricity was scarce fthere used to be power cuts frequentlyl. f When the main Air Force contingent began to arrive in increasing numbersemen brought in on temporary duty from all parts-t'hey had little understanding of what they were doing in England. Burtonwood had a first-class morale problem, and the situation was soon reflected in happenings in the nearby industrial town of Warrington. Fights would break out in the pubs. and local citizens got a wrong impression of the returning Gls. Burtonwood got a bad Press. THE WORK of transforming the station into a model Air Force base had only begun when the Berlin airlift gave Burtonwood a new mission, the servicing of United States lift planes. C.S4s were flown back from Germany for a 200-hour maintenance check. In the midst of the lift, the first wives and children began to arrive from the States. Burtonwood returned to its main task-maintenance of planes and supply for the l4,000 Air Force men in Britain. Where there was ndthing, there now sprawls 3 l5 square mile base, a community of 4,200 men and l,700 dependents, a complete town with its own factories, public servite's.and amenities, providing employment for L600 local CIVIllanS. all: :I: 3k i' When British people visit the base f8,000 were invited in; l?50 to make ilgoodwill toursi they rub their eyes at this astonishing American town, which has mushroomed into being on the indt'istrlal Lancashire landscape. Burtonwood has practically everything. Divided into six sites, the station could boast five chaoeis, three cinemas fshowing the latest filmsi. three fire stations, 21 eourt room. a hotel. a 200-bed hospital twith Five dentists, eightijvooctorsi, a nursery, a beauty parlor. a washeteria. a dependants'ilschool, and shops of all kinds. There Were baseball and basketball 'teams fthe uBurtonwoed Bullets'il, an American youth center. andZaBoy Stout troop. Officers, NCOs and other ranks had theirloWn. iavnshly appointed clubs and restaurants, and there were SIX gleaming snack bars. ' ON THE BUSINESS SIDE, Burtonwood had hangars, work- shops and assembly shops, and scores of huge warehouses, stocked

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M- A Decade at B 1948 U.S. ' 0 this month the first group .of EDlTOR S NOTE-l-tltganllEthilogn Burtonwood. Tlhgillg-SIIAl-Zlggalslt CIOJES . . . - n I urmg WW ll, departing lllrtonwood. The following mCl C y h g .I' v of what transpired during the past ten years. The Announcement ' h' was bein echoed throughout The Yanks are coming, tthelssummer ofgl948. The giant RAF h Lancashire countryside'in. . . S tStzlietion Burtonwood was flinging open Its doors to the American ' fover two years. once a am after an absence 0' u - Canarary to general belief, Burtonwood was re opened ' ' ' i t i.e. 'Ie material In support of Proieet Skincoa , , goplagctlhp;upply SAC rotational units when in this part of El? world; therefore Burtonwood was not re-establlshed spec: I- f r the Berlin Airlift. n ca'lllhe Xirlift, known as Operation Vittles, had started on .June 26, I948, as a response to ground blockade imposed by. RUSSIa on Berlin. The first contingent of Americans came here In August, l948. 3!? 9S Ill: AN EARLY news story carried the following account of activities at Burtonwood: The ranks of the 25-strong advance party of American Gls who arrived at Burtonwood, near Warrington, last week-end, will be swelled today by a much bigger party of their comrades. i llNinety-five men and three officers of the USAAF are due this afternoon. RAF transport will come down to meet the men when they arrive at Bank Quay Station, Warrington. Burtonwood houses several RAF units, and at the moment British airmen are evacuating one of their living sites, which will be taken over by the new comers. Today's party, it is understood, will be followed by others at intervals until there are 300 men at Burtonwood. tilt was announced in Washington last week that the Americans - are maintenance and service personnel for the two groups of 8-29 bombers-the Super Forts-recently sent to England. This story was dated August 7, I948. 3k IX! is THE UNIT headed for Burtonwood, designated the 59th Air Depot, arrived from Rome, N;Y., on September l2, l948. Hardly gad the mung :egun tc:j unpack when maintenance officers from ermany ew ere to iscuss transfer of 200- ' ' Berlin Airlift G-54 llSkymasters. hour In5pectlons on Who would have thought that onl . y a few short ears I t that the number of American troops would have Zlimbe: f; a peak strength of some l3,000-a far cry from the total 300 thsalt1 wa's efxpected in the early days. ort y a ter the arrival of the advance part i . . . y three full Eegjegodngsv griufps, cbonSIsting of ninety long-range borhlfelrilphigl . n a our ases in eastern En land for h ,. described as Hroutine trainin m' ' g w at was offiCIalIy been moved to the UK f g ISSIOnS. Two of these groups had in from the United StaLtesrom Germany While the third had flown at :x: 3X: The New York Times on Au . ust 29th, statement 0f Mngt. TheodoEe Richard temeered little topkick of the outfi was not too bad a deal' . ' We got yanked out of airfi this lob. Most of us only got t enoigal: tohstraighten out our personal affairs , e continued, Hl fi ur ' ' i . dut . ' g e It is onl for bilthsanblulttxl: nfot too bad. We draw RAll-I ratitsal:stlarlldllssl temporary non-ration de ave our own cooks, who su plement th efep m RAF which S e stuff, and we make out OK. hose ' e OOdS Wlth ergeant Richardson was spe someSDrjity days about ne years ago. carried the following son, the cocky, even- t, who said Burtonwood aking were a-awa-.a:.:.:..,r..,wkaa$ ..-. Readying the Base When the 59th Air Depot arrived at Burtonwood, it found the remnants of what had been a thriving wartime depot. Quarters Were broken-down, offering little protection against the elements. Heat was lacking and the weather damp and cold. Mail flowed at asnail's pace, sometimes requiring five weeks to arrive from the States There were no recreational facilities and few of the necessities It frequently required more than an hour for a man to travel from. his quarters to work or to the mess hall where he then had to wait up to 40 minutes in the mess queue. This then was Burtonwood l948 Progress seemed slow-the base was big, and men lived in deplorable conditions. The higherups had taken a great interest in Burtonwood-it was to be a vital installation during the Airlift. On December 28, I948, progress was expedited When the Hon- orable Stuart W. Symington, Secretary of the Air Force, and his party, inspected the base. Mr. Symington noted the need for improvement and assured the Commanding General, Major General Fred S. Borum, that improvement was to be hurried along. Shortly afterwards, the late General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, paid a visit to the giant Lancashire base. Improve- ments were on the way. ell: :X: :X! ALMOST I,000 Nissen huts were remodeled and equipped with light fixtures, wall plugs and pitchmastic flooring. Six mess halls were either constructed or rehabilitated. Snack bars, two PX,s, a chapel and bus terminal were remodeled for use. On March 2nd. a highly efficient, well-stocked commissary was opened. At the end of March i49 the base had five chapels, six theaters, a Service Club, an NCO Club and an Officers' Club. Morale had improved, families of the men were making their appearance for the first time. Twenty-five converted Nissen huts, l0 old BOX's and 50 British-type trailers were used as Burtonwoodis first families quarter units. The station allowance was ujust over $7 a day and the pound cost $4.05. The pound was revalued to $2.80 and the station allow- ance came down to $5.75. The first group of wives to arrive came in early December, l948. Housing was next to impossible to find and rents, though reasonable in the early days, became somewhat higher as the years passed. Burtonwood was not forgotten by the folks back home. World famous entertainers soon appeared at the gates 0f the big base-ready to entertain the boys from home. :it! 3X: 3X: AMONG the first to show their talents at the mudjf'dde hase was one Robert Hope. The December 30. I948 Daily Mall,5 heidlme; read, HHoPe Comes to the Gl's in Mudhole. The Daily .Dlspglc headlines read, U.S. Stars Invade Burtonwood, and the Na ers captured the hearts of all GI Joes at Burtonwood. . l'ttle First arrivals were Mr. Stuart Symington, General Jimmy Doc;1 Kl Technical Adviser and famed Tokyo raider, Lt. Gen. Josep - Cannon, Commander USAFE. and two star General . Leon Johnson, CO 3rd Air Division, Headquarters, South Runsllp. After them, delayed five hours by icy weather I. Germanygerlin four Skymasters bearing Bob Hope, Jinx Falkenbefg. erIng l a 28-Piece GI Band and New Yorkls prettiest damng girls' nd an In a huge hangar comfortably holding 2,000 GI s roglow by improvised stage, the U.S. Air Secretary StOle the? tailed announcing that 2,000 additional stoves woqld be '5 tha from next week in the CPS mud-encircled Nissen hutszover 56,000 square yards of linoleum was being ordered :0 eight the concrete floors of the huts, that there would euld be lights to a hut instead of two, and that all mess halls wo centrally heated. F ChThflS Was the second visit to the base in three daYS by the A ie . came

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mu 4 14m: 3 magma ff v -F,., 7.7 - -. Decade . . equipment and spares. At least ninety days' t and some Naval supplies, ' h U.S. Air Force and-Army, - SUPPIIES for : siock. All food sold in restaurants, or from tjceecggan wgsrsiryegr post exchange, came from.the Stdates, Withhcth aim fllaown ml 'lk ro ucts, w l . bou ht locally, and mi p . ' 'Of zrzgneitll-lbclllznd. Tghe shops sold, or could get, anythingB thtat 12:;de bnr Sears Roebuck have ever thought of. ThIS was ur on , ' i ' west boom town. , ' - Larsslbl'eosffrjebase-the airmen poured IntoTEhe neabrl'byugsngn ' ' ' ' t. e pu IC t s in search of entertalnmen - llnvlall'lril:gton were amazed to hear that our boys were averad ing L26 per month. itWe accept dollars Signs went up an fhe locals were ready to do business With the Yanks. f The tabloid Daily Mirror reported that teen-age girlsn some 0 them no more than I2, were doing a brisk.busmess picking up American airmen at Manchester's Central Station. 5X: 3? ill: with food, clothing, THE NEWSPAPER, in a haIf-page article bannered Britaintsi' Good Name is in Peril, said armies of young girls met the trains from Burtonwood, the big American air base l6 miles from Manchester. . , ilNo introductions are needed, the Mirror said. HA Hi ya, Joe is enough for any good-natured GI. The peacetime love parade outsmarts anything London staged at wartime Rainbow Corner. HIt is shoddy, shamefulwand shocking. It is sex for sale-a frightening, awful thing of teen-age girls, some no more than l2-waiting nightly in twos and threes. The Mirror said that more than I00 girls drift into Central Station nightly. They sit on benches, opposite the arrival platforms. Military and civilian police are powerless, the Mirror said, because the girls are never caught actually soliciting. The thirror said the girls and their GI dates usually move on to pubs and then to cheap hotels. Capt. George W. Hill, press officer at Burtonwood, said: We are very alive to the problems and are doing everything we can to give the men plenty of entertainment and recreation right here to keep them off theistreets. Ohe way to lteep the boys on-base was to give them better rec- reational fatilities on the installation itself. It wasn't long before well-known entertainers were coming to the base. Among those were Nat 'lKing Cole, Gene Raymond, his wife Jeanette MacDonald, Constance Bennett, The Deep River Boys, The Merry Macs. Allan Jones. Don Cummings, Rochester, Sophie Tucker and many, many more. Athletic teams were formed, da nces heId-the roblem area was met and for the most part solved. P A Time of Expansion Here we go a ain, was th ' wood in early l95gl. The 30tl?rl;xir eD;IPS Of most people at Burton- pot was on the wa o Esgznggftsgidbgund for nearby RAF Station Sealand. Pieoiblleer 2'33: irmen, were pourin into the I' , ' base at a fast I' . H g ' spraw Ing Lancashire were here. c ip until about l2,000 airmen and 9,000 dependents AS ONE MASTER SERGEANT said, 0! . . H . , either eXpansuon or a close-down. This ti ere we go again. It s . me it ha e :35???er rgrllciieglNhtallean Expansion SGEVeral hundiidnbgseonbiizh for USAF w ' runway was lengthEHEd. Sealand was slated o . . . . rk. and warehousmg fatilities were being set up :it Ill: 5X! . The 59th Air De t ' members of the 3'0ctlh Yib-ng extended a . Depot W' mgeglistgeeyngrrgvsd at Southamptorl:g19l'l1e;e:rrrll:;g 2t;nl9t5l1I ose and were greeted b e y a re re ' This group gave th ff , led by Lt. Col. H. Y. Sltgwasftntatlve back aboard the t e o icer personnel a short briefin th ' Wing debarked Cransport the following morning befglr ehn Went . apt. Ralph Miles, chief of the Southar:ptto: 38V: or we..' lihzd;uwmunginn ..,... Detachment, and members of his staff, went all 0 debarkation as pleasant as possible. MEMBERS of the Wing went almost directly from the shi t waiting train, which had been pulled into a siding-in a defksPda warehouse. The coaches had been previously deSignated and tIhe loading went smoothly, which permitted the trains to ar e Warrington pretty much on schedule late Saturday afternoo 36 3? all: ut to make the rive at n. Burtonwood personnel had been preparing a warm wel- come several days for the new Wing from San Antonio Motor transport met them at Bank Quay station and tool; the airmen to their respective sites, where the huts had been aired out, fires started and the bunks made up. Officers were taken to 276 MU officersi quarters. x Dining halls remained open after hoursto feed the airmen and the officers had the evening meal in the Officersl Club dining room. By the time they all gathered in the gym Sunday morning, members of the 30th knew much more about thebase than their predecessors did on their arrival. They had been provided with a 24-page booklet filled with information about the base. AT THE SU NDAY MORNI NG BRIEFING a verbal greeting was extended to the new men by Brig. Gen. Robert C. Oliver. The 59th Wing CG delivered a straightforward address which was well received. t all: :X: 5X: The'inew men couldn't get the wrong impression about the weather at Burtonwood. It rained throughout the briefing, was cold and the wind blew at near gale force; t HOWEVER, the gym had been warmed ahead of time and the PX had a number of mobile snack bars on hand with hot coffee. The PX opened up from I300 to l500 hours that wet Sunday to allow members of the new Wing to make necessary purchases. at 5X: $6 The 30th Wing, which was commanded by Lt. Col. Howard Kelly on its trip overseas, semed pretty well settled by Monday and large numbers of them were seen around Site 6 finding out where the Post Office and other important places were located. The 30th remained at Burtonwood until March, l95l, when it moved to RAF Station Sealand. Sealand, looking more like a university campus than an air base. was iire-opened to the Americans to handle medical supplies. subsistence and other supplies. The Yanks were first conneCted with Sealand during World War I when the famous Eagle Squadron were stationed there. 5x: :x: :x? Eighteen months later the Flintshire base was used 35 i? baSIc training station for persons enlisting in the Air ForceVOV'erseas'. Later still, it returned to its primary mission, that of supPlYmg the USAF in the UK. 0' . d And on the British scene the death of King George V! deprivee America of one of its greatest friends. The entire base Pa'd homag to the King. The year was I952. On the Field 5f Sports d hletic fiel 5 Like a giant 5 ider weavin its web in and out of the at throughout Europe, the Bugrtonwood Athletic Teamsr l95ll52-IS3' -' proved to be as feared as the black widow itself. is ' FROM FOOTBALL To BASEBALL, fro'm golf to tencloci from soccer to swimming, from track: to boxingv the BurtonW teams surpassed all other competitors in Europe. , ' 'n of It was an era of sports. The epoch began 1 the SP? asun- l95l and did not end until the'Buliet footballers WF'e hers - ced on the Burtonwood gridiron in I953! thus end'ng awling of athletic stars that earned world renown follthe 5pm Lancashire base. Here is the record: .,.:v; .Inx , a; FA 441 9 Ah;