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This is Volume One of The Army Air Forces in World War II, titled Plans and Early Operations, January 1939 to August 1942, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The University of Chicago Press first published it in 1948, and the Office of Air Force History reprinted it in 1983. The front matter explains how the AAF historical program was set up during the war. The index covers Pacific, Atlantic and European operations, and nothing in the text concerns unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Wash”17 pages
T H E A R M Y A I R F O R C E S I N W O R L D W A R I 1 a subsidiary designated for operation of the depot, was not signed until I May 1942. But Lockheed representatives began to survey the site and to draft detailed plans from late December, and the Ministry of Aircraft Production promptly began construction under the pro- vision of a letter of intent furnished by the Materiel Command in the United States in January.loS General Brett during the preceding October had inspected other areas of the United Kingdom with a view to the probable need of the AAF for another depot. H e finally settled on Warton, about twenty- five miles north of Liverpool and close to the excellent industrial and transportation facilities of Lancashire, a selection concurred in by Col. Donald Davison, engineer officer of SPOBS.'"' Brett's recom- mendations for the establishment of base depots in the United King- dom became the basis of action in January, when General Arnold directed that they be given effect "insofar as the present situation permits." lo*By March, detailed agreement had been reached between USAFBI and British authorities for the development of Warton as a base air depot for the AAF. But even with the substantial aid to an early completion provided by the surveys and consultations of 1941, it would be 1944 before all of the base air depots were prepared to assume fully the roles envisioned for them. Meanwhile, the third of the great depots that would form the bed- rock on which the structure of AAF operations from the United Kingdom would rest had come into the picture through the necessity to provide some interim establishment. In keeping with principles laid down in the Air Ministry document, Joint Organization and Main- tenance (United States), and with recommendations by General Eaker in March,lo9 a search was undertaken for existing facilities that could be put almost immediately into use. The choice fell on the British repair depot at Burtonwood, which, as events proved, was destined to become the greatest of American overseas depots and to serve as the very heart of AAF supply and maintenance in the Euro- pean Theater of Operations. Located midway between Liverpool and Manchester in the heart of Lancashire and served by good trans- portation, Burtonwood already was engaged in the repair of Ameri- can-built airframes and engines. Both General Eaker and Colonel Lyon inspected the installation in April, and acting on strong recom- mendations forwarded by General Chaney, General Arnold imme- diately initiated action to secure its transfer for American use.'l0 The 636
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