BRD
Civilians Pass Book
There
was a large number of civilian personnel
during WW2 and each had to have
their own BRD passbook. Below is a
genuine example of one.


Boston mark 3 intruder w8292 after
conversion from a standard
Boston with the depot
engineering buildings in the background.

'Proud' Signage of
Leading to the Engineering
Buildings

BRD
site is basically a factory for
aircraft maintenance and repair.
The depot workshops included
facilities for the modification
and repair of air frames,
overhauling and testing of
engines, variable pitch props
and woodworking and metal work.
Air frames were delivered on
board ship across the Atlantic
and once they were at BRD site,
they were modified and assembled
on site. They were then towed by
tractor to the airfield for
flight testing.
Due
to the difficulty of getting
spare parts from the US, BRD had
its own production facilities to
manufacture anything that may be
required.
Mary Ann site was part of BRD
site. Large 4 engined bombers
were repaired there because they
could not enter BRD site due to
their sheer size, although the
engines and systems were
maintained at BRD site. Smaller
aircraft, such as P-38, P-51 and
P-47 were assembled on BRD site.
Burtonwood
Repair Depot (known as BRD
site)
Burtonwood
Repair Depot (known as BRD site) was
a factory site built to the South
East of the airfield and was erected
in 1939 & then occupied in 1940
under the control of the Air
Ministry (Not the RAF)
The
site was later taken over by the
Ministry of Aircraft production
(MAP) and in 1942 was transferred to
the USAAF.
The
main entrance to BRD site was gate 9
sited at the South End of Burtonwood
Road opposite site 8.
The
headquarter buildings was sited just
inside the main gate (9).
1
Type 'A' aircraft hangar was
constructed on BRD site.
This
type of hangar was designed in 1924.
The
hangar featured a steel frame with
longitudinal ridge and valley
trusses for the roof with reinforced
concrete and brick infillings for
the walls.
The
span was 122 feet and the length was
249 feet.
The
hangar and associated workshops
covered 722,000 square feet.
Along
the rear of BRD site were over 30
aircraft engine test rigs running 24
hours a day 7 days a week.
The
sound of these engines could be
heard up to 2 miles away.
The
site also had its own Railway
Sidings, Locomotive shed & a
short branch line connecting into
the main Liverpool to Manchester
Railway Line.
Fairey
Aviation Company was the parent
Company to BRD site.
On
September 1940 Curtiss Mohawks
arrived there in early 1941 &
also at this time technicians from
Brewster, Curtiss & Douglas
Aircraft Companies arrived there.
4
Subsidiary firms operated on BRD Ltd
under Technical guidance being
Rovers Radials, Rollinson Radials,
Sunbeam Liquid Cooled & British
Overseas Airways Corporation.
The
site was officially handed complete
control to the USAAF on the 21st of
October 1943.
The
Air Ministry built 10 equipment type
depot stores buildings on BRD site
for the use of warehouses and
engineering workshops.
They
were built in parallel rows 5 to
each row.
Each
building having 10 smaller type
buildings attached to them, 5 on
each side coupled together forming
continuous rows of workshops.
The following photos illustrate
the engineering and production
facilities at BRD site.
Photo
217 Machine Shop


Photo
224 50 Calibre Machine Gun
Photo
35 Wood Shop


Photo
16 Radio Repair

Photo
10 Radio Repair

Photo
115 Maintenance P-38 Lockeed
Lightning

Photo
140 Storage/Engine Maintenance

Photo
PA 461 Parachute Inspection
& Packing.
Note: In the foreground of the
photo are crash test dummies.

Photo
PA 453 Parachute Inspection
& Packing.

Photo
154 Engine Overhaul Shop.


Photo
176 Prop Section

Photo 185 Hydromatic propellor barrel
assembly

Colonel
OTT base commander WW2
pictured
far right (anyone know any of
the other guys?)

BRD
Engineering Workshops WW2

Record
Site Plan of BRD Site
Hangar
AD-2 Book on BAD site
The record site
plan (above) shows the location of
hangar AD-2.
At the end
of World War 2 the personnel of each
hangar and workshop received a copy of a
specially prepared book of their work
while service at BAD site before
returning back home, very similar to a
college Year book.
Many thanks to
Terry Kekic and his brother from the USA
for spending a very long time scanning
and actually sending a physical copy to
us.
Terry Kekic's
father Frank Georg Kekik was one of those personnel at BAD
and served there during World War 2 and
the following pages are from his
personal copy of that book.






















B.R.D. Building legend for above
aerial photo 1945
(Please note:
Because the building numbers on the
record site plan (that we have) are
of
poor quality, we have re-numbered
the most relevant buildings to the
one's shown below)
1
Fuel storage
tanks (oil) |
2
Standby electrical
generator &
compressors |
3
Engine test beds &
their associated oil and
petrol installation |
4
Fuel storage (coal) |
5
Central heating boiler
plant |
6
Rootes Securities Ltd |
7
Plating shop, variable
pitch airscrew shop
& Salford Electric |
8
Fitting shop, machine
shop, aero engine
storage & sheet
metal shop |
9
Engine repair shop |
10
Decontamination &
first aid shop |
11
Demolition &
detonator building |
12
Decontamination &
first aid |
13
sanitary block |
14
Aircraft depot repair
shop |
15
Aircraft depot
paint shop |
16
Canteen |
17
Defence (military) |
18
Motor transport petrol
installation |
19
Aircraft depot erection
shop |
19a
Embodiment loan &
main store |
20
Maintenance office &
store |
21
Transformer electrical
sub station |
21a
Scrap metal store |
22
Fire & ambulance
station & gas
defence |
22a
Petrol pump for motor
transport |
23
Motor transport office
& shed |
24
Rail weighbridge |
25
Articulated trailer shed |
26
Motor transport shed |
27
Railway locomotive shed |
28
Wood Mill & timber
store |
28a
Road weighbridge |
29
Lubricant &
inflammable store |
30
Headquarters office
block |
31
Air-raid precaution
control room |
32
Warden office &
emergency air-raid
precaution panel |
33
First aid clearing room |
34
Employment office |
35
Hutted camp |
36
Main entrance gate 9 |
37
Bus depot |
Aerial
Photo of BRD Site

Main Gate Entrance to BRD
(Burtonwood Repair Depot) Site.

Main Gate Entrance to BRD
(Burtonwood Repair Depot) Site
2014

Aerial
Photo of The Headquarters Building
Just inside the Main Gate (9)


BRD site
photo taken from site 8 boiler house
looking across Burtonwood Road

Air Police BRD site WW2

Railway Branch Line
Running East Looking
From the Level Crossing Gates (no
longer there)
The two green posts on
each side of the footpath
supported the gate
across the railway line which ran
along the rout of the footpath and
entered site 8 to the rear of
where the picture was taken.

Railway Branch Line
Continued From Picture Above
(going West)
The branch line obviously
ran in between the fence posts

The
route of the railway (line as
above) coming backwards.
The 2
posts can be seen in the
distance where the level
crossing used to be.
Also,
note the 3 GPO cable duct
chamber covers.
Railway Branch Line
Continued From Picture Above
(going East)
Pedestrian Crossing
Footpath
During operation
the gate was closed to pedestrians


The Rails Can Still
Clearly be Seen

The end of the railway
line facing East joining the main
line rail head.

The
line as it was joining the mainline
(possibly in the 1990's).
The end of the fencing can be
seen at the bottom of the picture.
View Looking Towards the
Main Manchester - Liverpool
Railway
A signal box was sited
here in WW2 to control entry into
BRD site. The branch line had
large volumes of traffic in WW2.
The signal box was closed on the
24th of October
1965 and replaced by a 3 lever
ground frame released by Widnes
East.
The ground frame was out of use by
May 1993 when the base closed

A disused semaphore home
signal close to the rail junction

This
is the Reclamation Scrap Yard.
The tall
building behind the crane is the
locomotive shed.
The
bridge in the centre of the photo
is going across the main
Manchester to Liverpool railway
line and beyond the bridge on the
horizon you can see Lever
Brothers/Crossfields building.

Ohio Grove railway bridge is out
of site behind the houses.
All
the roads on this new
estate have an American
connection.
This for
instance is named Ohio Grove &
this photo taken in 2014 by
me & Gary is roughly where the
scrapyard was back in WW2

WW2
BRD
the railway bridge with the houses off
Ohio grove in the background.

BRD site photo taken in 1960 by
the US army looking north.
The Manchester to Liverpool
railway line can be seen across the
bottom of the photo
the railway bridge and
locomotive shed are visible
where Ohio grove is today.

Engine
Test Beds
Pratt & Whitney
1830's Aircraft Radial Engines
Running
on Their Test Blocks on BRD Site
During WW2.
They
ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week
in the open air regardless of the
weather

Aerial Photo
of BRD Site Taken Just After WW2 During
1947 - Note
the Camouflage on the Workshop Rooftops

This
is the back of the engine test
beds 2014

Photo
4 Speech Broadcasting or Public
Address Station
Photo
CM134 Prop Section

CM132
Prop Shop

Photo
153 Engine Overhaul

Dinghy
Inspection

Fabric
Store

Photo
PA459 Sign Writing

Photo
121 Maintenance Office

Photo
39 P38 Assembly

Internal
Supply

Photo
167 Engine Assembly

Photo
124 Accident Repair

Photo
15 Instrument Testing





BRD
Photo 100 Hydraulic Department



BRD
Airframe Erection Workshop

BRD
Photo 173 Engine Storage and Maintanence
Line

BRD Doping Section.

BRD
Photo 39 Oxygen Department

BRD
Photo 121 Canopy Repair

BRD
Photo 84 Machine Shop

BRD
Photo 155 Engine Assembly


Photo 131 Engine Maintenance

Photo
134 Maintenance

BRD Photo
141

Photo
127 Engine Maintenance

P-38
Lightning Maintenance Photo 127

Piper L-4 Grasshopper 2
Seat Light Observation/
Communication Aircraft Being
Unpacked and Assembled
Photo
E583 Radio Repair Shop
Even More Pictures etc
Coming Soon Regarding BRD Site
.....
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