USAAF (RAF) Burtonwood (Cheshire/Lancashire)

Aerial Image of USAAF Burtonwood on the 10th of August 1945 by 541 Squadron

Overlay of 1955 USAF Burtonwood Airfield Plan On Top of 2015 Google Aerial View

All our photos that we took in the RAF Burtonwood Airfield .

For more information about RAF Burtonwood visit the RAF
Burtonwood Archive on the 'Airfield Findings' page.

Where is it?

RAF Burtonwood is just outside the town of Warrington.

What is it?

RAF Burtonwood was an expansion programme airfield. It was constructed as an aircraft storage and repair depot.

What were the main sites?

There were 5 main sites on the airfield :

A site with 2 K type hangers,

E site with 3 L type hangers,

G site with 3 L type hangers,

Tech site with 1 K type hanger and 1 J type,

and Mary Anne site with 3 C type hangars.

There was also a site off the airfield known as BRD site, it was constructed as a factory.

What about the Runways?

There was 3 runways at RAF Burtonwood :

04/22 was 4200 FT long,

09/27 was 5280 FT long,

and 15/33 that was 4248 FT long

What about the Sub sites?

There were also 7 sub sites for living accommodation.

Site 8 Header house was opened in 1954 as a warehouse.

What about the Control towers?

There were 3 control towers :

One was a fort type 207/36 and was made of concrete.

Another one was a watch office for all commands. Its reference number is : 12779/41, it had small windows to 15371/41

The last one was a post war USAF tower.

Can you give us some Brief History about RAF Burtonwood?

The airfield first opened on April 1940, with 37 maintenance unit moving in .

The USAAF moved in on the 15th July 1942 and was called Base Air Depot 1 for repair and modification of aircraft.

The airfield returned to RAF use on June 1946.

Controll was handed back to the USAF in September 1948.

In 1951 the USAF expanded the base with extensions of runway 09 / 27 to 9000 FT and 250 FT wide , a new controll tower was constructed in 1953 on Tech Site.

What is RAF Butonwood like now?

RAF Burtonwood is now completely demolished apart from taxi ways between E and A sites and the odd bit of fencing.

WWII USAAF BAD1 Burtonwood
Trench Art From One of Our Members

Early this week we received an email from one of our members and he told us about an aluminium sign that he says was made from WWII aircarft alloy that he has in his posession.

So we asked him to send us a photo of the item and he has given us permission to publish it along with his message below.

"Hello Sir ,

I'm Nigel , and I've just spent a good while perousing your great website.

Very interesting .

I write Sir ,because I have a nice item from the old Burtonwood Airfield.

It's a Sign basically or the raised elements from said sign.

It's made from scrapped USAAF Aircraft Aluminium that much we know , it features a B-17 in semi profile the wings and star of the USAAF and banner logo with the legend "Base Air Depot No1" all as seperate parts and is roughly sand cast made locally on base the whole assembly is around 2-3 feet square .

I have the parts mounted on a piece of felt covered MDF just for display now, but would love to know if You might know where abouts on the airfield it was originally?

We've had it a long time.

And I'm keen to know a little more about it if possible .

I'd be glad to send photos if you'd be interested in seeing it .

Many thanks for Your Time Sir, and Very best regards Nigel."
 

This is a Souvenir Poster From One of the Many Open Days at the
Header House at Burtonwood During the US Army's Occupation

Boeing B17E - 41-9175 on the 16th of March 1943 with 'A' site in the background. Photo USAAF

P38 Lockheed Lightning During Maintenance

P38 Lockheed Lightning During Maintenance

P-38 Lightning Maintenance Burtonwood England

P-51 Mustangs Lancashire England 25th of February 1944

B17's on Dispersal

bell P-400--Airacobra at Burtonwood on the 16th march 1943.

The aircraft appears to be on Site 1 facing South.

Famous visitors to visit the base included: Comedian Bob Hope and Singers
Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, Vera Lyn & Joe Loss and also Major
Glen Miller the famous USAAF Band leader

Left To Right - Major Glenn Miller at one of his concerts with
Love Dust on the 27th of July 1944 at Burtonwood.

(Photo USAAF)

Left To Right - Joe Loss, Vera Lynn and Major Glen Miller outside Building
226 on Mary Ann Site during a concert visit on the 15th of August 1944.

Shortly after this photo was taken Glen Miller flew to Twinwood farm in
Bedfordshire and then onto Paris. However, his aircraft never arrived
at Paris (presumably) having crashed in the English Channel.

(Photo by Wally Baldwin)

Burtonwood - Bob Hope Show, 28 Aug 1943

(Photo From The American Air Museum in Britain -
Ray Zimmerman Collection via Aldon Ferguson)

Burtonwood - Bob Hope Show, 28 Aug 1943

(Photo From The American Air Museum in Britain -
Ray Zimmerman Collection via Aldon Ferguson)

Burtonwood - Bob Hope Show, 28 Aug 1943

(Photo From The American Air Museum in Britain -
Ray Zimmerman Collection via Aldon Ferguson)

Burtonwood - Basket Ball Team 14 Apl 1943

(Photo From The American Air Museum in Britain -
Ray Zimmerman Collection via Aldon Ferguson)

Burtonwood - names of Basket ball team (above)

(Photo From The American Air Museum in Britain -
Ray Zimmerman Collection via Aldon Ferguson)

The Dining Room of the USAAF 27th Air Transport
Group 8th Air Force Service Command.

The group served at Burtonwood from 1943 to May 1945
& carried cargo and passengers within Great Britain.

In February 1945 the group assumed additional missions of ferrying all types of
aircraft to and from Burtonwood for maintenance, repair and modification.

 The aircraft, once repaired etc where then ferried back to the front line airfields.

27th Air Transport Group Units assigned to BAD 1.

302nd Transport Wing, 8th Air Force Service Command

310th, 311th, 312th Ferry Squadron's

320th, 321st Air Transport Squadrons

Colonel I W Ott (in the Centre of the photo) of Base Air Depot 1 (BAD1)
Commander From the 6th of March 1944 to the end of Hostilities.

Colonel I W Ott Was Later Promoted to General.

Far left is Col Billy Arnold Head of Maintenance.

He won the Daytona 500 Car race prior to WW2.

This farm (below in the photo) was called 'Brook House farm' and was built before the airfield at USAAF Burtonwood was constructed, and when the American's took occupation of the base it
became General Isaac W Ott's personal residence.

He was the base Commander and the farmhouse was sited what became known as site 6 which was
the communal living site and it was also where 'The Flight Test Crew's' where billeted.

Here is what was written on the back of the photo:

"The general's house, the back of it at that compare it with those
shacks in the other pictures. I should have been a general."

The Badge of the 8th Air Force WW2

The Emblem (Roundal) of The Royal Air Force

Burtonwood Airfield 2 miles west of the town of Warrington was ideally suited being nearby to the industries of Manchester and Warrington & also close to Liverpool docks and the main line railway.

The site was selected in 1938 as a decision made in 1936 to build aircraft repair depots (ARD) with engine repair depots in the expansion periods inner war Years.

Building work began in 1938 with no 37 maintenance unit Royal Air Force moving in on the 1st of April 1940. On the 11th of June 1942 USAAF arrived. The USAAF were handed complete control of the air depot. Work began on the construction of 6 large warehouse workshops with a total of 734,000 square feet of floor space.

Work also began on an additional aircraft parking apron at a cost of approximately $2,000,000.

By 1944 18,500 US personnel were stationed on Burtonwood being the largest USAAF base in Europe. The airfield was now known as 8th USAAF base air depot 1 (BAD1) station 950, although an RAF presence continued until 1943.

BAD1 became the centre for flight testing, overhaul, modification and repair of all USAAF aircraft in Europe in World War 2.

30,386 aircraft engines were overhauled and over 11,500 aircraft processed between 1943 and 1945.

Celebrities to visit the base were film actor James Cagney, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Vera Lynn and Glenn Miller.

By April 1945 the base contained:

2.5 miles of runway

3.5 miles of perimeter track

4.05 miles of railway track

18 miles of roadway

1,823 buildings (total area of the buildings and all that is listed above = 1,253 acres)

4,006, 852 square feet of covered facilities for supply and storage, workshops and technical operations

7,096,181 square feet of open facilities

Total value = $50,000,000

Living site accommodation for 18,063 personnel. By 1958 the base motor pool carried 25,000,000 passengers covering 11,000,000 miles, 23,381,200 gallons of petrol was consumed.

6,500 American's married English girls. The base at this time contained:

13 hangars

22 warehouses

1,054 nissan huts

18 miles of surface roadway covering an area of 3,535,990 square feet, 16.85 miles of fencing, with a total acres of 1,471 and 3,940,740 square feet of aircraft parking apron.

The airfield had the standard 3 runway RAF Layout.

Runway 04/22  4,200 feet long

Runway 15/33  4,248 feet long

Runway 09/27  5,280 feet long and was later (in January 1953) extended to 9,000 feet by 250 feet wide by the USAF

3 x control towers were built.

The first was on Mary Ann Site and was a fort type built of concrete to AM (Air Ministry) drawing number 207/36. This tower was demolished due to bad visibility of the main runway and the 2nd to be built was 'watch office' for all commands and was built to AM drawing number 12779/41 with small windows to 15371/41 to the main runway at techsite.

The 3rd control tower was the 80 feet high USAF tower next to the 'J' type hangar on tech site built in 1953.

Airfield Hangar Sites.

The airfield had 5 main hangar sites.

Mary Ann Site had 3 'C' type hangars and 2 large storage workshops.

Technical Site had 1 'J' type and 1 'K' type hangars.

'G' Site had 3 'L' type hangars, 3 bellman hangars and 2 storage workshops.

'E' Site had 3 'L' type hangars.

'A' Site had 2 'K' type hangars.

Also, 20 'robin hangars' were dispersed around the airfield.

BRD Site (Burtonwood Repair Depot)

A factory site was also built off Burtonwood Road and was known as BRD Site. It was erected in 1939 and occupied in 1940 under the control of the air ministry (NOT the RAF).

It was later taken over by the ministry of aircraft production (MAP) and in 1942 transferred to the USAAF.

Living Quarters

On site living quarters were constructed on 6 sites built from the 1st of November to the 31st of December 1943.

The buildings were mostly nissen and gerrard type huts and temporary brick rendered finish. Also, additional off site living quarters were taken over at Bruce Hall & Canada Hall east of Warrington. The Americans were taken to and from Burtonwood in military trucks each day.

After WW2 Bruce Hall & Canada Hall were never required again by the military. Bruce Hall became a police training college and Canada Hall became the site of Padgate teachers training college.

Post World War 2 Scotia North, and ex Royal Navy camp at Lowton near Leigh was opened in September 1950 to provide additional accommodation for servicemen and their dependants.

Also another ex Royal Naval camp was taken over by the RAF called RAF Croft at Lady Lane near Warrington. The site became tenanted by the USAF in 1955 as a processing point for military personnel when Burtonwood was assigned the additional function of Military Air Transport Services (MATS) terminal for passenger flights between the United States and the United Kingdom.

Satellite Stations & Associated Bases (To Burtonwood) in WW2

As well as the 8th army air force, Burtonwood was also responsible for the support of the 9th, 12th and 15th army air forces in WW2. 18,500 personnel worked on the base and an additional 37,545 personnel worked on sub sites, depots, satellite stations and associated bases throughout the United Kingdom for which BAD1 Burtonwood was responsible for.

Al these sub sites had unit code names, but these were normally used for telecommunications only. However, each United States Army Air Force location was identified by a station number. These stations are listed in the list below:

After WW2

After the defeat of Germany the USAAF started to clear the air base up ready to hand it back over to the RAF. The USAAF decided it would be cheaper to scrap all aircraft and spares on site rather than ship it all back to the United States.

Aircraft flew from bases all over the United Kingdom into Burtonwood to be scrapped in this way. This work was so big of a job that the USAAF were still at Burtonwood in 1946.

The hangars and warehouses contained 16,187 tons of stock valued at $120,000,000 which was handed over to the British. On the the 25th of May 1946 BAD1 AAF Station 590 was the last airfield in the UK to be handed over to the RAF.

The Americans had left but would be back within 2 years.

In January 1946 No. 276 RAF Maintenance unit was formed even though the Americans cleaning up parties were still there.

Main Entrance Gate 12 Burtonwood

This was at Site 2

After travelling from the USA this was the first port of call
for every US service personnel and their families.

The Badge of The United States Air Force

Site 1 During the USAF occupation (NOT the USAAF)

Site 1 was situated on the South Side of the M62 at
Burtonwood services (now demolished).

The main entrance was off Burtonwood Road.

As you can see on the photos below the sign shows that
this area was the dependants housing area.

Dependants in the USA call their children dependants.

Inside One of the Dependants Classrooms on Site 1 in the
1950's During the USAF occupation (NOT the USAAF)

Air Forces European Exchange Main Burtonwood
Shopping Center (Location Unknown?)

USAF Engine Technicians Working on a Radial Engine in the 1950's.

With the advent of the cold war the Unites States Air Force (USAF) needed a presence in Europe and Burtonwood was an obvious choice. In 1948 the USAF took over control of the air base in time to take part in the overhaul and maintenance of C54 skymasters taking part in the Berlin airlift.

Each servicing taking over 700 man hours. In 1949 when the soviet union backed down over the Berlin airlift the USAF used Burtonwood as a primary stores and equipment base for its European operations.

On the 1st of September 1953 the airbase was renamed Northern Air Material Area (NAMA) and their mission was to supply supplies to the USAF, Navy & Army.

Also (MATS) Military Air Transport Services were responsible for all operations involved with flying. Further building works were started in 1951 with the extension to runway 09/27 the main runway to 9,000 feet and 250 feet wide.

The 2 existing runways 22/04 and 15/33 from the WW2 days were used for parking the WB 50 weather aircraft on and as additional hardstandings. In 1953 an additional apron was constructed between the south taxi way and runway 04/22.

Also constructed was a new control tower and passenger terminal.

North of Mary Ann Site a new crash fire station was built next to the main runway. On site 8 a new warehouse was constructed in January 1953 and opened August the 16th 1954. This was to become known as header house. The warehouse was the largest in Europe being 1 mile long and over 3,000,000 square feet and even had its own private railway line connected to the main Manchester to Liverpool main line.

The total cost to build this site was $12,000,000 and took 20 months to build.

The airbase was known as the gateway to Europe to the American Military personnel and their families. The base was so large that it was nicknamed Lancashire's Detroit and little America by the personnel stationed there. After 10 years of continuous building works Burtonwood was the biggest military base outside of the USA.

By 1959 the USAF had left Burtonwood forever although the USAF had several units there until 1965 and on the 18th of June 1965 control was returned to the RAF.

The RAF built a 'V' Bomber dispersal parking hardstanding and was located next to the downwind end of the main runway (runway 27).

4 'V' bombers would have been at full readiness at the dispersals in the event of a Nuclear War. These dispersals were built at many airfields across the UK & known as 'scatter bases'.

The 'V' bombers would disperse and operate between these dispersals making them small disperse targets.

De Gaulle had quit NATO and told the United States to leave France. The US Army's huge stockpiles in its stores in France had therefore to be transferred elsewhere, and Header house at Burtonwood was the ideal place to transfer it to.

Burtonwood Header House Site 8 - US Army Storage Depot

On January the 2nd 1967 the Americans (the United States Army NOT the USAF) were back at Burtonwood and renamed it 'Burtonwood Army Depot UK'.

On the 4th of January 1982 the depot was again renamed HQ47 Area Support Group UK.

At the end of the cold war Burtonwoods Army Depot UK was declared Access to NATO requirements & was officially closed in 1994.

The US Army had no real use for the airfield, but at first they used 'Mary Ann' site & 'G' site to store vehicles and 'Tech' site to store some helicopters there for a while, but later concentrated on Header house at site '8'.

The last fixed wing aircraft to use the airfield were the gliders of 635 Gliding School Air Training Corps. The gliding school opened in November 1959 & they used Kirby Cadet MK3 & Sedbergh Gliders launched by stationery winches.

The 'K' type hangar on 'Tech' site was used to store the gliders & their equipment.

When 'Tech' site was demolished the gliding school was stood down on the 25th of September 1983.

At the end of the cold war, the US Army left Burtonwood & the Americans left this time forever & demolition work soon started & was completed in 2008.

Open Day

The United States Air Force opened the gates of the airfield to the public a number of times in the 1950's for armed forces day, displaying all types of front line USAF and RAF aircraft of the time.

The open days were held on Mary Ann site and the aircraft were displayed on the apron in front of the 3 'C' type hangars.

Below is a plan (from out of the programme) of Armed Forces Day on Mary Ann Site on the 17th of May 1958.

Blackburn Beverly C.1.XB268 D47 Squadron May
19 1956 on the open day at Burtonwood

Gloucester Javelin FAW, 4, XA731 18 sq 18 may 1957

Note: There were 3 'C' type hangars on Mary Ann Site & here you can see 1 of them in the background.

FTS Vampire T.11 XK584 66 17th of  May 1958 open day.

Note: In the background you can see the crash fire station located close to the main runway 09/27

A Close up of the Crash Fire Station Situated in Front
of Mary Ann Site Next to the Main Runway 09/27

53rd Weather

Also resident at Burtonwood were the 53rd Weather reconnaissance squadron, arriving there in November 1953 flying their long range Boeing B29 & WB50 Super Fortresses collecting weather data for military air transport services.

The 53rd WRS left in April 1959 for re-assignment to Alconbury in Cambridge.

Boeing Super Fortress WB50 of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron USAF on Mary Ann Site (1950's)

Boeing Super Fortress WB50 of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron USAF on Mary Ann Site (1950's)

53rd Weather Reconnaissance Loading Mailbags of Children's
Christmas Cards to be Dropped at the North Pole for Santa Claus.  

B36 Peacemaker

The largest aircraft to use Burtonwood was Convair B36 Peacemakers of the 11th Bomb wing Strategic Air Command (SAC).

The aircraft had 10 engines, with 6 propellers and 4 jet engines. 16 of these bombers landed at Burtonwood between the 18th & 20th of October 1956. This size of aircraft were able to land and take off at Burtonwood because of the lengthening of the main runway.

The people of Warrington could hear the sound of the engines of these B36's for miles and although they didn't make any formal complaints regarding the noise they weren't really pleased about it.

Summary

There was talk at the time (1980's) of trying to save 1 of the 2 control towers on Tech site and some of the hangars on 'A' site and 'E' site, but nothing was really done to save them and they were later demolished.

Burtonwood Air Base, once the largest USAAF base in Europe and home to 1,000's of American Service Personnel and their families is no more.

The demolition contractors have destroyed all trace of this mighty base, but they cannot destroy the memories of the 1,000's of personnel and their families who worked and lived there.

Even today (2015) one can still see, with a trained eye, rusting perimeter fences, some bases of buildings, the odd blast shelter on sites 2 and 4, and also the East/West Road to Tech site and site 6 and 'G' site.

Photo Dated August 1987 - Main Route/Road Across The Airfield Looking West

(Note the street lighting still in position)

At the end of this road is a t junction and turning left leads to Gate 6
(Barrows Hall Lane) & Turning right leads to 'G' Site, Site 6 & Technical Site.

Turning left in the foreground eventually leads to the Main entrance Gate 12.

Site 2 is the Largest Communal Site on the Airfield.

Site 2 is on the Left of this Photo (The green grassed area) and
Stretched all the way over to Barrows Hall Lane Gate 6.

Photo (Below) Taken 2014

Even Now, One of The Lamp Posts is Still There
(The 2nd One Along in The Above Photo)

Updated Photo Dated August 2014 - Main Route/Road Across The Airfield Looking West

At the end of this road is a t junction and turning left leads to Gate 6
(Barrows Hall Lane) & Turning right leads to 'G' Site, Site 6 & Technical Site.

Turning left in the foreground eventually leads to the Main entrance Gate 12.

We turned 180 Degrees and took this photo (below).

The view of this photo is the same road as the above photo
looking the opposite way (East) This lead to a road junction.

Turning left lead Northwards towards Mary Ann Site.

We are now at the other end of the long road looking East
towards Mary Ann Site & the Main Gate.

Site 2 is on the right.

The road on the right (running South) in the
foreground leads to Gate 6 (Barrows Hall Lane entrance)

The road on the left (running North) in the
foreground leads to 'G' Site, Site 6 & Technical Site &
eventually leads to the North Road linking 'E' Site & 'A' Site.

The Post Office is out of view on the Left now as well.

This is another view of the junction above.

Behind the trees or bushes is the Post Office building.
(Note: Where the Post Office building now stands was the location of
one of the large workshop warehouses that became part of 'G' Site)
 

Looking North From Gate 6 towards the Junction (above)

Turning 180 Degrees Looking South from the previous
junction towards Gate 6, Barrows Hall Lane Entrance.

From Gate 6 Barrow Hall Lane Looking North.
(Note: The Post Office Building Can Clearly
be Seen on What Was Originally 'G' Site)

In the woods on the right (above) is a gate
that was the entrance gate 6 (below)

(We Found These in 2014)

WW2 Wright Cyclone Aircraft Engine Cylinder Head
Valve Rocker Covers (Around 50 of them)

B17G Undergoing Maintenance on Either 'Technical' Site or 'A' Site

 P38 Lockheed Lightning Undergoing Maintenance
on Either 'Technical' Site or 'A' Site

RAF Mustang I AG411 at RAF Burtonwood England

North Dispersals Area 2014

Record Site Plan of North Dispersals

North Dispersals Area 1972 (Below image) North of the M62
(Note the M62 Services are Being Built)

These were common place at Aircraft Service Unit Airfields throughout
the United Kingdom & were used for Aircraft Storage Areas.

The Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP) airfields
were simply airfields with factory facilities.

This type of dispersal was also constructed for the
Ministry of Aircraft Production Depots (MAP).

The layout of these dispersals are known as,
'finger' or 'y' because of their appearance.

You can just see the 'y' shapes on the image below in 1972

A Perimeter Track Linked the North Dispersal Area (on the North side
of the M62) to Site 1 Dispersals (on the South side of the M62)

The North Dispersals in 1945 Showing
Rows of B17's Waiting to be Scrapped

Rows of A20's at the North Dispersals in
the Process of Scrapping at the End of WW2.

(Note the Robin Hangar in the Background. Also note the chimney's that are on the
Robin Hangar roof....these were to give the Appearance of a House to enemy Aircraft)

This is (almost) the Exact Spot Where The A20's Were
Being Scrapped (as above photo) at the End of Hostilities.

The Actual Concrete Dispersal That You Can See in The Above Photo (Taken in 1945)
Was Where The Bushes (and Undergrowth) on The Left is on This 2014 Photo.

The Robin Hangar Was in the Background, Centre of the Tall Tree & in Front of it.

Below is an Aerial Photo of The North Dispersal Area (as above) but Taken
From The Opposite End During WW2 and also it Has B24 Liberators on it.

In the Centre of the Photo You Can See a Line of B24 Liberators Opposite
The Robin Hangar. This is the Exact Spot (as above photo) Where
The A20's are Being Scrapped at the End of Hostilities.

This is What Remains of Part of the Perimeter Fence.
This is Behind Where The Robin Hangar Stood.

This is the Main Entrance to the North
Dispersals Area looking North.

This Squared off Fenced Area is on the South Perimeter of the North Dispersals.

Its Purpose is Unknown? It is Not Shown on WW2
Aerial Photos Anywhere (that we know of).

This is Unusual Because the North Dispersals Area Was Not Used After WW2.

This black and white photo was taken in 1972 and shows a building on it along
with at least 4 concrete bases where buildings (possibly?) once stood.

You cannot see the entrance or gate on this photo but there is
an entrance opening at the top right hand corner of the fencing

This colour photo was taken in 2014 (facing North West).

This colour photo was taken in 1987 (facing East) and you
can see the old Parkside Colliery in the background.

This is a Photo taken in 2014 of Within the Squared Off Fenced Area.

The Photo is Showing Banked up Earth with
Excavated Concrete & Pierced Steel Planking.

P51 Mustangs on 'E' Site in the Process of Being Scrapped 1945

WW2 Tree carvings East of the North Dispersal area.

It looks like the name is 'W Yates' & the date looks like it says '1944'

Tree carvings dating back to WW2 can be found today (2015)

The carvings look like it says 'USAAF' & '1944' & Baron

This tree is on Site 5

More tree carvings on Site 5.

Difficult to tell what is carved on this tree, but it looks like it has 1942(?)