Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Toad on August 03, 2006, 07:47:26 PM
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Just a few tidbits of history about Kansas City that a lot of people that live here don't even know. These things are already being forgotten.
It suprises me how fast things were built and in such large quantities.
Total B-25 Mitchell production was 9,498; of those, almost 6,000 were built here in Kansas City. The wartime Kansas City, Kansas, North Armerica Aviation Co. plant was located at the Fairfax airport. Their work force topped out at 26,000. Fairfax became a GM plant and only a few bits of runway remain.
Our CAF hangar stands upon the former Olathe Naval Air Station. The base was officially commissioned on October 1, 1942, as the United States Naval Reserve Aviation Base, Olathe, Kansas, but its name was changed on January 1, 1943, to the United States Naval Air Station. During the two years the air station served as a primary training facility (July, 1942-September, 1944), nearly 4,550 cadets were trained and only 25 fatal accidents occurred. Cadet instruction peaked between the spring and fall of 1943, when 1,100 prospective pilots were in training at one time.
The Waco CG-4A was the most widely used U.S. troop/cargo glider of World War II; more than 12,000 CG-4As were procured. Fifteen companies manufactured CG-4s, including the Wicks Aircraft Company of Kansas City, Mo.
During WWII, the Ford Winchester Avenue plant in KC built truck parts and cylinders for Pratt & Whitney aircraft engines.
In 1940 Remington Arms Co. announced in the fall that it would build an ammunition plant on 3,200 acres east of Independence. The Lake City Ordnance Plant cranked out 200 million rounds of ammunition monthly within 3 years.
The Sunflower Army Ammunition Plant (originally known as the Sunflower Ordnance Works) began operations in 1942. Its primary mission was to manufacture smokeless powder and propellants. During World War II, over 200,000,000 pounds of propellants were produced, with peak employment reaching 12,067. Records indicate that an additional 10,000 people were employed in construction jobs.
There were no homes for such an influx of people. I have talked to people that worked at Sunflower and their families were living in garages, circus tents and even cleaned out chicken coops. The government would sell you a tool box, carpenter's tools for instance, they'd train you on the job and the tools were payroll deducted monthly.
The Kansas City Structural Steel Company fabricated the steel for most of the buildings constructed in the greater Kansas City area. During World War I the company built steel railroad tank cars and the rudders for ships. During World War II the company built 407 landing craft barges for the United States Navy.
It was an amazing time here.
What happened then in your city?
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We built a bunch of DD's and DE's. Not to mention a crap load of refined oil products and other petrochemical products.
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http://www.elivermore.com/photos/Hist_lvr_naval_air1.htm
I used to work in the A&R hangar.
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We (as in my city - I wasn't born yet) built the Higgin's boat - the ones they used to land on Normandy.
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What city Diablo, BTW? (NO for the Higgins, IIRC?)
Funk, that is the first hard surface "landing mat" I've see at a WW2 military field. All the other ones I've seen were grass. Can you imagine how much concrete that was? Given the tools of the time, that was one massive job!
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New Orleans
edit - here's a link http://www.ddaymuseum.org/education/kids_higgins.html
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Houston.
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A lot of that concrete is still out there.
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My city's too small to know if we did anything. :D We have a refinery off our shore, so we probably produced a bunch of oil based stuff.
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Originally posted by FUNKED1
A lot of that concrete is still out there.
LOL, it'll probably last longer than the cheap stuff they pour today. A lot more of portland in the old cement I think.
Gent's, don't forget to post WHERE.
Saying "we built rolling hooker havens for the troop trains" is pretty kewl, but I'd love to know WHERE that was. May want to visit. ;)
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Originally posted by Toad
"we built rolling hooker havens for the troop trains"
Yeah, we built those, too!!
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My city has a huge steel mill. It produced a lot of steel for the US and Soviet Union. Ironically, it was sacrificed post WW2 for the sake of German Steel mills.
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Buffalo pumped out very large amounts of steel from Bethlehem Steel.
Also heard stories of my grandfather's sister who's job it was to count each spitfire (I think it was spitfires) that was built and rolled down the runway at completion.
Buffalo was more well known for its contributions in the Civil War. I believe Western NY has the 2nd highest number of local men lost in the war in the North. Mr. Lincoln saw this and gave Buffalo large sums of federal money to build the breakwall that still stands today. It was his gift to WNY for its sacrifices. Completion of the breakwall came soon after FDR signed the last "check" to finish the wall. (I'll do some more research and find some proof)
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My city, Fort Worth, Texas, was home to the Consolidated factory, producing B-24s.
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At one point, I was spending a lot of time in Evansville, IL. Apparently, they made Thunderbolts there at what is now the Whirlpool (Westinghouse?) plant.
Sadly, there's nary a trace of it now - throttle box at the airport is about it. Did see the Blue Angels at the July 4th thing though.
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My city was starving to death (St Petersburg)
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we produced just about all of the CVEs
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Tucson AZ was (and is) the home of Davis Monthan AFB. It has had 3 names: Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona (13 Jan 1948-Present)
Davis-Monthan Field, Arizona (3 Dec 1941-13 Jan 1948)
Tucson Municipal Airport, Arizona (6 Oct 1927-3 Dec 1941)
They did bomber crew training in B24's and B29's.
Also in the Tucson area is Ryan Field where they did basic air training and some fighter training.
Pinal Airfield and what was known as Avra Valley (now NorthWest Regional Airport) Also served as training fields and emergency landing fields to suplement Tucson. My Father served at the Avra Valley and Pinal airfields as an aircraft mechanic.
In addition to that, are a number of airfields that served for training and emergency landing zones. These triangular fields are all abandoned now but several are still visible from the air as you fly between Tucson and San Diego. Dateland (near California border) is actually built on one of those old airfields and you can see the outline of the field beyond the buildings.
What you won't find any more are the German POW camps that surrounded Tucson. My Uncle who also was a mechanic at Avra Valley said thay had a bit of a surprise one time in town when a couple of the POW's walked into Tucson to try and get some new shoes. He had no recollection of any trouble with the POW's, not like they could really get back to Germany from AZ. anyhow.
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Lets see, in WW2 my city wasn't a city yet, all we had was the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. Princess Anne County had the Airstation that became NAS Oceana, Willis Wayside furniture used to be a pow camp for German pow's, I guess Norfolk was the worlds largest navy base back then, I dunno, but Portsmouth had the Naval shipyard and the Hospital, and Newport News had the shipbuilding drydocks, building liberty ships and Carriers.
Oh and we were the main place the German sailors wanted to look at when the uboats came close enough to see land.
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My state built quite a few Corsairs, for which you are all very welcome :D
I'm not really sure what my town did in WW2. Probably not much of anything considering we really don't have many factories here.
In the 1800s my town was, however, a very active abolishonist (sp?) center, with numerous underground railroad stops (a few still come in handy today, believe me lol).
We also housed the Africans from the Amistad. One of them, a man named "Boone," drowned in the river basin and is buried right down the road at our main cemetary.
Kinda cool, although completely offtopic for this thread. My bad :)
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Well, my city didn't exist, but in the surrounding area....
March Air Force Base was the home of the 15th Airforce.
FMC built the DUKW "Duck" in Riverside, CA
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b2/DUKW_1.jpg/760px-DUKW_1.jpg)
On a side note, the reason I'm here is because my Dad was stationed at San Bernardino Army Air Base (later called Norton AFB) as a tower operator. He liked it so much he packed up and left Chicago for this area after the war.
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We started doing weapons testing in 1942 and we haven't stopped since.
http://www.chinalakealumni.org/
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/LHL-235241.jpg)
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/NP45-043772.jpg)
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/NBS-000542.jpg)
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/NP45-001684.jpg)
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/1945/NOTS-24%20F4U-1D%2006FEB45%20HVAR%20firing%20NP45-002084.jpg)
(http://www.chinalakealumni.org/IMAGES/2005/16xxxx%20FA-18F%2007SEP05%20VX-9%20050907-N-9277A-001.jpg)
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Lowry Field in Denver, Colorado they did bomb site training for B17 crews with the Norden bomb sites I believe.
One of the hangers is used as a museum now, most of the land has been turned into apartments/condo's and what not.
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My home town of Dermott is a small delta town in the southeastern part of the state of Arkansas. There were no major defense plants near it, but the area produced a lot of the cotton used in uniforms and explosives.
Two of the wartime Japanese-American internment camps were closeby. The nearest was the camp at Jerome, about five miles south of Dermott. Another was about 25 miles north, at Rohwer. I believe there was a third much smaller camp near Monticello, which was used briefly, but I haven't found any records to verify that.
During 1943 there were more Japanese in Desha County than there were blacks and whites combined. Young Japanese-Americans (Nisei) were recruited from the camps as replacements for the famous 442 Regimental Combat Team. One of the internees at the Rohwer camp was a very young George Takei.
Since this was one of the most economically depressed areas in the country when the war broke out, the camps brought some badly needed jobs to the area. My grandfather and his oldest daughter were civilian employees at the camp for a time. Later, after the Japanese were moved to other camps, the camps were used to intern German prisoners which had been members of Rommel's Afrika Korps.
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I should add... Manzanar is within 40 miles or so.
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I think a few things were built in Detroit back then:)
shamus
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Not much in my current town but in the State ...
(http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/c2c/galleries/cache/derivative/5/0/5022419.jpg)
Trinity Site, New Mexico, USA Site of first nuclear weapon test on July 16, 1945
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Most of our cities produced Men.
Some came home, others didn't. We will not forget any of them.
RTR
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Luxembourg (country) had a messershmit parts plant I heard.
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Nearest large city, Fort Worth, Texas. I hear they made a few of these...
(http://www.b24.net/aircraft/booksplane2.JPG)
(http://www.airventuremuseum.org/images/collection/aircraft/Chance%20Vought%20F4U%20Corsair-1.jpg)
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I remember my Dad having a couple interesting stories about Mobile during and after the war. All this is from my hazy memory. He was at Brookley Field in 1943 employed by Raytheon to do Signal Corps work on radar in Mitchell bombers. He told about a time when he went up with the crew for a Gulf of Mexico sub patrol in a B-25 to install and calibrate the radar.
Brookley was where many of the array radar antenna parts were sent for refurbisment...to be stripped and re-painted. He said after that work was done, the antennas were scuttled. Lots of make-work was going on.
After the war, my dad said he knew a fellow who bought a PT boat to convert into a yacht for the bay. This one had three Rolls Royce engines. Not sure if it worked out though for the intended purpose. Boat was worn out probably.
I think it was a B-24 Liberator that crashed into the cathedral tower in downtown Mobile...either landing or taking off. It knocked down the tower and crashed.
I can't remember how long dad was at Brookley Field, it mighta been just '43 but at some point, he and an Army Major were called to drive a command car up in the countryside to investigate a ufo sighting. It was a weather baloon but the farmer whose field it was in was almost in panic. On the drive up, the Major was telling all these scary ufo stories to my dad. By the time they got there even Dad was wondering about what they would find when they got there.
Les
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we made these
(http://www.ilexikon.com/images/5/5f/Boeing_B-29_Superfortress_2.jpg)
and these
(http://frhewww.physik.uni-freiburg.de/~jaensch/104/g/g53.jpg)
Rumer has it there building these now ..
(http://www.trentu.ca/~bhircock/Boeing.jpg)
:D
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Porsgrunn is the city
Norsk Hydro produced magnesium and aluminium for the luftwaffe (when it wasnt bombed or sabotaged). Towards the end the germans gave up and closed that factory and it was restarted after the war. After the war it has kept on growing and has now 33-34000 emplyees in the energy sector alone and a revenue of 174 billion NOK last year. The factory in Porsgrunn (Yara International) spun off the Hydro company in 2004 and is now a world leading supplier of plant nutrients in the form of mineral fertilizers
Many fine young men that trickeled over to Britain to join some sort of service. Two reasonably effective resitance groups and many widows.
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We got the shizz bombed out of us at 0700, on december 7th... well, you know the rest. Yeah, other than that, we gave the navy a home, but as far as i know, Oahu Hawaii wasnt a launch point, and we DEFINATELY didnt build anything. We DID repair ships though... after we let them get sunk.
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Olean, NY (city where I was born) produced the KA-BAR Marine Corps fighting knife.
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Quonset Point
North Kingston, Rhode Island
During WWII it was the North east largest naval base. The hangers were used to house PBY aircraft for maintenance and recon missions. Pretty cool history of the place from WWII until today where General Dynamics is station (and I once worked) building Subs
http://quonsetpoint.artinruins.com/quonset_main.htm
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Crucial to the war effort, Milwaukee produced lots of beer... and probably cheese.
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Originally posted by Toad
What happened then in your city?
Detroit, too much to list.
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Flight school for Navy and Marine pilots. One number I heard was around 1,100 cadets a month during WWII.
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I was born a few miles from northrup and a few other ac factories in L.A.
they made some planes durring the war.
lazs
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My formative years were in a place that made lots of paper, policies and strategies - Washington D.C.
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I live in Manchester UK.
We had the main Avro Lancaster plant here. My favourite pub stands on the site of the depot from where the bombers were flown out by ferry pilots to the operational groups.
My family's hometown is Barrow-in-Furness, which was one of the big shipbuilding centres at the height of the British Empire. They still build most of the RNs nuclear subs there but that's about all.
Here's the (very empty) docks these days.
(http://www.morecambebay.org.uk/images/Barrow%20Aerial%20pic.jpg)
Too many notable ships built here to list them all. A good WW2 example is HMS Ajax, a cruiser which fought the Graf Spee at the River Plate and later served in the Med on the Malta Convoys and the evacuation of Crete.
(http://www.rnzncomms.net.nz/ShipFolders/shipajax/cl_hms_ajax.gif)
The IJN Battleship Kongo was built here - it took part in a number of actions against the USN in the Pacific.
(http://www.voodoo.cz/battleships/pics/kongo.jpg)
Another Barrow ship, HMS Jamaica, which took part in the Battle of the North Cape in which the german Battlecruiser Scharnhorst was finally sunk.
(http://home.swipnet.se/~w-11578/ship_photos/fiji_class/jamaica/jamaica.jpg)
Good topic Toad.
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Buncha these made in Dallas. Much other manufacturing done there also.
(http://www.mattsoldcars.com/gallery/LemImmke2005/images/ww2_jeep_front.jpg)
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Originally posted by Octavius
Crucial to the war effort, Milwaukee produced lots of beer... and probably cheese.
you don't live here anymore so you can't talk about us :p
Milwaukee had a ton of tanneires too, so they probably made a lot of leather stuff for the military.
oh and i think there's some famous wire factory or something, the only place to make a certian wire or something in the US.
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Originally posted by Russian
My city was starving to death (St Petersburg)
The most amazing thing was that starving people worked.
Kirovskiy Zavod:
(http://aleho.narod.ru/Illustrations/img/091.jpg)
During the siege they stopped making KVs but kept repairing tanks.
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Originally posted by Reynolds
We got the shizz bombed out of us at 0700, on december 7th... well, you know the rest. Yeah, other than that, we gave the navy a home, but as far as i know, Oahu Hawaii wasnt a launch point, and we DEFINATELY didnt build anything. We DID repair ships though... after we let them get sunk.
Come now, I hear we made one heck of a target! You cant discount that. After all, the war started here! :)
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Mine was getting bombed while making high quality steel and digging high quality coal.
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i get the impression that everyone was drunk half the time back in those days
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After Malta, my city was the most bombed city in 1942.
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hap hazzard.
sunflower dodge.
in Oooooooooolathaaaaaaaa!
it burns toad.
it still burns.
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Mine got bombed in spite of being neutral and not blacked out, but only once. But mostly we just exported men to fight in the British forces or work in war factories or building airfields.
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Originally posted by JB88
it burns toad.
it still burns.
You should see a doctor! They can cure that. And stay away from those floozies.
Seriously, I didn't know you hailed from OOOOOO lay thee!
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Mine encarcerated American citizens of Japanese heritage and used German POW help in the farmland.
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Evansville, Indiana, not only had one of the latest and largest fighter plants in the world for its P-47 production, it made Corsair wings, landing ship tanks (LSTs), and .45-caliber ammo.
Evansville produced 6,242 P-47s of the 15,000 built, according to the book LST 325, Workhorse of the Waves & Evansville's War Machine (Evansville Sunday Courier and Press , 2005, where I worked as reporter-photographer from 1957-61 until graduating from college) .
"As many as 30 fighters a day were flown out of Evansville by ferry pilots, some of them women." The Republic plant was important enough that President Roosevelt toured it April 27, 1943, his first wartime visit to a fighter factory.
Although 700 miles from the sea, Evansville built 167 of the 1,051 LSTs (including 25 used at D-Day), reconditioned about 1,500 M4 Sherman tanks and 3,000 Dodge Army trucks, and produced 3.2 billion rounds of ammo including 96% of the .45 caliber rounds used by the U.S. armed forces.
I was 6 when WWII ended. I remember Dad taking me out to the airport where we watched P-47s being tested in power dives and their eight .50s test fired with the plane's rear wheel hoisted and leveled.
My half-brother buzzed our rural house (yeah, it was encouraged in those days for patriotic spirit) in his P-39 before heading overseas. He was later shot down and killed by ack in a P-51 shortly after D-Day.
WWII was total. No domestic car production, scrap material collections, victory gardens, rationing. Everybody was involved in war support whether working in factories or volunteer efforts. Neighbor on one side was a B-29 radio operator, neighbor on other side flew B-24s, came home, bought a yellow convertible, married his sweetheart, had a kid, died of TB, wife died soon after, and her parents raised the boy.
Many places in the world have been more involved in war than the U.S. has been, but WWII was all encompassing. Never been anything like it since and I hope there never is.
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Crewe GB
home of
The Rolls Royce Merlin
(http://www.bcam.net/engines/merlin/merlin1.jpg)
The Rolls Royce Merlin family of engines powered aircraft such as
the Spitfire, Hawker Hurricane,de Havilland Mosquito, Mustang and Lancaster bomber.
The Merlin was developed in England in 1936 and used in a prototype Spitfire F39/34.
The first production Spitfire in 1939 had a 1030 hp. Rolls Royce Merlin MK II engine
The Merlin went through continuous development throughout World War Two, ending up with at MK 71.
The Merlin series was then superseded by the Griffon series.
In early 1941, Rolls Royce licensed Packard Motors to build Merlin engines.
By 1943, the Mustang P51B & C (R.A.F. Mustang III) had 1520 hp. V1650-3 Packard Merlin engines.
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Originally posted by Banzzai
...The Merlin went through continuous development throughout World War Two, ending up with at MK 71.
The Merlin series was then superseded by the Griffon series...
I remember reading in Jeffrey Quill's book where he stated that it was inevitable the the larger Griffon would eventually outclass the Merlin & was certainly the eventual future powerplant for the Spit (this was iirc around the time of the Mk.V), however in today's world some highly tuned Merlins produce upwards of 4000HP. Can the Griffon make this claim?
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Fort Worth,TX. We built B-24s. I'm on the F22 production line building the center section in the same building.
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Originally posted by MrBill
Not much in my current town but in the State ...
(http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/c2c/galleries/cache/derivative/5/0/5022419.jpg)
Trinity Site, New Mexico, USA Site of first nuclear weapon test on July 16, 1945
I think he wins :)
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Bent Mountain, VA: Buncha Civil War deserters moved up here....there is a 150 year old cemetary a few miles back in the woods from my house... still a few shacks from depression era back there too;:aok
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I think you're near Audie Murphy's crash site also....
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A story from Moscow 1941.
I was born in Leningrad, my grand-parents are from the South, Ukrainians and Don cossacks. In 1940 my Grandfather got married and moved to Moscow, Artillery college teacher. He was one of the first officers to use Guards Mortars, or RS as they said.
My grandparents lived on Begovaya street, near the hyppodrome (race track (course)). Their nearest bomb-shelter was at a Dynamo subway station.
In August 1941 nazis bombed Presnya station, Belorussian station if we speak in terms of ordinary people. Several dozen trains with artillery ammunition burned and exploded. Some shells are found several kilometers away now after 65 years. /*near Leningrad it's still no wonder when someone blows up on a land-mine when picking mushrooms*/
Ok.
Grandparents come home after an air-raid alarm is cancelled. Their house has no window-glass: 500m from a railway station that was still burning... They come to their room, the door is blown away and carefully put against the wall, and an officer sleeps at their bed... Granfather wakes him up, he salutes and says something like "Comrade senior leutenant, I saw the door blown away and came here to make sure that your posessions are not stolen". Granfather saluted and that officer left.
Great people. Horrible time. That's why we survived.
Later in September 1941 Granfather went to the Front-line with his battery of Guard Mortars (katyusha, BM-13) - Grandmother was evacuated from Msk... This is another long story of human devotion and mutual assistance....
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Originally posted by Debonair
I some highly tuned Merlins produce upwards of 4000HP. Can the Griffon make this claim?
(http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/images/Hydroplane/pc-budbernie1.JPG)
Griffon-powered Hydroplanes
The original Budweiser used a variety of engines generally configured as a Griffon 74,
which featured the two-stage two-speed supercharger with ratios of 5.16 MS and 6.79 FS.
It used impellers of 13.4" for the first stage and 11.3" for the second stage.
In 1980, the team employed a ratio of 5.81:1 for the supercharger.
By modifying the crankshaft lubrication system and bearings, the team was able to increase the peak RPM to 4,000,
producing peak piston speeds of 4,400 ft/min and 33 power strokes/second.
By using high octane racing fuel with a rich PN of about 150, combined with ADI injection and nitrous oxide (N2O)
increased the BMEP to over 360 psi. The high BMEP combined with increased power strokes per second raised increased power to over 4,000 HP.
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Except being bombed (and 2 times !) up to 90% ... nothing
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Southern California, always has been a center of aviation in this country. I couldn't list all the things we provided in WWII.
Not the least of which, the P-38.
Muroc/Edwards AFB and Rogers dry lake are the very foundation of the United States military aviation machine.
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I grew up right between those green arrows,not sure about produsing anything tho (http://[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v676/N22/kursk.jpg)[/IMG]
Born here,they produced a lotta fuel in ww2.(http://[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v676/N22/baku-academy.jpg)[/IMG]
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Made Frigates and Corvettes,
main pacific coast base for the RCN.
Flew maritime patrol and fighter sortis,
Manned shore batteries.
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Hitler's armies got to within 19 miles of the city center. Ironically, as the Panzer divisions were being halted, an even bigger enemy was in his 2nd decade of occupation of the very same town.
Be would stay for 11 more years.
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I think Seattle contributed alittle bit to the war, I can't remember exactly what though....;)
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u gave Greg Boyington a job parking cars for a few months while he was waiting for the marines to call him back
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Originally posted by Banzzai
(http://www.gasolinealleyantiques.com/images/Hydroplane/pc-budbernie1.JPG)
Griffon-powered Hydroplanes
The original Budweiser used a variety of engines generally configured as a Griffon 74,
which featured the two-stage two-speed supercharger with ratios of 5.16 MS and 6.79 FS.
It used impellers of 13.4" for the first stage and 11.3" for the second stage.
In 1980, the team employed a ratio of 5.81:1 for the supercharger.
By modifying the crankshaft lubrication system and bearings, the team was able to increase the peak RPM to 4,000,
producing peak piston speeds of 4,400 ft/min and 33 power strokes/second.
By using high octane racing fuel with a rich PN of about 150, combined with ADI injection and nitrous oxide (N2O)
increased the BMEP to over 360 psi. The high BMEP combined with increased power strokes per second raised increased power to over 4,000 HP.
They were making well over 4000hp when the turboshafts came into boat racing and some of those Griffons can still make more power then the Turboshafts.
the Allisons and merlins that everyone else were running were getting out powered by the Griffons so badly that it was gonna be a matter of time befor they got shut down anyway . Thats part of the reason the jets came into play.
I have a pair of rods out of one of the actual Griffons from the '80 bud ,and Know Dave personally .I still make parts for his nostalga/limited boats . :D
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Originally posted by MrBill
Not much in my current town but in the State ...
(http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/c2c/galleries/cache/derivative/5/0/5022419.jpg)
Trinity Site, New Mexico, USA Site of first nuclear weapon test on July 16, 1945
I learned that a local buisness here helped process uranium for the above firework.
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Originally posted by Pongo
Made Frigates and Corvettes,
main pacific coast base for the RCN.
Flew maritime patrol and fighter sortis,
Manned shore batteries.
I was at your air museum last year (and the Spitfire Cafe on the other side of the field).
A lot of multiengine training in your neck of the woods back then also...
...thanks for the info on the high powered Griffons, sounds like a matter of time before a Griffon driven P-51 takes over from Dago Red, Strega & Rare Bear
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my towns famous for makin rednecks :lol
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Originally posted by Debonair
I was at your air museum last year (and the Spitfire Cafe on the other side of the field).
A lot of multiengine training in your neck of the woods back then also...
...thanks for the info on the high powered Griffons, sounds like a matter of time before a Griffon driven P-51 takes over from Dago Red, Strega & Rare Bear
the griffons arnt as availiable as the merlins or the allisons .
So i doubt they'll ever get grabbed up for Air racing.
They're really rare here in Seattle and There all accounted for .
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Iirc Precious Metal is a Griffon driven Mustang
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Provided Montanans
"On December 8, 1941, the Army activated its first mountain unit, the 87th Mountain Infantry Battalion (Later became an entire Regiment) at Fort Lewis, Washington. The unit was dubbed "Minnie?s Ski Troops" in honor of Dole. The 87th trained on Mount Ranier?s 14,408 foot peak. The National Ski Patrol took on the unique role of recruiting for the 87th Infantry Regiment and later the Division. After returning from the Kiska Campaign in the Aleutian Islands near Alaska the 87th formed the core of the new Division and its staff. The division entered combat on January 28, 1945 in the North Apennine Mountains of Italy. The division faced German positions arrayed along the 5 mile long Monte Belvedere-Monte della Torraccia ridge. Other divisions had attempted to assault Mount Belvedere three times, even holding it temporarily, but none had succeeded. The assault on Riva Ridge was the task of the 1st Battalion and F Company, 2d Battalion, 86th Mountain Infantry. After much scouting, it was decided the assault would be at night, a 1,500-vertical-assent. The Germans considered the ridge to be impossible to scale and manned it with only one battalion of mountain troops. The attack by the 86th on February 18, 1945, was a complete success and an unwelcome surprise to the Germans. Mount Belvedere was assaulted next. Belvedere was heavily manned and protected with minefields. Shortly after the 86th assault on the Riva Ridge, the 85th and 87th Regiments made a bayonet attack without covering artillery fire on Belvedere beginning on February 19th. Again the surprise of the assault was successful and after a hard fight, the peak was captured. Realizing the importance of the peak, the Germans made seven counterattacks over two days. After the first three days of intense combat, the division lost 850 casualties to include 195 dead. The 10th captured over 1,000 prisoners.
“I hear a lot of rhetoric about the famous 10th Mountain Division. In World War II it was unquestionably America’s finest unit - trained for three years, made up with men from Colorado, Montana, Idaho, really tough men, experts in mountain fighting. What we have now in the 10th Mountain Division is a bunch of kids that are better qualified to play computer games than they are to fight in that kind of terrain.”
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Originally posted by rpm
Nearest large city, Fort Worth, Texas. I hear they made a few of these...
(http://www.b24.net/aircraft/booksplane2.JPG)
(http://www.airventuremuseum.org/images/collection/aircraft/Chance%20Vought%20F4U%20Corsair-1.jpg)
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Toowoomba was the home town of the men who fought and won the battle of Milne Bay, New Guinea.
The first time that a Japanese invasion force had been checked, pushed back, and finally utterly defeated and forced to evacuate by sea.
They were hastily trained militia, affectionately known as 'chockoes', chocolate soldiers.
They looked the part, but were expected to melt when the heat was turned up, Milne Bay proved that particular theory to be far from correct.
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training, miami beach was all but taken over by the armed forces and many training facilities were spread out over dade county. nas opa-locka now OPA was were VF17 originated. we still dig up .50 cal projectiles when ever we do even moderated excavation work.
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Mediaille-resistance-IMG_0950.jpg/399px-Mediaille-resistance-IMG_0950.jpg)
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My city wasn't a real city yet, but near hear in burbank was lockheed, where they built the P38's, my grandfather worked there after the war.
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bomber versions of the Lockheed Lodestar & Electra did a lot of important ASW work as well for the RAF, USAAF & USN - maybe the commies got some too? fairly overlooked, IMO...i dont know about how it worked out in combat, but on paper the PV-2 is a monster for a twin engine plane, 6000lbs of ordinance, 9 0.50cal guns, 280 MPH, 2200 mile range
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In the little town I was born in, Southbridge, Massachusetts, the American Optical Co. provided goggles and aviation sunglasses to the aviation units. Also, the local airport was a training site. I can't find out what the unit was...but there were three (3) documented crashes in the surrounding towns. In fact, my father has a drop tank from one of the crashes still on his property. I think they were P-47s but I'm in the process of tracking down an old timer to get the facts.
Good post! It got me hooked on finding out some local info. Wish I listened to my grandmother tell me the stories from the area.
Obie
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got bombed
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Willow Run Airport, in Ypsilanti, Michagan near Detroit, where I was born and grew up, had a bomber plant run by Henry Ford. They built B-24 Liberators, and employed over 42,000 people, including the famous "Rosie the Riveter" and the less famous, Grandma Gunthr. This is also where I got my pilot's license.
Gross Isle, in the Detroit river, was the home of a basic airman training facility. They used the wonderful Stearman for primary training. You can see a lot of history in the old field and hangers there today.
Near Ft. Lauderdale, where I live now, there is a shallow water wreck called the Copenhagen. It was used for straffing practise in WWII. .50 cal rounds are commonly found there.
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During WWII the Youngstown Ohio area was the largest steel producing area in the US. Companies making Steel during WWII in Youngstown Ohio were J&L, The Youngstown Sheet and Tube, USSteel and Republic Steel. In the Youngstown area alone there were 17 Blast Furnaces smelting Iron Ore not to mention a greater number of Open Hearth furnaces and a Bessemer Converter still in operation. Also in the nearby Cities of Sharon and Farrell Pa. and Lowellville Ohio (within 10 miles) there were an additional number of Iron and Steelmaking facilities (Blast Furnaces and Open Hearths).
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http://www.airfields-freeman.com/MI/Airfields_MI_Detroit_S.html
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http://www.microlightsport.co.uk/News/julyeventwebpages/hornchurchhistory.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornchurch_Airfield
It was renamed RAF Hornchurch in 1928 and during World War 2 was a Sector Airfield of Fighter Command's 11 Group, covering London and the south east of England during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Situated 14 miles (22.5 km) east north-east of Charing Cross, the air base was in a key location (in bomb alley), being able to cover both London and the Thames corridor from German air attacks. With this strategic location in mind, the RAF increased the defences and fortifications of the base. Hornchurch was home to Flying Training Command's Aircrew Selection Centre for 10 years before it moved to RAF Biggin Hill and the RAF station at Hornchurch closed in April 1962.
Its also A3 on the BOB AH map lol (well it was)
plus:
a german V1 landed about 400 yards from my house...
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Debonair, thanks for those photos. My dad flew out of the Stinson apt for a short while, and I flew in and out of Mettatal apt many times. Stinson apt is long gone. I was wondering how you found those photos. I never heard of Smith or Hartsell, so they must be long gone too. Anyway, :aok
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We didnt do much in here Connecticut besides built the brunt of the corsairs, and post WWII engines ranging from the AGT powering the A-1 Abrams, to aircraft engines for attack helicopters! go connecticut!
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Patton's 3rd trained here, there are signs all over the place. This area (the actual center of Tennessee, between Murfreesboro and Lebanon) was completely rural during the war, and only training went on in this exact area. There are still some little pieces lying around in the Cedars of Lebanon state park. I'm sure tanks rolled right through where I'm sitting now, along with all sorts of other maneuvers and war games. Oddly enough, there were some massive War of Northern Aggression battles all around here as well. This whole area was a major battle field from here to Franklin and Nashville, and the rural areas all around here were used for training during the war. The saddest thing of all is that all of the beauty and history is being destroyed and paved under for crappy houses and damned stupid malls. It breaks my heart to see this beautiful area, so historic, and so good for farming, wrecked because the taxes make it impossible to afford to farm, so the developers snatch it up and build houses 12 feet apart on 1/3 acre lots. It just plain sucks, and it really pisses me off.
Just down the road is Stewart AFB in Smyrna, about 8 miles from the house here. It was an base during the war, and also during and after Korea, my Dad was stationed here, and he was both here and McGee Tyson near Knoxville when he met Mom after Korea. Stewart closed around 1970.
Not too far up the road (20-30 miles) in Tullahoma Tennessee is Arnold AFB, it started as a training base here during the war, and was not known as Arnold AFB then. We hunt there in the fall sometimes, and if you go out into the woods you can see huge barracks foundations with big chimneys. There are miles of concrete runways that are disentegrating. Since the Air Force was part of the Army then, there all sorts of infantry remnants there as well, like tank training tracks if you know where to look. There are even a bunch of barracks built in the woods to hide them from bombing. The biggest part is all overgrown now (at least they don't allow development, so we can hunt and it won't be ruined with 10,000 houses), but the base is super secure, and does some serious high tech R&D. They have all sorts of accelerators and under ground testing for stuff like rocket engines. There's about 100 miles or so of tunnels there. You're even under constant monitoring when you hunt and camp. If you drive around, you can find access points to the tunnels, they are monitored from the air and by all sorts of equipment as well. If you scratch your nards in a tree stand, someone probably will see it.
About 4 miles from here towards Murfreesboro is a big hospital, the Alvin C. York VA facility. It was built with 4 to 6 foot thick walls and deep basements and bomb shelters. It still operates today, but mostly as a psychiatric facility and a nursing home. My Dad was treated there after he developed Alzhiemers, and he died in the nursing home.
Then just a few miles (about 20) from here, in Nashville, at the municiple airport, is a large aircraft manufacturing area. During the war, Consolidated Vultee of Nashville was there, and built 113 P-38s, the only P-38s from a second source and not built by Lockheed. They were a large aircraft manufacturer, and not set up to make fighters, especially the P-38. They should have built B-17s here instead. I had some family that worked there. I'm not sure what all else was built here, but there were a lot of things built at that group of plants. The whole thing is now owned by Textron, and called Textron Aerostructures, formerly Avco, and they built wings and fuselages for several large planes, and still do. They made wings for B-52s and C-130s, some refit work has been done there as well.
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Originally posted by Gunthr
Debonair, thanks for those photos. My dad flew out of the Stinson apt for a short while, and I flew in and out of Mettatal apt many times. Stinson apt is long gone. I was wondering how you found those photos. I never heard of Smith or Hartsell, so they must be long gone too. Anyway, :aok
i just know about the website, the whole thing is 100% kewl
airfields-freeman (http://airfields-freeman.com)
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Air Force Plant #3 (still here, but now they make school buses there.) A-24 Dauntless dive bombers, B-24 Liberator bombers, and A-26 Invader attack aircraft.
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thx Debonair