Aircraft Buried in Arkansas

[HarvardIV]

Hey

I just got done talking to my friend in Arkansas who has sold me some parts. He says that there are several old military airports which were sold to the county after the war and in the 50's. He says the military sold the county the land on the condition that they bury the aircraft in deep pits. For all you crash archeologists these might be worth checking into..

An honest fellow told me about this, he sells parts was on an Arkansas City Council, and an ex-marine aviator.

Hi Rob R - its Walnut Ridge. There is a law at the place that you can only dig a few feet below the surface due to all the stuff underground. When they put in a golf course next to the base, they hit engines in containers, but it was below the allowed level to dig.

[HarvardIV]

It sounds like we've got a hit. Mr. Rohr, this is all I know about it. Oh yeah, one more thing supposedly there's more than one location in Arkansas where this occured. It would sure be interesting if some of these parts were dug up..

[HarvardIV]

Any WIXers out there in Arkansas w/info?


Thanks

[DanteC]

How comparable in size was Walnut Ridge to Kingman AZ?

Isnt this where the infamous photos of the engineless P-40's on their noses were taken?

[Swiss Mustangs]

In late 1945, Reconstruction Finance Corporation began using the base for the storage and disposal of surplus aircraft.
More than 4,800 aircrafts were flown into Walnut Ridge, dismantled and ran through a smelter.
In a November 1947 Flying magazine article, it was estimated that WWII fighter planes were being melted in Walnut Ridge at a rate of a half-millions pounds each week.
A 1945 Associated Press wire photo called it a "billion dollar junk pile."

Martin

[Swiss Mustangs]

Isnt this where the infamous photos of the engineless P-40's on their noses were taken?

Thanks for that shot - it's also P-47's and a P-51.......

Martin

[wendovertom]

Walnut Ridge. Ugh. I have the aircraft record for a B-24L that was specially manufactured for the Special Weapons Test Unit at Wendover airfield, used here between November 1944 and May 1946 then sent to Walnut Ridge and scrapped. This MIGHT fit with Rob's "bio-nasty" thought in that Wendover was involved with the Manhattan Project AND the Dugway proving grounds (NASTY chemical stuff) testing. Humm - still I'd like to see whats under them thar hills

Tom P.

[HarvardIV]

The commentery and picture of Walnut Ridge is good, but let's not get too fixated on simply Walnut Ridge. Evidently there were, in addition, actual abandoned airfields with planes still there; which were simply buried by the county in Arkansas. I'd even wager that the various counties in Arkansas still have records of the Legal purchase agreements that mentions the planes or military equipment involved.

[aerovin]

Seems pretty unlikely to me. The airplanes at Walnut Ridge were smelted by a contractor whose goal was to make as much money has he could from scrapping the airplanes. Anything he couldn't get out of the airplanes was lost money, so the only things remaining was slag from the smelters. In some cases small parts were left over from the disassembly process, and sometimes things like bladder fuel tanks that had no value to anyone.

The military did not sell airfields after World War II, the RFC and WAA did. It is possible that before a base was closed and turned over to the RFC/WAA, military commanders disposed of airplanes and other equipment that could not be flown out, maybe by burying them. This certainly occurred with airplane scrap that was used as landfill, but only after they were bulldozed flat

How many military airfields were there in Arkansas during the war?

I'm always curious about these rumors but little ever seems to come of them.