Warbird Information Exchange

Does anyone have any pictures of the A-20 restoration at Beaver Falls, Penn.?

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Matt

K'zoo Kid--

I have two or three shots, but they're older (1998); that Havoc is a fair bit farther along since then.

S.

I have several from 2001 or 2 I'll post when I get home. Wish they would update the website a bit or answer E-mails.

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www.tailhookstudio.com

I went in 2002. I posted several of the pictures I took. Please I’d love to some taken in the last year. Enjoy.

http://community.webshots.com/album/170499503CRnhCR/1

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www.tailhookstudio.com

Gentlemen,

I live 36 miles from Beaver Falls airport and took photos of the A-20 in June 2004. I do not have a photo scanner. Am willing to forward my photos to anyone who will post them on this web site.

Better still, I'll send them to Scott for posting on the web page.

Also, regarding WWII aircraft burial sites. Back in 1995 I received a letter from a fellow in Norway, Frithjof Ruud. He sent me xerox copies of a 1946 Norwegian newspaper showing Ju88s being pushed into a massive hole for burial at Kjevik. He stated that plans were being made to recover this cache of buried a/c.

According to Ruud the following number of a/c have been documented as buried at the site:
Bf 109G6, G10, G14..... 26 each
Bf 110G2 ................... 1 each
Bf 110G4..................... 2 each
Ju 88A4........................2 each
Ju 88D..........................3 each
Ju 88S...........................2 each
Ju 188D ........................2 each
Ju188F...........................1 each
Fw 190A9.......................4 each
Fw 190F8........................2 each
Fw 189A2........................1 each

Usually, I take with a 'grain of salt', any stories of aircraft burials. Many are myths. I have said nothing about the above supposed find, waiting to hear anything further on the recovery operations. In ten years, I have head nothing, therefore, presume the information is a myth.

I will send copies of the above documents to Scott for posting on this web site.

Yours very truly,
Norman Malayney

Norman

Thanks for posting the list, I was aware of most of the types and have also seen a picture of the Ju 88 being flipped into the pit. I wasn't aware of exactly how many were buried though. I was in Norway in 2000 and was told that some digging had started, but they came across an unexploded bomb and had to stop. There were in total five pits IIRC, so efforts were to concentrate on another. There was also a problem that digging may have undermined the current runway. I have not heard anything further for a few years .

Dave

Dear Dave,

I sent the Norway correspondence to Scott for posting on this web page. The information will provide a better idea of the immense scale of this recovery operation. It also provides the name, address, and telephone number of the resouce official of the recovery operation who can supply additional information on the curent status of the project

No doubt this individual will become angry if every person reading the story contacts him with requests for the latest project information.

Yorus very truly,
Norman Malayney

Norman

I asked a few people in Norway, one being the Director of one of the major museums...

Not heard anything more during the last years. Looks like the operation has been cancelled.
As for the aircraft at Kjevik all remains shall have been dumped at the
airfield. As far as I know this dump is located under the surface of one
of the glide-path installations (For the Instrument Landing System). Some
years ago it was discussed wheter one should try to dig up this aerea but it was too expensive and would to much affect flight operations at Kjevik.

And this...

I have not heard anything about further work going on at this site.
I myself do not think that one can expect to find big parts of aircraft
on this site. I have heard that after the airplanes were dumped over the
edge they were put on fire in order to reduce the volume taken up by
wings and fuselage. If they were not covered up right away we had for a
lot of years after the WW2 a nationwide recovery of valuable scrap
metal. Such a dump was close to the road and because of this easy
accessible by all kinds of equipment. I should think that (if the site
were not covered up at once) a lot of things were later recovered by
locals or professional scrap dealers.
Last time they had a dig on this site they only found a few "rotten"
engines and other components/details.

regards
Dave

Nice photos! Thanks for sharing. I wish they would answer email/ update their site more often!

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Matt