Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:48 pm
Sh*t.....I love to get my greasy hands on a couple of those P-47's!!!
Ted
Ted
Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:16 pm
I'll see if I can find the "official" origin of the Walnut Ridge scrapping photos. We will be attending the Walnut Ridge Army Airfield Reunion on 12/13 April, and I'll ask Harold Johnson what the source is. If my memory serves, all the scrapping photos were taken by someone who worked for Texas Railway Equipment Corporation (the scrapping firm) or the War Assets Administration. The Army had long ago signed over possession of these aircraft to the RFC/WAA.
There were so many airplanes flown in to this storage depot that many of the single engined birds were taxied/towed down the streets and parked in the grass around the barracks and other buildings. There were P-47s parked on the hospital lawns! The P-40s and '47s on their firewalls are stacked in the Motor Pool parking lot, and the smelters are located on the apron to the right of photos 1 and 2.
The nose art at the CAF Museum came from Walnut Ridge, and I'll try to find some photos of the complete airplanes while they were in storage.
This photo has been posted on the WIX before, but it illustrates the scale of the storage and scrapping operation at Walnut Ridge. You are looking north at the east storage yard, there is more to the left of the photo, and the single engined stuff was parked amongst the buildings after room ran out in this larger area. They weren't done ferrying airplanes in when this picture was taken, so this may be an official USAAF photo. Most, but not all, of the B-17s, '24s, '25s, and '26s in this photo had been sent to Walnut Ridge from training stations, which gives one an idea of the immense training program undertaken in the CONUS during the war.
Scott
There were so many airplanes flown in to this storage depot that many of the single engined birds were taxied/towed down the streets and parked in the grass around the barracks and other buildings. There were P-47s parked on the hospital lawns! The P-40s and '47s on their firewalls are stacked in the Motor Pool parking lot, and the smelters are located on the apron to the right of photos 1 and 2.
The nose art at the CAF Museum came from Walnut Ridge, and I'll try to find some photos of the complete airplanes while they were in storage.
This photo has been posted on the WIX before, but it illustrates the scale of the storage and scrapping operation at Walnut Ridge. You are looking north at the east storage yard, there is more to the left of the photo, and the single engined stuff was parked amongst the buildings after room ran out in this larger area. They weren't done ferrying airplanes in when this picture was taken, so this may be an official USAAF photo. Most, but not all, of the B-17s, '24s, '25s, and '26s in this photo had been sent to Walnut Ridge from training stations, which gives one an idea of the immense training program undertaken in the CONUS during the war.
Scott
Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:43 pm
I hate those kind of photos, just tears my guts out!
Scott........
Mon Mar 31, 2008 3:57 pm
SOB, why cant I just have one of each?