The AIR-BRITAIN Militarv Aviation Historical Quanerlv

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Vickers Wellington Bill R3224 AA-U of 75 'New Zealand' Squadron. A typical machine due for dismantling and salvage at Morris Motors' site. (Via Brian Lowe) Prior to the declaration of war against Germany on 3rd September 1939, the British Government had set in motion the vast expansion of the Royal Air Force and the necessary production in large Shadow Factories, of aircraft for the Services. The Secretary of State for Air turned to the larger vehicle manufacturers such as the Rootes Group, Austin Motor Co and Morris Motors Lld etc, to take on the production of, and in the case of the latter, the repair of aircraft. Lord Beaverbrook was appointed Minister of Aircraft Production and Lord Nuffield (William Morris) made Director General of Maintenance. This position also put him in charge of the new nationwide Civilian Repair Organisation (CRO). It was realised that this huge expansion in numbers, would eventually cause headaches, if and when machines were accidentally destroyed or severely damaged beyond repair, such that disposal of the scrap would become a problem. The CRO headquarters was installed in Merton College, Oxford, with its Civilian Repair Unit (CRU) established in the Morris Motors works at Cowley. So far, this set-up provided for From Scraps to Scrap By Peter Wright 'living' aircraft, but what of those that were declared 'dead'? It was also decided to establish a large storage site and reclamation facility for crashed and battle-damaged machines - both Allied and enemy. This was identified as No 1 Metal and Produce Recovery Depot (MPRD), sited on 100 acres of open land behind the Pressed Steel Co Lld works, which was adjacent to the Morris plant. To transport crashed aircraft, twenty 'Queen Mary' vehicles were transferred from the RAF to No 50 Maintenance Unit (MU), which was formed at, and controlled by, Morris Motors. Although all personnel of the MU were civilians, it was commanded by an RAF Squadron Leader. During the earlier part of the war, a 'Queen Mary' transporter with its driver and a mate, could be despatched to any part of the country to recover crashed aircraft, but later, the north of the Kingdom was eventually served by No 2 MPRD which was at Eaglescliffe near Stockton-on-Tees. If the machine to be loaded was a large aircraft, such as a fourengined bomber, then a pair of 'QMs' would be sent, one to load the fuselage and the other to take the wings, tailplane, fin(s) and rudder(s) and the engines. A 'Queen Mary' of 50 MU brings in another enemy aircraft to be reduced to produce. JuBBA-1 9K+HL (Werke Nr 7036) of Kampfgeschwader 51 'Eidelweiss', has had its Luftwaffe cross, swastika and unit badge on the nose painted out. This aircraft was almost immediately transported onwards to RAE Farnborough and was later flown in RAF markings as AX919. (Via Brian Lowe). 170 Aeromilitaria - Winter 2010
A 10- or 12-strong gang of workers would be needed to dismantle a large aircraft; one of the special' pieces of equipment they took with them was a pair of 'Morris Gantry' sets, each of which comprised a pair of concentric multitubular uprights, which could be height-extended if necessary, with a horizontal RSJ section cross-arm to take a block and tackle with rollers. The uprights each sat on a ground-plate, fixed to the earth with spiked pegs. For stability, each whole assembly had guy-wires. This equipment was used to lift wings and especially engines. Brought to Cow/ey by 50 MU 'Queen Mary', this Short S.19 Singapore Ill, K4580, was from 4 OTU Stranraer and is seen here in a damaged photograph. (John Bayliss). USAAF aircraft were a/so brought in to Cow/ey. (Morris Motors) On arrival at MPRD, an aircraft would be stripped of all reuseable equipment and the rest of it, via some of the eight miles of internal 'roads', would be piled-up 10 feet high. When the scrap arrived at Cowley, the particular type of aircraft would be taken to its own site, shall we say, all Wellington parts would be stacked together. All 8-17 parts in their own particular area. In fact, the 'roads' were given names like 'Wellington', 'Hurricane', 'Typhoon' etc. Large chunks of a machine would be cut-up on site with oxy-acetylene torches, compressed air cutters and cropping Wellington geodetic structure being cropped to size to fit into MPRD furnaces. (MorriS Motors) The MPRD site at Cow/ey is now used for storage of BMW Mini cars. This picture was taken by the author at 1,000 ft, from micro/ight Gemini F/ash 2, G-MNLX. (Peter Wright) A crew from 50 MU Cow/ey at work on a crashed B/enheim IV, L8795, coded EP-B of 104 Squadron. Note the Morris gantry units standing ready for the lift. (Via Brian Lowe) Aeromilitaria - Winter 2010 171
Page 1: The AIR-BRITAIN Militarv Aviation H
Page 4 and 5: P 1127 Kestrel FGA.1 XS695, seen at
Page 6 and 7: A view of XS688 on the ground at Ou
Page 8 and 9: 47thBW G-119G 51-8252 is seen here
Page 10 and 11: 51-2608 C-119C 456thTGW (TAG) at Mi
Page 12 and 13: eturned to 465thTCW; to Burtonwood
Page 14 and 15: 51-8240 C-119C new production at Fa
Page 16 and 17: 5332 was one of the small batch of
Page 18 and 19: 6190 50 TS Narborough by 1.17 - 10.
Page 20 and 21: 89554 was built by Hew/ett and 8/on
Page 22 and 23: This shows the P. 74 prototype, com
Page 24 and 25: The Short S.41 seaplane returning t
Page 28: The remains of Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf
Page 31 and 32: lOut of the Archives I From: Air Ma
Page 33 and 34: WE883 6 MU 19.6.51; 56 Sqn 5.7.51 c
Page 35 and 36: From an earlier part of the listing
Page 37 and 38: Crash Sites in the United Kingdom d
Page 39 and 40: 13.7.43 Mosquito VI HJ755 10ADU Fay
Page 41 and 42: A detail shot of the Vickers Wellin
Page 43 and 44: Brewster Bermuda FF568 photographed
Page 45 and 46: Grumman RF-9J Cougar 141722 Marines
Page 47 and 48: Amelia Earhart failed to make land

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