I don't as a rule link to other Forums, but this is absolutely fascinating and has caused a lot of excitement recently.... Aces, Contrails & Unsung Heroes • View topic - Airfield Dig & BBC TV Collaboration. Rumours have abounded for many years about old 8th AF bases in the UK containing hidden treasures ; some proof may be emerging at last.
You reminded me of two rather "funny" stories about the US and our post-war supplies. The first came from my now ex-father-in-law, and was pretty cute. He was still in an infirmary somewhere in Australian at war's end, and ended up married to an Austrailian girl who happened to be his nurse. He was on the "re-coup" end of his stay, and was sitting outdoors one fine day when he looked out into the harbor and observed the Quartermaster Corps in the process of "cleaning" out the holds of three Victory Ships. They were full of canned hams (not SPAM), and they wanted them empty so that the ships could return to the States carrying soldiers, wounded first. He asked a fellow from the merchant marines why they were just dumping the hams overboard and not giving them to the Aussies, and was told the hams had "gone bad" in transit and were inedible. He wasn't on the first ships out, but he was there as the locals dived for the hams, and salvaged them, consumed them, and sold them on the blackmarket. I don't understand why they weren't just given to the Australians outright. The second weird one was concerning New Zealand. They ended up on the other side of L/L debt (we owned them), and there were hundreds of jeeps and Cat crawlers on the island anticipating the "Downfall" invasion. When that didn't come off, instead of giving the NZ government the vehicles to "balance the books", the US fired the units up, pointed them off a cliff into hundreds of feet of water, and off they went. D-4 and 5 Cats, and jeeps into the drink. There never were any "jeeps in crates" for sale post-war, cheap. But those which were already overseas were prohibited from being returned to the States for fear of "hampering" the car sales by the big Three automakers post war. Those units, and the Studebaker trucks were denied return rights from the USSR. That is why the Soviets started out returning those which were in good shape, but stopped giving them back and hid them from our inspectors when they found out we were taking them out to sea, crushing them and dumping them before returning for more. Some plan huh?
There is a Stirling parts restoration project here: index If I was a billionaire they would have all the funding they'ld ever need in a New York heart beat. What a crime (insult) that not one was saved. Thrilling link Martin. Thanks to you I got almost zero sleep last night! Totally engrossed in the pics - lost complete track of time. Looks like info from their new big dump should start being posted any minute.
Hi Clint, that story reminds mem of one that Bigfun (Scott) had told about trucking good Ice --or-- bottled water?-from one stop to another criss-crossing the Country only to end up delivering it somewhere where the people accepting it (Govt types ) and then the water-instead of being passed out to be consumed-was poured out on the ground-totally wasted. Whomever comes up with these "brain-childs" ALL should be stood up against a wall and shot.
