"John Freck" wrote in message
om...
A question has come up on anoouhter thread: Did airbases during
W.W.I.I have mini-factories near-by able to assemble airplanes from a
combination of recylced parts, mini-milled machine parts (ferrous
parts and aluminium parts, but not organic parts), and new spare
parts?

Here's a couple of things I've picked from books and museums....

The 'Block and Cube' test at RAF Halton involved each apprentice being given
a rough lump of one metal and a thin square of another, object being to
shape each piece using workshop tools that would available at any decent
base they might go on to serve at. The shapes had to be a perfect square
cube with a block it would sit in, all done to specifications and by hand.
I was told this would enable the manufacture of most, if not all, needed
parts that were otherwise unavailable.

During the Battle of Britain it was not unknown for damaged aircraft to be
cannibalised to provide spare parts for lesser damaged aircraft. This would
involve any part that would allow another machine to fly within safety
limits. 'Skies of Fire' by Alfred Price has a chapter about 266 Squadron who
flew Spitfires. The Engineering Officer broke his 'pet rule' about not
cannibalising aircraft to the extent he took a starboard wing from one
aircraft (the only undamaged part overall) to get another in the air.
I assume any damaged remains would have been taken away for further
repair/disposal at a different location when time allowed, as suggested by
other people here. Marshalls of Cambridge were involved in this and IIRC
there was a small airstrip somewhere in Anglia purely for a repair factory,
allowing previously damaged aircraft to fly out.

Nick