Field capacity to repair, overhall, reconstuct, and build airplanes in W.W.I.I.

Michael Williamson wrote in message ...



Did ground crew, repair and reconstructions centers near or on
airbases, during BoB contribute mightily to the daily strenght report
for the BoB? Personally, I don't know what organizations issued new
serial numbers to new planes. However, I have read many short comments
flattering Hurricane, in particular, ground support crews and airbase
repair factilites. To 'repair', to 'overall' (do you know exactly
what an overhall is?), to 'reconstruct', to 'assemble', and to 'buid'
and 'rebuild' are all standard to mechanics' job descriptions. As as
field munufacture of parts? I listened to an interview of a veteran
who served in the SW Pacific in 1942 who said that he personally
participated in making spare engine parts. In an example he gave, he
described making a new piston for an engine that had lost a piston in
action.



John Freck wrote:



How many of them cast their engine block? Or machine the
pistons, valves, etc.?



The question is what are general and specifc examples of the
sophistication of ground support crews, and other factilities near or
on large Allied airbases in England. Could a repair center cast an
engine block? Those that did; where the located near a major airbase?
Of course, new construction from a large final assemble plant needs
a runway.

Snip


I don't think that YOU are thinking things through. How many engine
factories do you think you're going to have building Merlins? There
were (many) dozens of airfields spread throughout England. The wasted
manpower to operate these proposed small scale factories would be
astronomical. Now add in every other major component that you want
to have produced locally. You end up using about 40 times the
manpower to build less than half the components. Wars are affairs
of logistics, and trying to build your weapons and equipment in
place is a pretty quick way to fritter away your resources.


You don't seem to be exploring specifically what sorts of maintenace
were done to boost Hurricane strenght by ground maintenace. It reads
to me like the Hurricane production could readily be "farmed out" to a
large number of small factories. I am saying that ground support
should be able to assemble, build and rebuild engines, recycle, and
reconstruct. Those activities contributed mightly to total strenght,
maybe not new serial numbers, on a dialy basis. So to tighten my
thesis exploration:

1) During the BoB did Hurricane ground maintenace boost daily
Hurricane strenght?
If so? What methods? For example, can ground maintenace assemble an
engine
from parts delivered to a base? Can ground support assemble a plane?

2) Did any of the small factories that recieved "farmed out" contracts
also supply airbases with spare parts?
Did aribases consume spare parts? Where these factories near or on
airbases? To what extent was the civial aviation maintenance industry
tapped to boost parts production? Today, has I have shown aviation
maintenace does exist near airports and some manufacture aviation
parts.

So? Then, is the aviation near or on airports? YES. It is that
simple.
I bet most of the feeder factories were near airbases if the civialian
industry was taken over by the military, then you can bet ...



Are you too putting forward the concept that the USAAF can't gather,
cultivate, and grow the sort of labor you indicate a fighter plane
makers would have?


It would presumably be POSSIBLE (theoretically, anyways), but
as I noted above, the only people I'd suggest this to would
be the enemy. Aside from the low production rate, you'd need
a labor force many times the size of your actual operational
units. Imagine over a thousand highly skilled engineers,
machinists, etc., to support a fighter squadron, and able to
supply fewer replacements than the existing supply system at
maybe 10 several times the cost, which can't build up a stockpile
and have to halt production for several weeks to
upgrade when they move to a more powerful mark of the same engine.


Bull****. Provide evidense that today's aviation maintenace industry
isn't organized around airports and that these sorts of business don't
make parts in direct support of the companies like Boeing.
I have provided ample evidense that today the industry is organized
like I suggest the WWII military organize military aircraft production
and maintenance. You were completely ignorant of civilian aviations
maintenacne having parts manufacturing capacity, and there being a
final assemble plant right here in Florida which is of course, near a
civialian airport.



http://www.naplesnews.com/03/09/florida/e5099a.htm
A manufacture of propeller dirve planes employs 720 workers
at a manufacturing plant. This plant use 99 acres.
It is adjectent to a small airport which is much small that a large
USAAF airbase of WWII.
http://www.azworldairports.com/airports/p2740vrb.htm

I don't understand the conceptual problem some have with warplanes
being assemble, or built, or recycled, or reconstruted, or what have
you
near or on a military base. Many workers at the Piper Plant of Vero
Beach
learned their skills in the US military too. I think a Piper is the
closest thing to
a WWII fighter in commercial production today.


OK, so you've got 720 people and about 100 acres to provide the
propellers for your aircraft - If you've got another aircraft on
the base with a different propeller, you're up to nearly 1500 people
and 200 acres. Now all you need is an engine, guns (don't forget the
ammunition, with its associated chemical industry), airframe,
instruments, canopy, tires, seat belt, etc., etc., ad nauseum. A
single fighter unit would have a support industry on the order of
the entire Ninth Air Force in personnel.

Now you are miscasting me, deliberaly. An airbase with robust ground
maintenace, and a robust civilain avaition maintenance industry
near-by converted to military work can make parts, recieve parts,
recycle parts, and assemble airplanes. No, No, no... Not all parts
must be made from utter scratch raw material. The big main factories
of Boeing don't do that either and I know and pointed that out. As a
matter of fact, the situation u in Vero Beach with Piper is just what
I am claiming existed in WWII.

I am merely claiming that similar things done today were also done
yesteryear.


By the way, this small propeller shop you note- I take it that
it provides propellors for the aircraft operating out of that
nearby airport? How many factories did they build to supply the
propellors to the airports at the next city over?

The propeller shop is Piper's final assemble factory.
This factory supplies parts to the whole world.
They have feeder business all over the world, I would imagine.


John Freck




Mike