Wickenburg AAF post-war storage?

[george]

Many years ago when I was studying the disposal facilities, occasionally Wickenburg AAF (Echeverria Field) would be mentioned, but with never anything concrete or specific. Indirectly, got the idea some heavies might have been there, Libs and Forts. The caption in the P-38 picture in the Dick Martin thread stated that Martin's partner, Wardell, pulled 12 Lightnings out of Wickenburg around 1949-1950, so it seems there actually was post-war aircraft storage there. Or maybe there is another reason for all those P-38s being at Wickenburg. Can anyone shed any light on this place, and/or its possible post-war aircraft storage and disposal? I cannot find anything, yet why would at least 12 P-38s be stored there?

[aerovin]

Reconstruction Finance Corp documents record that Wickenburg was used as a storage field as noted in a September 1945 report. It was not a large storage field: a June 1946 War Assets Administration report recorded 138 aircraft stored there at that point. No indication as to type of aircraft.

Most of the AAF heavies were intended for scrapping and were gathered at the RFC fields at Kingman, Ontario (Chino), Albuquerque, Walnut Ridge, Altus, and Stillwater, OK.

[george]

Thanks, Scott. You answered something I've wondered about for a long time. I have seen pictures of even the smaller storage sites, Bush Field, Lowry, the NAS's, but nothing, or even any information on Wickenburg. It was such a remote place, and still is, that maybe being the reason aircraft were still sitting there around 1950. I assume it had a smelter, but have no way of knowing for sure. The lack of any pictures at all is puzzling, as it seems somebody photographed all the depots except Wickenburg. And no inventory by RFC, just the number of aircraft, seems strange.

The only other field I know of, besides those you listed, that stored and scrapped heavies was Pyote AAF.

[ALOHADAVE]

1945 -1950 Post war use of Wickenburg Field is unresearched by me. I need to look into this!
I do know everything about the field during its use in WWII. I have visited the place many times and wrote a short story about TG-6 Glider training there early in the war 1942. (available upon request) 1943-44 it was used by the Claiborne Flight Academy for pilot training in PT-17s. The Academy closed in late 1944. I have a large collection of photos of the place WWII and current condition. I do know the military used the field as a training area during the 1960s because 7 MAY 63 F-100F s/n 56-3743 from Luke AFB crashed just short of the old Wickenburg airstrip while practicing a flame out approach. There is a gap in my research, I will look into it.
Photo of Wickenburg Field 1944.

One WWII hangar is still standing barely...

[jdvoss]

According to W.T.Larkins book "Surplus WWII U.S.Aircraft" Appendix 3, Pg 175 Wickenburg had the following aircraft inventory (Jan 24, 1946):

PT-17 (4)
PT-22 (2)
PT-27(1)
BT-13 (108)
BT-15 (222)
C-78 (33)
A-24 (3)
A-25 (1)

JDV
http://www.fuselagecodes.com

[shrike]

That's not a hangar per se, it's a maintenance shop, probably motor pool as well. the posts are too close together, and it has a grease pit. And bees. lots of bees.
The whole area was slated to be razed and turned into an industrial park. I have not made it there in a few years
https://plus.google.com/photos/11346120 ... 6051789841

[ALOHADAVE]

I discovered a few aircraft parts out there, but I never did figure out what aircraft this came from. Any body know?

[aerovin]

The only other field I know of, besides those you listed, that stored and scrapped heavies was Pyote AAF.

Just to add some information, Pyote was never an RFC/WAA field...it was used for and controlled by AAF/USAF as a reserve storage field.

I assume it had a smelter, but have no way of knowing for sure.

I doubt it had a smelter. Wickenburg was probably just used as a storage field. The RFC/WAA operated dozens and they were gradually consolidated through 1945 and 1946. It would appear that Wickenburg was one of the early consolidations and aircraft were moved to other storage yards, or closed when inventory was gone.

The smelters were at the large scale fields sold to contractors in June 1946: Clinton, Kingman, Walnut Ridge, Ontario, and Albuquerque. Even at Stillwater, which was the first large field sale in February 1946, there were no smelters. The aircraft were disassembled on site and sent to St. Louis, if I recall correctly, on rail cars and smelted there. When the planes at Altus were sold in 1948, there may have been a smelter there also.

[T J Johansen]

There is an interview with Dick Martin in A. Kevin Grantham's book on Lightning survivors, called "P-Screamers". This in regard to the purchase of old surplus P-38s and their former resting place which appears to have been Kingman, AZ:

R.A. Wardell, who was my partner at the time, and I purchased eleven P-38s from the Kingman depot in 1946. We sold five of these aircraft to a firm that was supplying Central American Air Forces with obsolete military aircraft. In the late 1940s myself and few other pilots flew five of the P-38s to a depot in Miami. From there the planes were presumably delivered to Honduras.

This makes sense, as Kingman was a major storage depot with numerous Lightnings present, and most of the current P-38 survivors actually came from that facility.

T J

[ALOHADAVE]

It makes sense that PT-17/22s and BT-13/15s were stored at Wickenburg because both were used there during WWII. The base had a large graded area that was used for glider training. The area would have been excellent to store parked aircraft. Local mechanics would have been able to maintain them.

[george]

T J - Excellent research on your part. Its odd that the information with the P-38 picture you uncovered contradicts the interview with Dick Martin you cited regarding: number of aircraft purchased, year they were purchased, and from where they were purchased.

[jdvoss]

Referring again to W.T. Larkin's book "Surplus WWII U.S. Aircraft" Pg. 174 (Appendix 3) he lists the entire aircraft inventory at Kingman which includes 438 P-38's. Yes, TJ has hit it on the head!

JDV

www.fuselagecodes.com

[jdvoss]

As an addendum to my entry immediately above, Larkin's lists a grand total of 851 surplus P-38's allocated by the following fields:

Altus, OK (112)
Augusta, GA (4)
Kingman, AZ (438)
Ontario, CA (197)
Walnut Ridge, AR (100)

Price: $ 1250.00

JDV

www.fuselagecodes.com

[T J Johansen]

Oh guys, you make me blush...

Well George, the mind is a funny thing indeed. Forgetting the number of aircraft you've bought years previously is small fry compared to other discrepancies I've heard from people recalling the past. Funny though, there is an interview with Martin in the Air Classics report on the 1979 Madera gathering by Samuel Boghosian. Dick Martin apparently cared for John Deahl's P-38 (see Dick Martin thread), having previously been one of the Lightnings he had bought surplus in 46, then later sold to Honduras. In this piece Martin recalls buying twelve P-38s with a partner.

Now I'm gonna surmise a little here. If you had bought a dozen aircraft with the intent to sell for profit, would you rather store the aircraft in Oregon or Arizona? Goes without saying really. Then with a sale more imminent you bring the aircraft to home base for further rework/ TLC prior to delivery. According to Goodall's list Martin/ Wardell bought the 38s in April 1946. Bill Lear Jr. got the last one out of Kingman on May 20, 1946 (Interesting story on that one in his book "Fly Fast... Sin Boldly"). So they very likely flew them to Wickenburg for storage if the Pbase photo info is to be trusted. They certainly wouldn't have been allowed to keep them at Kingman! Second question is, did they even bring all twelve to Hillsboro? I have seen reports of Martin/ Wardell Lightnings sold or crashed prior to 1949.

The last bit is just food for thought. Maybe we'll find out!

T J

[george]

The logical sequence seems to be:

A. April 1946 Wardell and Martin purchased 12 P-38s at Kingman and flew them to Wickenburg.
B. Stored them at Wickenburg for 3-4 years.
C. In 1949-1950, flew them to Oregon
D. Sold or crashed 7
E. Delivered the remaining 5 to Miami