Scrapping World War II aircraft in North Africa
Vložit
- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Wartime film clips show U.S. bombers and fighters at Telergma in North Africa at a field scrapyard, yielding valuable parts to keep 'em flying. For our Aircraft Boneyard Playlist: • aircraft boneyards
Walk among ghostly B-29 Superfortresses in the Mojave Desert in 1978: czcams.com/video/XPRlmyT1WYs/video.html
+airailimages B-29 "Doc" was one of the planes at the China Lake target range. Today there is only one B-29 hulk that is recognizable.
My dad was in the US Navy Sea Bees in North Africa during the war. Before he passed away he gave me an ash tray that he said was made of scrap aluminum from downed German aircraft. It's a sand casting that they had made that was about 6 inches and circular, inscribed with the words: "U S Navy CB 513 North Africa August 14, 1943". I sure wish that thing could talk.
That's a neat memento. Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting.
You've gained a new subscriber. Your channel features some of the items that interest me the most. Being a Veteran of the Viet Nam era, anything from planes, especially military, to trains, especially steam, are always worth a look see. The old film that you feature here about material recycling of military equipment in N. Africa was the first time that I've seen it and I thought that I had just about seen them all. The subject matter reminded me of my Dad and his ash tray, which he used for many years on a regular basis. I thank you for posting something that brought back some fond memories. All of the best to you and yours.
Thank you -- we will keep growing our channel, hopefully including even more videos that you like.
If it could talk, would it speak German?
I am from the city of TELERGMA, I am looking for videos of the American army, the French army and the English army when they were in the city of TELERGMA, please help me.
When the 5th Air Force was operating out of New Guinea they built a special B-25out of spare parts. Officially, it didn't exist. It lacked guns and armor and so was the fastest plane around. They used it to make supply and R&R and beer runs to Australia. And that is how wars are won.
The Australian s did that very trick with O1/L19 parts in RVN late 1960's.
Shame, but necessary at the time...........
A museum would love some of these planes.
I totaly agreed! Today we also scrap military Aircrafts. It's necessary! 50 years later the people will get nervous to see once more a F14 tomcat Fighter in the Sky!
My grandfather was a WW2 vet and took my father to the airfield at Tocumwal in NSW Australia after the war, dad told me there were dozens of combat planes lined up for the scrap heap. He and one of his school friends were able to climb into the canopies of some of them and pretended to fly. . No doubt some would be worth a fortune now.
Interesting story. Wonder if anyone took photos... Thanks for watching!
At the end of the Pacific war and Australian hired a ship and collected up all the bulldozers, graders, cranes and dump trucks that were left behind and brought them back to Australia where he founded a highly successful construction business.
....and the taxpayers in the Allied countries spent the next 70-odd years paying off the cost of the war in inflation and a reduced standard of living. The construction cost alone of the U.S. 'B-24' bomber fleet (18,000-plus planes) would have been some $90,000,000,000 (sic) in today's inflated money. All but a tiny handful of these planes were quickiy broken up at the war's end. At least the bankers got something out of it.
@@None-zc5vg All wars =bankers wars Rothchild
@@sunsetlights100 shhh!,shhh!
@@None-zc5vg incorrect those not flown home were either , burned crushed or thrown over into ravines to rot in the tropic heat. If not reused locally, kinda depended on when units got orders to get,on the boat to ship out. More isolated islands they just left some.
@@None-zc5vg America's standard of living grew substantially in the post war years which included the baby boom....
Crazy to think that the scrap pile then would be worth tens, maybe hundreds of thousands now. Imagine how much just that Spitfire MK V fuselage would be worth now.
This is very interesting to see.
Another angle on this is, how they handled all the surplus parts and specialized manufacturing equipment, after the war was over.
The quantities of stuff they had to dispose of, or recycle, was mind blowing.
Really gives you a perspective on how wasteful war is.
Guy Gibson's surviving Lancaster , scrapped at Wars end.
633 film , A Mosquito was set on fire to represent a crash landing and others scrapped.
If only we knew then what we know now.
If we knew then (etc.),we might have strung-up the politicians and their backers who caused the war, thereby saving a lot of lives and no little money, but that's yet more "if only...".
At the time, these aircraft were just that. scrap. Because so many were scrapped, the few left are valuable. Even if they were still common, there is little use for fighters and bombers. The transports found civilian use and many are still in use.
Suzie Q would be worth about 6 million now.
If only sections with recognizable paint markings were sold. The proceeds would have been far more valuable.
A great and sad video!
Hundreds of aircraft were ferried from the manufacturers directly to the boneyards, toward the end of the war. Many were sold for pennies on the dollar with very little flight time. Most were just defueled and scrapped. Bombers were sold with full fuel tanks and many were purchased and flown away just for the 100 octane gas. The planes were then scrapped at the buyer’s home airport. There were so many planes built then, there was little appreciation for them, just like the passenger pigeon flocks a few decades earlier.
Little did those guys know then,those planes they scrapped would be worth millions of dollars today had they have been put in storage.
tbugher62 well yes and no. Partial reason the surviving planes are worth millions is because of so few left because of the scrapping
Very interesting. Thanks for uploading! :)
You are welcome!
Actually a Salvage Operation. Changing the title to Salvage Operation s would be a fitting tribute to the men who toiled at their tasks.
Interesting to me as I saw the Susie Q at Peterson AAFB in Colorado Springs just after it came back from Asia. At the time I would have never thought that I would, in the 70s and 80s, do some airshow travel on the B29, a B17, LB24, and JU52.
That was very very cool.....ALWAYS wondered about that untill now.....thankyou
While in panama they were pulling jeeps out of crates and squishing them ..they sold a old patrol boat for 100 bucks..i was an mp so they hjad to have a bill of sale and part they bought..sold thqt stuff cheap.
its a pity they didnt cut out the names of the planes ,,and the bomb mission markings ,,the swatkas etc ,,i would love to have one ,,,fancy pants 32 missions ,hanging on my wall ...i wish ,,salute you crazy fearless men
This parts today even to aviation enthusiasts are worth hundreds of thousands even millions if you think about it. Have you ever heard of the term? one person's trash is another person's treasure.
I never knew Suzi Quattro was already popular during WW2? She doesn’t look that old!
People wonder what happened to all of the planes, tanks, and the massive amounts of metal, wire and other materials used to build a war machine to the scale of WWII. After the war, much of it was recycled into raw material to help rebuild countries that were badly damaged. I would have loved to have seen what Europe would have looked like if so many of those timeless cities and buildings had not been laid waste to rubble.
love bone yards...especially aircraft BY..thanks for the upload.
Glad you liked it. Have you seen our latest boneyard video at czcams.com/video/orGRgUeoRNw/video.html
yup I have thxs
Interesting film. I wonder how many other similar facilities they had in that part of the world ?
I would assume that in Britain and liberated France they would take care of the scrap there for melting.
In 1976 I cleared a shipload of Iraq AF fighters that a guy from NY,NY had purchased along with crates and crates of spare parts. They were British make, and I don't remember the name of the planes. The planes were destined for Jacksonville, Fl. , but somehow ended up in Port Canaveral totally unannounced. As you can imagine Customs was pretty upset as they thought the planes were fitted with their guns, but they were not. The guy that hired me to clear them through Customs stiffed the stevedore and the Canaveral Port Authority for their fees, and when I found out about it I told the guy he had to pay them & us before I would release his planes. He told me that I couldn't do that and I told him I could and I would. Everyone got paid in the end and that was that.
Hawker Sea Fury perhaps?
@@timmorodgers4271 That is the one. Thanks for the information. I was told by the importer that they were the fastest prop fighters of their time.
@@buckshot4428 I think all the Sea Furies still flying are ex Iraqi air force. They were a very powerful, fast and potent late war fighter.
The Jet age made them obsolete, they did not needed them anymore
So sad to see all that scrap aluminum.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Thanks for watching and thanks for commenting.
Dry desert areas always remain the best areas to store used aircraft, Europe has none of that
Tons of those engines still in Libya
Those Aircraft are worth a fortune today in parts or near complete.
Right, but they were just considered junk back then.
@@teddammit5179 Yup Swords to Ploughshares , you could probably have got a frying pan that had been over Berlin..
They cost a fortune back then, when personal incomes were tiny.
It was mentioned that there was help "from Arabs". My comment is not intended to be negative towards any culture. I ask if "the Arabs" had clothing that was more oriented to working in? I could see the long robes or even the head "dressings" getting caught up in moving machinery. How could a person work when they are always trying to pull along a robe, perhaps it is a talent that takes some time to develop. I always wondered about the expenditure of brass (as in the brass for ammunition). Was the type of brass used for ammunition not the type easily recovered for other uses? you sure do see a lot of brass just dumped in some ocean.
+Dan R American pennies minted in 1944 have a slightly different copper and alloy composition than others because in 1944 they used quantities of salvaged ammunition casings -- I have not learned if there was a particular size or type used in the making of pennies that year.
The "shell casing" pennies were minted in 1944 through 1946. They seem to have a darker color than the standard issue pennies. This is most noticeable in the coins that haven't been circulated. Through my observations, though, the circulated coins still show a difference in the colorization due to the difference in the alloy. Otherwise there's no physical difference in them from a regular issue coin. Of course we shouldn't forget the pennies minted in 1943. These were made of steel with a zinc coating on them to resist corrosion. This was a true indication of just how serious a situation our country was in at that time. There were also wartime nickels dated from 1942-1945 that were of a silver alloy instead of the wartime essential nickel alloy. These coins were differentiated from the regular alloy Jefferson nickels by the fact that a large mint mark initial was placed above the dome of Monticello instead of having a much smaller initial mint mark placed on the right side of the building, as was with the normal issue coins. This was also the first time that the Philadelphia mint placed a, "P", mint mark on any of the coins that were struck at that mint. The silver wartime nickels are quite collectible because of their silver content and can occasionally be found in pocket change if you keep an eye out. It's amazing in just what can be found in common pocket change, even today. Recently, I was handed a Buffalo nickel dated 1937 in very good condition. How this jewel found its way into my hands is truly an example of, "Murphy's Law".
Google Telergma and a lot of the scrap seems to still be there
I am from the city of TELERGMA, I am looking for videos of the American army, the French army and the English army when they were in the city of TELERGMA, please help me.
Smart use of much-needed materials.
At first I thought that the aircraft right at the end was a P40, but on second thoughts it might be a Spitfire- the US did use a few but I thought only in the Pacific theatre.
US had Spitfires in North Africa/Mediterranean, in 12th Air Force. Thanks for watching!
Look up USAAF Spitfire MXN, there are photos of it.
@@airailimages I did not know that, thank you. I haven’t known they had them in the Pacific for long. I think aircraft painted in a scheme that doesn’t reflect what you’ve always seen them in look weird- like American Spitfires and RAF Mustangs; a P40 in a Commonwealth Air Force layout looks fine because I’ve always seen them with roundels.
my brother Howard Bell nickname Buck Bell flu and B 24448 missions in World War II he described when the war was over and they were leaving Syria he flew over acres and acres and Acres of brand new aircraft jeeps and other vehicles that was sitting in the sand but we're no longer needed he saw bulldozers pushing them into the sea to destroy them that was World War 2 I remember very well I was only a child when he went into the Navy Air corps he flew into a brand new heavy bomber call the B-24 Liberator This Plane can carry two or three times as much as the B-17 and could travel 2 times as far but it never got the recognition that the B-17 did my brother's playing was from the Navy it was a very first heavy bomber that they had they painted it all white because it was a submarine killer the submarines work torpedoing all the boats coming out of the Chesapeake Bay in the Delaware Bay we had no way of stopping it until the B-24 arrived and it managed to identify and shoot them down with Ariel depth charges if it wasn't for the B-24 we could have lost the war because no supplies would have gotten to England to support our troops for the big invasion this is Buck spell little brother LES Bell
Thanks for listening
Howard "BUCK" Bell** was born in Philadelphia enlisted in the Navy at the age of 18 he was one of the first to fly on the B27 that became the neighbors very first heavy bomber it was designed rain to fight submarines that were killing the Allied effort 2 Supply our troops in England and Europe these bombers had a range of over 3500 miles they were the only plane that could sink them in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
this information was given by Buck Bell brother Les Bell
And thanks for sharing!
@@jerseyjim307
You mean
Consolidated B-24
"Liberator" heavy bombers.!!
@@airailimages I am from the city of TELERGMA, I am looking for videos of the American army, the French army and the English army when they were in the city of TELERGMA, please help me.
@@jerseyjim307 I am from the city of TELERGMA, I am looking for videos of the American army, the French army and the English army when they were in the city of TELERGMA, please help me.
I am from the city of TELERGMA, I am looking for videos of the American army, the French army and the English army when they were in the city of TELERGMA, please help me.
S'what scrappers are/were for - keeping the rest going.
this was all run by Milo Minderbinder
I watched Catch 22 last night.
Every part shipped with a share of stock!
Looking for a C-119-D model. Any in this yard?
This is mistitled. Salvage is NOT the same as scrap.
What these organisations could do is jaw-dropping examples of re-cycling.
Ya jus' can't improve on the design of a clamshell toolbox, can ya?
If those parts could talk!
Spitfires! Folk rebuild worse ones today.
my father spoke of after the war, being Stuck in Africa for nearly 6 months before shipping home, one of his jobs was to run over with a big cat airplanes new never flown like P-51's bust them up and bury them-- leave nothing for anyone to use he was told--
Wow -- thanks for sharing his story.
+donze52 Document the location with some historians. Often times, these dumps were dug up and scrapped out by locals after the war. But being that the climate is dry in Africa it would be worth a look at some point, if permission to dig can be obtained.
my father never gave me the location but lonely that he had ordered to destroy brand new in the box P-51's and other planes over there, said to expensive to bring them home and did not want to leave them to the Arabs--
+donze52 Just relay what info you have to a few aircraft historians or general military historians (name, unit info, etc.) and maybe somebody can look at records and do some detective work. There are many of these stories but very few have yielded anything, although it is known that things were buried. Always worth a look to somebody. P-51s would not have been in crates since they would have been flown to distribution points.
my friend that don't mean anything now thanks to metal detectors and besides there's no area that secret because the locals are always watching the foreigners on their territory
cool
These planes were probably viewed like a scrap 1998 Ford taurus today, thousands and thousands so who cares.
Exactly, and why would you want a tired, shot up, half demolished Spitfire V or P40E when they were building Mk. XIV's and P-51's by the hundreds or thousands?
Hm, Spitfire in american colours. Interesting. What use?
...such a dire pity these actions were undertaken!
salvage is the enemy of new parts sold at premium prices, "Arabe lend a helping hand" I doubt it, they charge for their services, don't lend anything. The British still owe money on their "lend/lease" war they started in 1918.
Wrong. We finished paying off our lend-lease tab in 2006. Perhaps you've mistaken us for the Russians. And which war did we start in 1918, exactly?
Wrong on two accounts the lend lease program was a second war only not of the first as you claimed. Also of all of the countries that participated in the lend lease program only the Brits honored their financial obligations 100% every other country did screw the American tax payer by defaulting on their war debuts
I was hoping to see more German aircraft.
Hey, thanks for watching. We have some footage of a captured Bf-109 in this issue of Airailimages Video magazine: czcams.com/video/0vJ2i-TPbtY/video.html
@@airailimages
I'll check it out, thanks!
They left most of the Lady be Good in Libya
+Rudy Bishop I think Lady be Good was moved into storage and is planned to go into a new military museum in Libya.
SIDNEYBRITOGUSMAO
Old junk planes yet exist scattered all over I live in Ohio and up until 3 yrs ago only 40 miles from my house was a yard .Was an almost complete sitting on its landing gear B25 bomber, the yard did have multiple Corsairs, Mustangs up until 10 -20 yrs ago. Sadly I’d not learned of the yards existence until a year ago most of the iconic and easiest to restore planes are now gone but there are still several dozen left as well numerous heaps of old parts scattered amongst the trees. There is a navy Sky raider mostly intact it would surely cost only a million to rebuild it to flight worthy condition and there are a few that are FAA flight worthy condition Sky Raiders for sale for a quarter million. So that clunker sitting in the yard likely won’t be saved it’s a pity the $$$ numbers just won’t work out even if it could be gotten for just scrap costs.
Nice propaganda...