Does anyone have the slightest idea how the US 8th Army Air Force got it's aircraft from North America to the UK during WWII? Particularly the Mustang fighters. My guess is that they used their own pilots and crews, and flew from Gander to Northern Ireland.
James,
Don't know for sure, but you've got me interested in finding out...I just started reading a book 'American Women and World War II", and know that women pilots ferried planes around the US during that time but not sure if they ever went over to the UK.
Donna in S. Indiana (USN retired)
A huge number of aircraft were brought over from the USA to UK in crates stowed on board cargo vessels. Some aircraft were ferried via Iceland. Try a Google for "RAF Ferry Command" or "45 Group".
My husband thinks that they were ferried by a special 'ferry commando' unit. The hops were from the US to Canada to Greenland to Iceland to the UK.
But most assuredly, they flew on their own wings. (At least, the vast majority did.)
Becky A.
I have just spoken with DH about this. His "hobby" is the study of W.W.II, especially the Pacific theater of action. He has a room full of books about all aspects of the war and he agrees with Bruce -- most of the planes were crated up and shipped over to the UK. He says that a lot of "jeep carriers" were loaded with the crates and acted as patrols in addition to carrying cargo. He also says that a number of planes -- ones that were needed quickly, were flown from the USA to the UK following the route that Becky A. outlined. It seems that the USA didn't see the logic in flying all of the planes over as that would be a waste of fuel so only when planes were needed quickly were they actually flown over. CiaoMeow >^;;^<
PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at
It's a good queston. I remembered that some had been shipped, covered/crated. My DD was in the Army Air Corps (the name back then, not Air Force). He ended up stationed in Karachi - then India - of all places. I think they had some of their planes come in via ship, then air ferry. If he were still alive I'd ask him, but it's too late for that.
ellice
Jim: I think you should be able to find some of this information at the National Military museum in Ottawa since planes that were built in Canada for the war effort were flown over Greenland and Iceland to Great Britain. Some of the shuttle pilots were women - not considered to be able to fly the planes as fighter pilots, but often the ones who had to fly the damaged or crippled planes back for repair.
After flying the planes across the Atlantic solo, the pilots then gathered and flew back as a group to North America.
Bobby Watt, the wonderful Scots/Canadian singer has a beautiful (and very sad) song about a group of shuttle pilots who didn't make it home - their plane crashed taking off from the island of Aran in the Hebrides. They are buried on the island, and for years someone unknown placed flowers on their graves every year.
MargW
The Mighty Eight Air Force Museum is located in Pooler, GA, about 80 miles from my home, and their web site contains historical information which may be pertinent to your inquiry. Here's the link:
That is a really fascinating museum, we visited it a couple of years ago. It is just off I-95, as you get into Georgia from the north. Being from the UK originally, and remembering the war, I was intriged by the information about my homeland. The volunteer docents were most interesting!
Gillian
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