Prestwick

Airfield
A bomber crew of the 493rd Bomb Group with their B-24 Liberator (serial number 44-40321) nicknamed "Old Sack". Image via HS Pete Hay T. Handwritten caption on reverse: '493rd group (debach) Photo taken spring 1944. Lincoln [illegible], just prior for this across Goose Bay- Iceland, Prestwick, Debach. PS. I'm standing back row, far right. On my right is Raymond Boxlierger Russell Kansas, Pilot. I was his co pilot, great guy.' media-380959.jpg FRE 2153 A bomber crew of the 493rd Bomb Group with their B-24 Liberator (serial number 44-40321) nicknamed "Old Sack". Image via HS Pete Hay T. Handwritten caption on reverse: '493rd group (debach) Photo taken spring 1944. Lincoln [illegible], just prior for this across Goose Bay- Iceland, Prestwick, Debach. PS. I'm standing back row, far right. On my right is Raymond Boxlierger Russell Kansas, Pilot. I was his co pilot, great guy.' Roger Freeman Collection

IWM, Roger Freeman Collection

Object Number - FRE 2153 - A bomber crew of the 493rd Bomb Group with their B-24 Liberator (serial number 44-40321) nicknamed "Old Sack". Image via HS Pete Hay T. Handwritten...

Opened as civil Prestwick Airport with a grass airfield in 1936, it was also an RAF training, fighter and Coastal Command base during 1936 to 1941. Scottish Aviation established an assembly and maintenance facility there in 1938, developed during the war into a large factory complex, and an Air Transport Auxiliary ferry pool was also located there from 1940 to 1945. Used increasingly as a trans-Atlantic ferry base from January 1941, it was developed during 1941-42 with two concrete runways and extensive new apron areas. During 1940-41, ferry flights were controlled by the newly-formed Canadian Pacific Railway Air Services Department on behalf of the British Ministry of Aircraft Production (MAP), using mostly civilian airline crews. Control was transferred in March 1941 to the Atlantic Ferry Organisation (ATFERO), set up by MAP and administered by the British Overseas Airways Corporation. ATFERO was soon taken over by RAF Ferry Command in July 1941, and Ferry Command was later absorbed into RAF Transport Command in March 1943. A mixture of civilian and military personnel worked together in the air and on the ground, to maintain a high volume of traffic by day and night on the 'Atlantic Ferry’ for both the RAF and USAAF. Some 37,000 American- and Canadian-built aircraft were delivered via Prestwick from 1941 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. The major types were Hudsons, B-24s, B-17s, C-47s, B-25s, Mosquitos and Lancasters. For non-combat crews, a Return Ferry Service was organised with B-24s to fly them back to the USA and Canada, operated mainly from nearby RAF Ayr. American combat crews mostly delivered their own aircraft, and 12,357 aircraft allocated to the Eighth Air Force passed through Prestwick. The USAAF Air Transport Command operated scheduled services through Prestwick, and the station was also used for mail and freight services, as well as casualty evacuation of American personnel back to the USA after D-Day 1944. The American support units departed in September 1945 and Prestwick again became a civil airport in April 1946, with Scottish Aviation remaining in residence. Although trans-Atlantic commercial airline flights replaced military ferry flights, American military aircraft en route to USAFE European bases continued to stage through Prestwick, which was also used as a jump-off point for delivery of British aircraft types to the USA and Canada. The USAF re-opened the American base from 1951 to 1966, to provide support for Military Air Transport Service flights between the USA and Europe, and also to provide rescue cover over the Atlantic. Renamed Glasgow Prestwick Airport - completely separate from Glasgow International Airport near Paisley - the airfield has been home since 1971 to HMS Gannet, operating SAR helicopters. The Scottish Government became the owner of Glasgow Prestwick Airport in 2013.

Connections

See how this entry relates to other items in the archive by exploring the connections below.

People

  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 14th Fighter Group 49th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 39015183
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class
  • Role/Job: Radio Operator
Jonathan Akers
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 14th Fighter Group 49th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 18014704
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Role/Job: Tail Gunner
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 14th Fighter Group 49th Fighter Squadron
  • Service Numbers: 18018669
  • Highest Rank: Technical Sergeant
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 18th Troop Carrier Squadron 64th Troop Carrier Group
  • Service Numbers: 14044456 / O-789706
  • Highest Rank: Second Lieutenant
  • Role/Job: Co-Pilot
  • Military/Civilian/Mascot: Military
  • Nationality: American
  • Unit: 448th Bomb Group 713th Bomb Squadron
  • Highest Rank: Private First Class
  • Role/Job: Ground Crew

Aircraft

  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Aircraft Type: C-47 Skytrain
  • Unit: 18th Troop Carrier Squadron 64th Troop Carrier Group
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Nicknames: Jarrin Jenny
  • Unit: No 11 Combat Crew Replacement Center 303rd Bomb Group 97th Bomb Group 340th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress
  • Unit: 379th Bomb Group 526th Bomb Squadron
  • Aircraft Type: B-17 Flying Fortress

Revisions

Date
ContributorAAM
Changes
Sources

Barry Anderson, Army Air Forces Stations (Alabama, 1985) / David J. Smith, Action Stations 7: Military Airfields of Scotland, the North-east and Northern Ireland (Cambridge, 1989)

http://www.jstor.org/stable/260491?seq=8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Prestwick_Airport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Gannet_SAR_Flight

Prestwick: Gallery (4 items)