Luftwaffe and Allied Air Forces Discussion Forum - Luftwaffe raid on Abu Sueir July 1941

Raid discussed in these threads:
http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/sho...q-in-July-1941
http://www.rafcommands.com/archive/16567.php

as well as here:
https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/UN/...-Med-2-15.html
[see page 292]

Quote:

The shortage of almost every item from aircraft to flying equipment caused Air Vice-Marshal Dawson to tackle with great energy the problems of salvage and repair. When he arrived in June there were four maintenance units in the Middle East: three of these dealt with repair—No. 103 at Aboukir, No. 102 at Abu Sueir, and No. 107 at Kasfareet—and one, No. 101, in the Massara caves, dealt with explosives. Aboukir had been bombed several times and in July Abu Sueir was systematically attacked by the Luftwaffe. Fortunately, the engine and repair section and much valuable plant had been removed to Heliopolis before the final raid on 9th July, when twenty-six aircraft were destroyed; forty-nine others were damaged, in addition to five test benches and forty Bristol engines. To all intents and purposes No. 102 Maintenance Unit no longer existed, and to replace it a small number of garages, store houses and other buildings in the Boulac district of Cairo were taken over, men and equipment from Abu Sueir were moved in, and great use was made of local artisans supervised by airmen. Meanwhile the Massara caves were further opened up and adapted to deal with storage and repair on a big scale, and workshops were installed for the overhaul of engines. The whole became No. III Maintenance Unit.