Commonwealth Replacement Aircraft to North Africa and Middle East

[jagdafrika]

I have read volumes 1-4 of Playfair's The Mediterranean and Middle East (HMSO). Some of these contained tables showing the numbers and types of Allied reinforcement and replacement aircraft sent to the theatre each month. These are about the only sources I have seen. Has anyone seen any other sources showing this information?

Many thanks in advance

jagdafrika

[michele-palermo]

Hello,
unfortunately I can't help you, but I'll be very happy if you could share with me the informations you already have.
Thanks
Mike

Gentlemen,

Back in 1996 I visited the USAf records repostiory at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. I was searching for records to assist Phil Butler with his book on Lend Lease Aircraft. They have a lot of files on the ferry operations across the southern Atlantic Ocean. Pan American Airways apparantley had contracts to move the aircraft from South American to Africa and the Middle East. The files list the type of aircraft ferried across each day but does not provide serial numbers. There may other files that list serial numbesrs, but I did not find them.--it would fhave taken me days and days to search through all the records.

But files at NARA, Washington, DC, list manufacturer-type and serial numbers of aircraft alloted for ferrying to Europe, Africa, etc. Again,there are hundreds of files listing serial numbers of aircraft they planned to ferry, but no records of those actualling arriving at their designated destination. It would have costs me a fortune to xerox all the files. But now with a computer and digital camera, it would be no problem to retreive and store this information. How times have changed in a few years

Norman Malayney
nmalayneyATyahoo.com

[jagdafrika]

Norman,

Thanks for the info, I will keep that in mind for the future sometime. That would be very helpful for the US aircraft. I know this info exists in archives somewhere but I am wondering if anything has been published or put on the web recently that anyone was aware of that I might have missed.

Thanks again!



Mike,

I will be more than happy to share what info I have. I only have the info from the first four volumes which covers the beginning of the war up until the end in Tunisia. The first volume did not list these in a table as the remaining volumes did. I will have to go through my notes and post the info from the first volume in a few days. The remaining volumes list the routes taken and types sent for each month, those will be a snap to type up and post here. Be watching for my first installment in a few days.

Mark (jagdafrika)

[jagdafrika]

My info on June 40 to Dec 40 is a little sketchy. I took notes years ago from these volumes if anyone has anything different please let me know. I came up with a figure of 112 Hurricanes sent to Malta and the ME. The total numbers of Wellington bombers was 41 and there were 85 Blenheim IV bombers sent. This was from Volume I of the series. Volumes II and III had charts.

For the total arrivals in the ME including Malta by all routes and all sources for Jan 41 to December 41 are below:

Jan 41 = 12 Blenheim, 44 Hurricane, 1 Maryland, 2 Wellington

Feb 41 = 38 Blenheim, 30 Hurricane, 2 Maryland, 2 Wellington

Mar 41 = 35 Blenheim, 13 Hurricane, 6 Lysander, 6 Maryland, 2 Tomahawk, 16 Wellington

Apr 41 = 37 Blenheim, 6 Bombay, 96 Hurricane, 6 Lysander, 7 Maryland, 25 Tomahawk, 27 Wellington

May 41 = 16 Beaufighter, 39 Blenheim, 4 Bombay, 85 Hurricane, 6 Maryland, 41 Tomahawk, 15 Wellington

Jun 41 = 5 Beaufighter, 55 Blenheim, 2 Bombay, 5 Gladiator, 206 Hurricane, 17 Lysander, 22 Maryland, 71 Tomahawk, 11 Wellington.

Jul 41 = 115 Blenheim, 2 Bombay, 3 Gladiator, 82 Hurricane, 7 Lodestar, 46 Maryland, 29 Tomahawk, 31 Wellington.

Aug 41 = 4 Beaufighter, 7 Beaufort, 66 Blenheim, 1 Bombay, 2 Gladiator, 34 Hurricane, 14 Maryland, 87 Tomahawk, 14 Wellington.

Sep 41 = 3 Beaufighter, 2 Beaufort, 38 Blenheim, 186 Hurricane, 3 Maryland, 23 Tomahawk, 13 Wellington.

Oct 41 = 8 Beaufighter, 3 Beaufort, 36 Blenheim, 3 Boeing B-17, 7 Boston, 81 Hurricane, 2 Maryland, 16 Tomahawk, 15 Wellington.

Nov 41 = 1 Beaufighter, 16 Blenheim, 60 Hurricane, 4 Beaufort, 1 Bombay, 1 Boeing B-17, 2 Maryland, 17 Wellington, 4 Baltimore, 23 Boston, 2 Harvard, 62 Kittyhawk.

Dec 41 = 60 Blenheim, 93 Hurricane, 1 Moth, 32 Beaufighter, 1 Beaufort, 3 Maryland, 19 Wellington, 9 Baltimore, 32 Boston, 21 Harvard, 135 Kittyhawk.

I have the numbers and types for arrivals from Jan to Sep 42 and will post those later. I had thought my info went further but either I lost it or my memory was playing tricks on me. Again, more to come later!

Regards,

Mark (jagdafrika)

[jagdafrika]

Here are figures for a few more months:

Jan 42 = 52 Blenheim, 186 Hurricane, 3 Lysander, 4 Tomahawk, 3 Beaufighter, 2 Beaufort, 3 Hudson, 18 Wellington, 1 Coudron Simoun, 15 Baltimore, 7 Boston, 18 Harvard, 116 Kittyhawk.

Feb 42 = 7 Blenheim, 4 Boston, 87 Hurricane, 1 Maryland, 21 Beaufighter, 6 Beaufort, 1 Maryland, 32 Wellington, 30 Baltimore, 9 Harvard, 42 Kittyhawk.

Mar 42 = 10 Boston, 71 Hurricane, 25 Beaufighter, 12 Beaufort, 10 Hudson, 4 Spitfire PRU, 1 Sunderland, 90 Wellington, 31 Spitfire, 12 Anson, 46 Baltimore, 108 Kittyhawk.

Apr 42 = 5 Beaufighter, 2 Boston, 111 Hurricane, 61 Spitfire, 13 Beaufighter, 5 Beaufort, 13 Hudson, 61 Wellington, 4 Anson, 2 Coudron Simoun, 2 Potez, 50 Baltimore, 11 Kittyhawk.

May 42 = 17 Beaufighter, 23 Blenheim, 13 Hurricane, 3 Tomahawk, 3 Beaufighter, 10 Beaufort, 42 Hudson, 1 Maryland, 1 Spitfire PRU, 57 Wellington, 94 Spitfire, 22 Anson, 2 Dewoitine, 42 Baltimore, 56 Kittyhawk.

My next post will finish up what info I have, from June to September 1942.

[jagdafrika]

And now the rest of what I have:

Jun = 31 Beaufighter, 42 Blenheim, 5 Boston, 181 Hurricane, 14 Spitfire, 37 Baltimore, 4 Beaufort, 4 Hudson, 51 Kittyhawk.

Jul = 32 Beaufighter, 136 Blenheim, 78 Hurricane, 4 Spitfire, 12 Beaufort, 24 Halifax, 42 Hudson, 2 Liberator, 1 Lodestar, 2 Spitfire PRU, 24 Wellington, 75 Spitfire, 4 Anson, 24 Baltimore, 23 Kittyhawk.

Aug = 49 Beaufighter, 101 Blenheim, 83 Hurricane, 1 Moth, 3 Spitfire, 22 Beaufort, 2 Halifax, 24 Hudson, 15 Liberator, 3 Spitfire PRU, 35 Wellington, 66 Spitfire, 10 Anson, 1 Dewoitine, 6 Fairchild, 79 Kittyhawk, 29 Baltimore.

Sep = 51 Beaufighter, 51 Blenheim, 163 Hurricane, 50 Spitfire, 1 Beaufighter, 11 Beaufort, 16 Hudson, 1 Liberator, 1 Maryland, 32 Wellington, 12 Anson, 1 Coudron Goelland, 1 Coudron Simoun, 23 Baltimore, 147 Kittyhawk.

If anyone has any figures for the remaining months, Oct 42 to May 43, your additional information would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

jagdafrika

[michele-palermo]

jagdafrika thank you very much!
I have the situation for Malta and I want to check the 112 Hurry sent from June to Dec. 1940.

[jagdafrika]

michele-palermo,

Hope it helps. I am very shaky on the June 40 to Dec 40 info, this comes from my handwritten notes from several years ago. Volume I which covered this period did not have charts as did Volumes II and III, you just had to find the info in the text and add up the totals yourself. Anything you might find on this period would be of help. I hope someone out there might also have info on the period from October 42 to May 43.

Thanks

Mark (jagdafrika)