US Army Air Corps Base in England Where George J Gorrell Served

After my last post about the military career of George J. Gorrell during World War II, I worked at discovering where specifically he was stationed in England. He was a landing gear specialist and worked in maintenance of many types of planes. 

George is on the right with his buddies

It helped to re-read and type out his diary entries to see if I could gather any clues. On August 25, 1943, he wrote:

Aug 25 (1943): Land sighted. Birds seen, convoy sighted. Land is rather mountainous....Ship now flying British flag. 5pm: Ship's first stop. Entering strait or bay. Beautiful country each side. Sub, also aircraft carrier and gunboats escorting. Passed through chain of mines opened for our ship. Gourock first, then to Greenock, Scotland, shipping center.[1]

So the ship, Queen Elizabeth, sailed to Scotland. Checking maps online, I found Greenock in Scotland. The ship had to sail around the islands on the western side of Scotland and sail into the Firth of Clyde.

Where the ship landed at Greenock, Scotland

 The next day, he wrote:

Aug 26: By ferry to board train, Greenock. Through Fort Matilda, Carlisle, Glasgow to suburb of Liverpool by night.[2]

He has the towns out of order, as Carlisle is south of Glasgow.

Approximate route the train took from Greenock to east of Liverpool

 The next two diary entries were:

Aug 27: Arrived on siding. To camp by truck.

Aug 30: First pass today, to Warrington WMCA and American Red Cross.[3]

Warrington is located east of Liverpool. It was the town Warrington, that helped me find the actual place where the base was located. By searching for “Warrington” and “Army Air Corps” I found the website American Air Museum in Britain which has a page about Burtonwood Repair Depot.[4]

The Burtonwood Repair Depot was first used by the RAF in 1939-40 and as maintenance and technical training until 1942. On 23 May 1942, an agreement was reached between the RAF and US Army Air Forces.  It became the Base Air Depot (BAD) Area and Base Air Depot #1, as the center of supply and maintenance of all US aircraft in the 8th and 9th Air Forces.[5] It was a large base and home to more than 18,000 American servicemen. The Wikipedia article gives a nice list of all of the USAAF units that were stationed there.[6]

So he was at Burtonwood, specifically at the Base Air Depot #1. His mailing address at the time was BAD No. 1, APO 635. He was part of Maintenance Division, and was there until after Germany surrender and he was part of a group that was sent to Germany.

Today, the base is gone, but there is a children’s amusement park, Gulliver’s World, on the site and within the park a museum dedicated to the base, called Burtonwood Heritage Centre. For more information see http://www.rafburtonwoodheritagecentre.co.uk/. During our next trip to England, we will have to visit the park and the museum.

The current site of the Air Base at Burtonwood

In my next post on his service, will try to describe his work at the base. His diary entries are very vague about that part of his life.

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[1] “Diary of George J. Gorrell,” Aug 25, 1943, typed transcript from notebook purchased at the Presidio of Monterey PX, dated 1943-1946, Gorrell Family Papers.

[2] “Diary of George J Gorrell,” Aug 26, 1943.

[3] “Diary of George J Gorrell,” Aug 27 & 30, 1943.

[4] “Burtonwood,” American Air Museum in Britain (http://www.americanairmuseum.com/place/69).

[5] “Burtonwood,” American Air Museum in Britain (http://www.americanairmuseum.com/place/69).

[6] “RAF Burtonwood,” Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Burtonwood).

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