denis555

A friend of my fathers was a Sergeant Pilot on Lancasters during the latter part of WW2.

He told my father ( and me ) that after VJ day he was given an assignment to fly Lancs from southern England and over the sea, where he would bail out and be picked up by rescue craft. The lancs then flew on until they eventually fell into the sea and disappeared forever,

He maintained that these were brand new aircraft fresh from the factory and that the Air Minisitry did this because it was cheaper to keep on producing them ( and dumping them ) than break the contract..

He insisted that dozens of them were disposed of this way.

Surely it would have been easier to break them up on land and use the components ( or maybe this would lead to too many embarrassing questions ).

Is this a myth?

Did it ever happen?

Please let me know your views

RETDPI

Brand new Sunderlands were allegedly taxied out to sea and their sea cocks opened as one example of contracts being finished off and the products scrapped.
Coastal Command post war had to make do with war weary ex bomber Lancasters ( some with distinguished log books) whilst new ones were apparently destroyed after initial manufacturers' test flights.
Although this particular story seems a bit "stretched", in essence this type of wasteful "paperwork straightening" was common practice after the end of hostilities.

denis555

Wow - Sunderlamds as well - what a waste. You'd have thought they were worth re-selling as passenger transport for the post war years, Nice to have my fathers freinds story confirmed.

Please keep the info coming if you have any.

D

Old Hairy

Sunderlands do not have sea cocks

At least the ones I flew for three years

RETDPI

Old Hairy,
I bow to your direct knowledge!
This was the term I recall being used by my late father ( Ex Halton Brat - RAF 1939-1954) but admittedly not a Sunderland man.
I wouldn't know.
The only Sunderland men I knew very well were Trevor Smith ( alas deceased) and Dennis Moreau - who had the unusual distinction of being a flying boat captain whose aircraft was once claimed as being "sunk" by an RN submarine on exercise -photo confirmed at Mountbatten in the wash-up (the Sunderland crew were fishing off of the wing at the time).

S'land

Having this happen to Lancasters is bad enough, but to Sunderlands! Heads should roll for this. If the organisers of such sacrilege are dead, their bodies should be dug up and made to suffer unspeakable damage.

Not that I'm biased or anything.

henry crun

I doubt all these stories of aircraft been disposed of in this manner.

At the end of WW2 UK was just about broke, and had a desperate shortage of raw materials of all descriptions, particularly metals.
Every thing that could be salvaged would have been sent to the scrap yards for recovery.

Kitbag

This is a bit of 'story from a bloke in a pub my uncle met once' and perhaps should be treated with a degree of caution. However during my time at Halton one of the Apprentice Wing instructors was ex FAA and he recounted the story that the carrier he was on in the Far East after VJ day had disposed of its aircraft simply by pushing them over the side. Remember that a lot of guys just wanted to get home by that stage of the conflict so I suspect that 'its a big company' syndrome may have had a bearing on the apparent vandalism.

ZeBedie

My Dad was on a carrier in the Pacific at the end of the war. Soon after VJ day, the ships stock of brand new, boxed engines was pushed over the side, along with most of the Seafires and Corsairs. He was told it was to keep the factories busy at home.

canard68

Slightly more recently when I was a young spotter I remember a Shackleton 3 Phase 3
departing Woodford on delivery and a couple of months later seeing it abandoned at Kemble? looking like it was about to be dismantled.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!

That's like watching then crush the brand new E-Type at the begining of The Italian Job.


And I can believe it too. I've seen pics of the boneyards in Arizona and all you can see is B17 tails - there must've been hundreds of them


And I think we've all seen footage of the Americans pushing Hueys off the side of carriers post Vietnam.

...did you notice the guy in the background patting his pockets and the thought bubble saying "Oh sh1t. My wallet")

Dick Whittingham

Late WW2 American carrier ops worked like this:

End of the day, aircraft were classified as OK, flying duds and non-flying duds.

Flying duds flown off to repair base.

Non-flying duds pushed over the side.

Dawn saw a new delivery for a full deckload as ops re-started.

Or so I was told, by a man I met in a pub.

Dick

forget

I think that 'one-off' job was a case of needs must. It was a Significant Date and there was no space left for incoming helicopters - so space was made by - as you say.

bjw824

Hi ZB
This is true , but it was due to the terms of Lend-Lease, not to keep British factories busy, and was only applicable to U.S. manufacured a/c. All former U.S. equipment had to be returned, written-off or paid for. My Dad was also there and had many photos of brand new Corsairs, Avengers, Hellcats etc etc being hacked and rolled over the side. It was considered that they were not worth the cost of returning.
Re Lancasters and other British built WW2 bombers, I think that story is another legend.
I can clearly remember vast dumps of Stirlings and Halifaxs at York and High Ercall and I know for a fact that most of the Lancasters operated by the RCAF Squadrons were flown back to Canada. Whilst most Lancasters were scrapped post-war, many Lancasters were refurbished for export sales, i.e Argentina, France, Pakistan etc and many were converted to ASR and MR roles

FAL

My understanding too of the Lend-Lease aircraft - they were not ours to scrap and retain the proceeds, however small. Additionally, I think the British Pacific Fleet carriers needed the space to bring home POWs.

Lower Hangar

We had one of our Buccs literally roll ove the side of Ark Royal in the Caribbean ( circa mid 70's) - but it wasn't intentional - more a case of insufficient lashings. !!

Old Hairy

Sland,I agree with your remarks,but before apoplexy takes its toll Its definately not true. Ive just been thro the appendix to Chas Bowyers book on the Sunderland (Good read) which contains details on all the boats produced in a appendix,details of their demise and disposal all 710 and there are no details on any criminal sinking.
RETDP,thanks for that info,sadly there are very few of us left.anno domini.althought I am still in contact with my old F/Eng. 85 and still going strong.Happy Days.
I am currently writing a few stories about my time on boats,which I understand may be published in the "Growler"

All the Best.

superchippie

I have a cousin who worked at an aircraft scrapyard in Oxfordshire just after the war, and he used to tell me of brand new Wellington bombers, fresh from the factory, wheeled in on "Queen Mary" trailers. He would remove the oxygen bottles and anything else considered valuable and then set fire to the airframe!!
I have no reason to doubt his story.
The door knobs on the cupboards in his mother's house were from Mosquitos (throttle knobs I believe)!!!

Avitor

How many Lancs were turned into 'Lancastrians' like the passenger one which tragically crashed in S America?

ScottishCop

I heard that alot of Coastal Command Catalinas had their seacocks opened and were sunk at the end of the war. There is one such Catalina lying between the Isle of Cumbrae and Largs in Scotland. My dad dived on it and its intact as well.

I have seen pics of RAF Dumfries at the end of the war and there were hundreds of Wellingtons, Lancasters etc awaiting disposal. Alot were brand new. They had the wings removed at were buried in the Lochar Moss, which is a boggy area surrounding the airfield.

There would be some great finds there if it was to be dug up today!