I've never been more horrified or felt more impotent to stop something than when I saw them literally guillotine rows of old fighter aircraft into manageable chunks. I understood the financial end of it, but that didn't make it any easier to bear. Many vets believe that the govt. has the same attitude towards them, but can't just go ahead and do it.
ooohh, what did I just see?? My heart just gave out!!! Someone,, invent a time machine,, please,, and we'll give the scrap dealer $10 grand for the whole lot, and we'll make millions!!! Oh,, couldn't ya just imagine,,, ;^)
As part of the lend lease agreement Britain was obligated to destroy many of the weapons supplied by the US. They also wanted to use the carriers to return servicemen to the UK. The RN dumped aircraft and creates containing un-assembled F4's, F6's, amongst other US built aircraft and even some Seafires over the side of their carriers of the coast of Australia north of Brisbane. 3 aircraft were recovered on 1990. They're still down there but after 65 years!!!
@bondophobic ...In 1946+ you could purchase a P51 Mustang for $3500.00 and a B17 for $12,000.00 thru the US War Surplus Administration. My assumption is that alternate fighters and bombers would follow the same purchase prices. I suggest trying to find the book "Final Cut" by Scott Thompson. It's all about the scrapping of the largest AF in the world, and the sole survivors that remain. Interesting reading if you're into this type of thing.
When the movie 'Twelve O'Clock High' was set to be filmed in early 1949, producer
Darryl Zanuck was set to purchase two full squadrons of 'surplus' B-17's from the War Assets Administration for the flying and ground scenes in the movie. He discovered that except for about three dozen kept as 'spares' for the USAF, the 6,000 or so that survived the war had been disposed of. Such was the fervor to
demobilize after the war. The 12 B-17's used were USAF missle drone aircraft from Eglin AFB!
Well say the Iraqi war was a collosal war and we had a lot of planes built because of it, excess. Would wesave a bunch of them or scrap these worthless, outdated planes? We would do the same and not think much of it probably. But when I see these and the bombers with the nose art and the marks for # of bomb runs they came back from, I can only think "these are the survivors, that made it, and should be cherished." Almost like the planes themselves sacraficed for our nation.
For £25, you could buy a Tiger Moth, crated and unused! But as Mostlyfun said, "They would not be worth shit if there were thousands of them around , The reason they cost so much today is because most were scrapped.
People continue to use the word WASTE. Weapons of war serve their purpose just being available whether they are used or not. Discarded planes are like tin cans after the food is eaten. They served their purpose.
The "waste" isn't the scrapping after they are used, it is their creation in the first place. Think of the millions of people and billions of dollars (trillions by now) that would still be around if the world didn't waste so many resources on war.
Leave out any discussion about who is right/wrong/justified, that doesn't change the fact that war in an incredible drain on all countries resources - a drain that could be much better spent on other things.
You're 100% spot on. Senseless killing and enless drain.... and for what ? Bankers and Industrialist plans to re-make the world according to THEIR IDEAS ! Till WE WAKE UP, it's never going to END !!
This is film of the Walnut Ridge, Arkansas Army Airfield. I grew up less than 20 miles from this location. During the end of 1945 & all of 1946 there where over 11,000 airplanes that flew into this airfield to be either scraped or sold, most where scraped. My Dad witnessed firsthand the enormous volume of aircraft at this airfeld. This airfield had 3 runways of 5,000 feet. Now, in the year 2009 this is a locally owned airport of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.
People back then did not think those aircraft would be worth anything I know a guy who could have bought a P-51 Mustang in 1946 for $500 dollars but he bought metal siding instead for his farm now he's kicking himself in the ass cause they are worth millions now.
Although I hear that generation wanted to forget about the war and move on to home life and familys.
Have you seen the $value$ of a P-40 these days (esp a 2 place trainer !) or how about the ultra rare B-26 Maurders ? Only 2 exist ! Pure GOLD history.
holy shit!!! no!!!!!!!!!!! crist!!!! so many great planes being destroyed. i would have cept all of them and sell them off to in africa and south america. that way the planes are saved and the U.S. gets money
Agreed, TP-40 version of the Kittyhawk. Can anyone ident. a/c starting about :12 into film? Looks like A-20 Havoks or (less likely) A-26 Invaders mixed in with obvious H-tail B-25s.
I'm not sure about this, but I think the planes being stacked nose-down are Curtiss TP-40s, a 2-seat training version of the P-40 Warhawk. Does anyone know if that's right?
Oddly, it was in this type of film that George McGovern (former DNC Pres candidate and B-24 pilot) saw his old bird getting scrapped as he and his wife were watching a movie in a theater just after the war. Needless to say, his heart sank when he saw this.
Great short video. I also wish to have one of each, please. At the end the announcer comments on the "wastage of war" from the amount of planes the US had. I wonder, he being British, if he felt that way during the war too.
The British had massive wastage as well - of course! The announcer's comment refers to all the wastage caused by war. The film could equally have been the scrapping of Lancasters, Halifaxes, Mosquitos, Spitfires etc. You sound like you have some sort of axe to grind.
When something has served its purpose, it is not "wasted" as this guy said. The idea that being srapped before it is worn out is "waste" is shallow misguided thinking. These planes served a purpose just by being there when they were needed.
Better scraped AFTER war, than be blown out of the skies during war...
They did ther jobs, they did it well, and they brought their crews home alive
starguard 1 month ago
I've never been more horrified or felt more impotent to stop something than when I saw them literally guillotine rows of old fighter aircraft into manageable chunks. I understood the financial end of it, but that didn't make it any easier to bear. Many vets believe that the govt. has the same attitude towards them, but can't just go ahead and do it.
RushBuzzing 2 months ago
ooohh, what did I just see?? My heart just gave out!!! Someone,, invent a time machine,, please,, and we'll give the scrap dealer $10 grand for the whole lot, and we'll make millions!!! Oh,, couldn't ya just imagine,,, ;^)
geetarnut 2 months ago
plane you make the war ... survive and this is how we thank you...
alexpower15 2 months ago
As part of the lend lease agreement Britain was obligated to destroy many of the weapons supplied by the US. They also wanted to use the carriers to return servicemen to the UK. The RN dumped aircraft and creates containing un-assembled F4's, F6's, amongst other US built aircraft and even some Seafires over the side of their carriers of the coast of Australia north of Brisbane. 3 aircraft were recovered on 1990. They're still down there but after 65 years!!!
binaway 2 months ago
NOOOOOOOO.....
aracic22 2 months ago
were these available for sale to the public?
bondophobic 6 months ago
@bondophobic ...In 1946+ you could purchase a P51 Mustang for $3500.00 and a B17 for $12,000.00 thru the US War Surplus Administration. My assumption is that alternate fighters and bombers would follow the same purchase prices. I suggest trying to find the book "Final Cut" by Scott Thompson. It's all about the scrapping of the largest AF in the world, and the sole survivors that remain. Interesting reading if you're into this type of thing.
hd74man 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
My heart is breaking watching it ...
keicaam 6 months ago
Comment removed
keicaam 6 months ago
oh god NNNNOOOOOOO!
bad74maverick1 7 months ago
When the movie 'Twelve O'Clock High' was set to be filmed in early 1949, producer
Darryl Zanuck was set to purchase two full squadrons of 'surplus' B-17's from the War Assets Administration for the flying and ground scenes in the movie. He discovered that except for about three dozen kept as 'spares' for the USAF, the 6,000 or so that survived the war had been disposed of. Such was the fervor to
demobilize after the war. The 12 B-17's used were USAF missle drone aircraft from Eglin AFB!
madcitymcflyer 11 months ago
If only Time Travel was possible. If it was I would find a way somehow to stop this.
thisissparta789789 1 year ago 3
@thisissparta789789 - all you'd do is clutter up the desert with a lot of valuable aluminium alloy.
JBofBrisbane 10 months ago
that one killed a lot of camels.
datzfast 1 year ago
Well say the Iraqi war was a collosal war and we had a lot of planes built because of it, excess. Would wesave a bunch of them or scrap these worthless, outdated planes? We would do the same and not think much of it probably. But when I see these and the bombers with the nose art and the marks for # of bomb runs they came back from, I can only think "these are the survivors, that made it, and should be cherished." Almost like the planes themselves sacraficed for our nation.
arizonaresident1 1 year ago
Please sir may I have just one P 40 in my back yard?
Northside777 1 year ago 2
lump in my throat
MilitaryAircraft101 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
For £25, you could buy a Tiger Moth, crated and unused! But as Mostlyfun said, "They would not be worth shit if there were thousands of them around , The reason they cost so much today is because most were scrapped.
spyderz1303 1 year ago
wow, hard to watch
cactuschris2002 1 year ago
Bravery, sacrifice, no big deal...no longer needed now. Put it on the scrap heap.
Such short term memories of great feats.
mbandarra3 1 year ago
idiots,....
skot66 2 years ago
this is why there are 3 zeros, 2 lancasters, and 1 b24 left flyable
IanBudgep51 2 years ago
...they're P-40s...like The Flying Tigers!!!
REVERENDPHAM 2 years ago 2
at the end there were a lot of spitfires,
psivewri 2 years ago
my heart breaks when I see these videos, it also is a war crime.
capetadoido666 2 years ago
As an aviation enthusiast and a lover of old warbirds it breaks my heart to see this.
Wodensvolk 2 years ago 35
@Wodensvolk Me too. However, you have to think, that aluminum went on to build P 80s, F 86s, and some of it's probably still kickin' around.
ExUSSailor 1 year ago
People continue to use the word WASTE. Weapons of war serve their purpose just being available whether they are used or not. Discarded planes are like tin cans after the food is eaten. They served their purpose.
twinten 2 years ago 2
The "waste" isn't the scrapping after they are used, it is their creation in the first place. Think of the millions of people and billions of dollars (trillions by now) that would still be around if the world didn't waste so many resources on war.
Leave out any discussion about who is right/wrong/justified, that doesn't change the fact that war in an incredible drain on all countries resources - a drain that could be much better spent on other things.
rockyPants4000 2 years ago
You're 100% spot on. Senseless killing and enless drain.... and for what ? Bankers and Industrialist plans to re-make the world according to THEIR IDEAS ! Till WE WAKE UP, it's never going to END !!
scwtrials 2 years ago
@scwtrials true but i didnt exactly want to learn german either. see my point, even if both sides were funded by bankers
datzfast 1 year ago
The first time I saw this I was a kid, it made me puke. I was sick.
keefer2111 2 years ago
They would not be worth shit if there were thousands of them around , The reason they cost so much today is because most were scraped.
Mostlyfun 2 years ago 16
This is film of the Walnut Ridge, Arkansas Army Airfield. I grew up less than 20 miles from this location. During the end of 1945 & all of 1946 there where over 11,000 airplanes that flew into this airfield to be either scraped or sold, most where scraped. My Dad witnessed firsthand the enormous volume of aircraft at this airfeld. This airfield had 3 runways of 5,000 feet. Now, in the year 2009 this is a locally owned airport of Walnut Ridge, Arkansas.
Powerbacker 2 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Put both of ur hands on ur chest
2.Think of someone that u like......
3.Tommorow that person will ask you out or say i love you.
4.Heres the catch just send to 5 more vidoes
Jprocky6897 2 years ago
I've seen other footage of the U.S. Navy pushing their planes off the back of the aircraft carriers after the end of WWII.
Nooooo! You could retire off the sale of a Hellcat or Corsair today.
MilesB1975 2 years ago 3
People back then did not think those aircraft would be worth anything I know a guy who could have bought a P-51 Mustang in 1946 for $500 dollars but he bought metal siding instead for his farm now he's kicking himself in the ass cause they are worth millions now.
spitfiremark14 2 years ago
Maaaate !! ....beautiful old hereos scrapped like that...bet they would be worth a squillion dollars now ....
fjbutch 2 years ago 2
So THAT"S what comes after a trillion.
FlightLevelHeaded 2 years ago
I think so....sounds good anyway..cheers..
fjbutch 2 years ago
jeeeze what people would have payed for that nose art.....
Guinnie 3 years ago
SAD, total destruction without foresight !!!
Although I hear that generation wanted to forget about the war and move on to home life and familys.
Have you seen the $value$ of a P-40 these days (esp a 2 place trainer !) or how about the ultra rare B-26 Maurders ? Only 2 exist ! Pure GOLD history.
Shame more didnt survive !
apatheticempathy 3 years ago
wow, i think i just cried a little
Pballlover22 3 years ago 2
holy shit!!! no!!!!!!!!!!! crist!!!! so many great planes being destroyed. i would have cept all of them and sell them off to in africa and south america. that way the planes are saved and the U.S. gets money
lambo357 3 years ago
Actually, we sold as many as we could. But there were no where near enough customers to buy them all.
safetychoice 3 years ago
Agreed, TP-40 version of the Kittyhawk. Can anyone ident. a/c starting about :12 into film? Looks like A-20 Havoks or (less likely) A-26 Invaders mixed in with obvious H-tail B-25s.
Kevlar727 3 years ago
Hi, Kevlar727, I think many of them were Martin B-26 Marauders.
DaveGIS123 3 years ago
yes, I believe you are correct.
Kevlar727 3 years ago
I'm not sure about this, but I think the planes being stacked nose-down are Curtiss TP-40s, a 2-seat training version of the P-40 Warhawk. Does anyone know if that's right?
DaveGIS123 3 years ago
Looks like it. Just searched google and the canopies look the same. Only about 40 of those were made.
rustyATV 2 years ago
Oddly, it was in this type of film that George McGovern (former DNC Pres candidate and B-24 pilot) saw his old bird getting scrapped as he and his wife were watching a movie in a theater just after the war. Needless to say, his heart sank when he saw this.
catman351 3 years ago 3
they just piled them like dominoes lol
nchayfarmer 3 years ago
can't beleive that only a few of these planes are still flying today - how many tomorrow !!!!
vercorsman 4 years ago
Great short video. I also wish to have one of each, please. At the end the announcer comments on the "wastage of war" from the amount of planes the US had. I wonder, he being British, if he felt that way during the war too.
Just1personsView 4 years ago
The British had massive wastage as well - of course! The announcer's comment refers to all the wastage caused by war. The film could equally have been the scrapping of Lancasters, Halifaxes, Mosquitos, Spitfires etc. You sound like you have some sort of axe to grind.
Gruntol5 4 years ago 2
At least we know they got their crews home safely and were not shot down!
I remember seeing film from US carriers at the end of WWII where unwanted planes were simply pushed over the side.
easybeat 4 years ago
When something has served its purpose, it is not "wasted" as this guy said. The idea that being srapped before it is worn out is "waste" is shallow misguided thinking. These planes served a purpose just by being there when they were needed.
twinten 4 years ago
Keep 'em coming, Bomberguy!
denberg2 4 years ago
There was a dump at Wroughton airfield wiltshire - scrap metal merchants had a 'killing'.
stjohnstjohn 4 years ago
Nooooo! so many amasing planes being scrapped, I'll take one of each!!!
Neritoc 4 years ago