325th Air Service Group

The 325th Service Group was activated on 5 August, 1942. On 20 December, 1943, commanded by Major Fred A. Deyo, the group was reorganized at BAD#1 USAAF Burtonwood, in England. Assigned to the group were two Service Squadrons, the 328th & 343rd.  During May, 1944, the group and two service squadrons, were assigned to BAD#3 USAAF Langford Lodge, in Northern Ireland, to essentially replace the engineering personnel of the Lockheed Overseas Corporation, the chief test pilot for the Group, was Lt., later promoted to Major, Frederick Bancroft Johnson, a native of Canton, Ohio.

The 325th Air Service Group's main duties, were aircraft re-assembly, modification and battle-damage repairs to aircraft that were in use with the 8th, 9th, 12th and 15th Air Forces.  A number of note-worthy modifications that the 325th and its assigned Squadrons were associated with, were the P-38 Dive Flap and P-38 Droopsnoot modification.  Modification of standard P-38J type aircraft to Droopsnoot configuration was taken over by the 325th ASG, when the LOC vacated the base during July, 1944.
 

As the war progressed, after the D-Day invasion, the 325th Air Service Group took possession of large amounts of newly arrived first line B-17 & B-24 replacement aircraft, that had recently arrived from the U.S. and a large number of Second Line aircraft, mostly B-24's, these second line aircraft were placed in storage around the airfield and "pickled".  A large majority of  first line aircraft were run up daily and kept in an "as ready" state, ready to be ferried out at a moments notice to the many Heavy Bomardment Groups and Squadrons of the 8th and 15th Air Forces.

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On 13 August, 1944, the 325th's "Photographic Section" photographers, photographed the famous band leader, Captain Glenn Miller and his Army Air Force Band, in the base theatre, the Proj-Ma-Hall, were they performed to a capacity audience.  Earlier that afternoon, Miller and the band had played at the American Red Cross Club, in Belfast.

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During the autumn-winter of 1944-45, due to lack of storage space at BAD#1 & BAD#2, many second line & war-weary aircraft  began to arrive on the station, to be placed in open storage, now that the Station was officially designated as a "Storage and Experimental Station", it began to act in that capacity.  Eventually, a large amount of these storage aircraft would be declared as "unfit for further flight" due to age, obsolescence or poor flying characteristics due to previous battle damage. These aircraft categorsied as such, were destined to be salvaged. There were however a small number of "War-Weary" B-17's and B-24's, which had been selected for refurbishment, as part of the Groups "War-Weary Rejuvenation Project". This project was a big undertaking and produced gratifying results, as can be seen in the before and after photographs to the left of this paragraph. These ships were subsequently returned to the United States, many of which met an unfortunate fate at the hands of the War Assets Commission & Reconstruction Finance Company's disposal facilities, at Kingman & Walnut Ridge, in the post-war years.

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To handle the large amount of storage aircraft that were arriving daily from airfields throughout the U.K., three pilots were assigned to the Group and Squadrons, to ferry and flight test these war-weary and newly refurbished aircraft, Lt. Harold B. Reichert, Lt. William W. Brown and Lt. Fred A. Barton, all of whom had completed their assigned combat missions with their respective heavy bombardment units, prior to their assignment to the Group.  This was dangerous work, which would eventually result in three separate fatal aircraft accidents by the time the station closed.

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On 26 May, 1945. Sgt. Frank M. Seitz, a welder, was working on the wing of a salvaged aircraft, using his cutting torch, suddenly without warning there was a huge explosion and sadly Sgt. Seitz was killed instantly.

 

In the weeks leading up to the closure of Langford Lodge, the Group was working increased hours to meet deadlines of getting aircraft completed and flown out of the airfield, namely, some 280 former 9th Air Force A-20's.  It was during May-June, that a large salvage project was initiated, culminating in the destruction of some 100+ B-17, B-24, B-26, A-20, P-47 and P-51 type aircraft.  Any essential items such as landing gear assemblies, propellers and engines, were crated and shipped out to BAD#1 Burtonwood, the remaining airframes, complete with accessories still installed, were cut-up into managable sections and crushed with a bull-dozer.

 

On  2 July, 1945, with heavy hearts, the group bid a final farewell to Langford Lodge and Northern Ireland, as they made their way to the
railway station at Site 4. Their destination was Larne and finally back to Burtonwood Air Depot in England. Sadly one member of the group would not be joining them, Lt. Fred A. Barton, a test pilot, had been killed the previous day in an aircraft accident, all who knew and came into contact with him were deeply moved by the news.

 

Upon arriving back at Burtonwood Air Depot, some personnel had earned their points to return back to the States, while others stayed on. In August 1945, a new project was started at Burtonwood by the 325th, titled the A-20 Project, the group was assigned to salvage the 280 A-20s they had formerly looked after weeks earlier, at Langford Lodge, the process of which, was heavily documented by photographers of the BAD#1 photolab.