Jacob Kaplan Photographs Little Staughton England USAAF Station 127, SAD-2 World War II

These were found on a web site whose domain registration had expired - but the files were still there on the site. The home page was replaced with the standard expired message thus they were unlinked.

I saved these files before the full domain was deleted by the ISP. This was back in 2002. The domain was not renewed, nor could I get a hold of the registered owner via phone or e-mail. I thus posted them onto here so they would not be lost forever.

USAAF Station 127

Little Staughton was a Strategic Air Depot (SAD) base where major overhaul of aircraft was performed for units in the 1st Air Division.

I suspect Kaplan was a repair person on the base and took (obtained) these photos while there. I also suspect he later volunteered to be a gunner / pilot ? on a B-17 and was shot down (a few members in the local 8th chapter explained that this is how they became gunners after being stationed as armorers on the base.)

Kapan was already in the military on 7 December 1941 getting set to arrive in Panama where his picture story started.

1st day Kapan in Rio Hata Panama Greeting sign on 1st Day Rio Hato Panama

Beach at Rio Hato 9th Bomb Gp

B-18As

B-18s were one of the early attempts at heavy bomber production in the USA.

Panama, 7 December 1941 On patrol on 7dec 1941 in Panama

Battle Damage Diversion

Visitors at Little Staughton

Heavily battle damaged aircraft were often told to divert to station 127 and land there to avoid closing down their own runway at their home base. As a SAD site, all major repairs could be performed there, landing at that airfield meant all the specialized equipment to move aircraft were already there.

Stansted, now a major passenger airport in the UK, was also a SAD base.

A-20 Havoc at dispersal

B-24 S/N 251194

B-17 Crash, right gear failure
B-17G at night after crashing. Recovery crew working to clear the field of it.

B-17 Lady Millicent during crash landing B-17G Lady Millicent during crash landing

B-17G down gear up flaps landing of Lady Millicent on USAAF Station 127. View from other side of field.

Recovery of B-17G Lady Millicent after gear up landing. Note engines have been taken off.

Mobile crane lifting B-17 so tractor can be placed under it. B-17G being picked up by mobile crane during recovery operations on base.

Hoisting an engine off a crashed B-17 Flying Fortress

B-17 engine being lifted away from wreck. Name of aircraft is obscured by the crew watching the salvage.

partial reads "remli" as first part and "deli" as part of the 2nd name.

Crew working to reocver B-17 at Station 127

B-17 detail of crew during recovery of Flying Fortress

B-17 number 1 engine damage due to crash landing on base.

B-17F S/N 239839 after crashing in England Note fire damage on feathered #3 engine, nose plexiglas is shot away, tail damage, starboard wingtip damage. November 29, 1943.

B-17G finished repair showing new silver metal replaced section from behind radio room to tail.
B-17 'Half and Half' Tail Number 31828 You can see the repaired middle section since it is all natural metal. The complete new section is from behind radio room to forward of the tail which was replaced from a natural metal finish B-17G aircraft. Tail number is 31828.

B-17 fitted with Jato rockets for assisted takeoff.

They often fitted JATO to ships which had landed in small fields. After a quick repair to the point they could fly them back to their main airbase, JATO was added to enable them to fly back for full repair.

B-17 titled The Bronx Bomber with Sgt Standing in front of it.
B-17G The Bronx Bomber