takoradi air route

[Africaresearcher]

re: the post from January 22, 2009 from Rock Hyrax. It seems that Socony-Vacuum was supplying and at request US gov. began to build up a 100 day supply across the route from as early as August 1940 (this from Exxon-Mobil publications/archives) but I'm doing research on oil co's in Africa, and wonder if RockHyrax ever found any more details about fuel supply network. I've been to NARA to do research and a number of the relevant records were "purged" in the past.. if any of you have any info about this topic it would be great. I'm a newbie to this site.

[cjsmith]

With reference to post by Andy H on 12 Jan 2005, 21:04, quote:
"In November 1940, 20 Polish pilots (under Wg Cdr M.Izycki) were tasked to just ferry planes along the route."



I know this subject was discussed some years ago, but I'm new to researching it. Thank you so much for the useful information already contained in past posts about the Takoradi Run.

My question:-

Is there any way of finding out the names of the 20 polish pilots who were assigned to this task?

I have the name & photograph of a polish pilot with whom my uncle flew in WW2.

I know my uncle flew the Takoradi route in a Blenheim as a gunner/navigator, but I don't know the names of the other crew members.

If my uncle always flew with the same crew, the Polish pilot died on this particular journey when the plane crashed somewhere along the Takoradi route (my uncle was the sole survivor of the accident).

Many thanks for any help.

Claire

[MarkRS]

Claire,

Your question is more likely to be answered on this forum:

http://forum.12oclockhigh.net/

Mark

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Guys,

Theree seems to be a fair amount of confusion here about the feeder route via Brazil.

1) Yes, the US Government was behind the building of airfields in Brazil. It was presented as part of its hemispheric defence programme.

2) The destroyers-for-bases deal allowed US Army engineers to start building in British colonies like Trinidad and British Guyana. However, they needed further airfields in neutral Brazil to provide the "springboard" to West Africa. The US Government therefore used Pan Am as a plausible front because it already flew the east coast route with flying boats and was moving into landplanes. Brazilian contractors were used and the Brazilian Government, while doubtless well aware of the strategic implications, was content to see a backward part of its country developed at US expense.

3) Deborah Wing Ray is correct. B-17s were flown via the Takoradi route to Australia (though I don't know about the Philipines). This was because the Japanese advance in the Pacific temporarily cut this route.

4) Lufthansa only had a direct presence in Latin America by virtue of its trans-Atlantic flights. Its indirect presence consisted in share holdings, pilots and engineers in several airlines in several countries including Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil. By virtue of its technical expertise, Lufthansa's influence outweighed its actual shareholding. Whether these can be considered a single company is a moot point. Certainly their combined carrying capacity was greater than that of Pan Am within South America. Apart from its main coastal flying-boat routes, Pan Am also often operated through subsidiaries, (i.e. Panagra)especially on the west coast. In one case in Colombia it was the secret majority share holdeer in an airline widely thought to be German controlled! All this makes it difficult to draw accurate comparisons between the two airlines.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Andy H]

Hi

Just found this snippet, thought it might be of interest:-

Flying the Takoradi route and desert operations increased maintenance workloads
because of extreme heat, sand, and dust. Lack of adequate spares intensified maintenance
problems. For example, Blenheim air cleaners had to be serviced every five hours, a job
requiring three hours. Simple replacement of the part required only 15 minutes, but in
January 1941 there were only six spares in the Command.

http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a255904.pdf
which is a case study about Linking operations and logistics during the air war in WW2

Regards

[phylo_roadking]

Andy, since the bulk of this thread was posted there was another article in Flypast; by a pilot who kept a diary record of his transit although doing so was officially frowned upon.

There were also caches of spares (and POL of course) at each oasis stop when the air bridge started...but they were very soon exhausted - both by the number of aircraft coming unstuck enroute AND the sheer number passing along it. Pretty soon there were aircraft leapfrogging back and forth along the route carrying spares, and moving personnel up to the Delta...for the larger aircraft - bombers etc. - flying the route from Nigeria ALSO carried RAF personnel to the Middle East. Who of course ALSO got hung up enroute when their lift calved!

[Graham Clayton]

With reference to post by Andy H on 12 Jan 2005, 21:04, quote:
"In November 1940, 20 Polish pilots (under Wg Cdr M.Izycki) were tasked to just ferry planes along the route."
I know this subject was discussed some years ago, but I'm new to researching it. Thank you so much for the useful information already contained in past posts about the Takoradi Run.

My question:-
Is there any way of finding out the names of the 20 polish pilots who were assigned to this task?
Claire

Claire,

The following article mentions Squadron Leader Ryski as the leader in charge of the Polish pilots (as well as some excellent information on the Takoradi route in general):

http://www.rafb24.com/index.php/other-w ... -pickering

[Brady]

Punt

[Andy H]

Hi

There's plenty of information pertaining not just to Takoradi but firstly the British and then US logistical and infrastructure developments in the area, within 'Of Islands, Ports and Sea Lanes (Africa and the Indian Ocean in the Second World War)' by Ashley Jackson, Helion 2018

Its a great read all round.

Regards

Andy H

[Brady]

I just Bought it TY