List of United States Army Air Force modification centers

USAAF Modification Centers were World War II commercial aircraft facilities at which military aircraft underwent post-production changes to meet the specific requirements for combat or specialized roles. The majority of newly produced combat planes were channeled to the modification centers before departing to the active theaters of war.

The use of modification centers avoided disruption to the production lines to incorporate improvements or other changes to the aircraft design.

They were the only "set of field installations" constructed for Material Command.[1] The United States Army Air Forces identified Modification Centers were for:

"the tailoring job of the AAF which fills the gap between the time we decide on an alteration of a plan and the time the factory can incorporate the change into production. To modification centers, operated by contract by commercial airline companies and manufacturers, go most of our airplanes before shipment overseas. Here they are modernized with the newest equipment available. Planes also are dressed up or stripped down according to the military requirements and weather conditions of the theater for which they are destined. Modification is continued on operational aircraft by service personnel in the theaters, where many modification ideas originate."[2]

Sites

During 1942, 21 of the modification centers were activated, "eight being operated by commercial airlines and the remainder by aircraft manufacturers. Nineteen of the centers remained in operation at the end of the year after two other centers had been closed out":[1]

Deports, i.e., Fairfield OH, did modifications but were not modification centers.

The commercial modification centers were distinct from the USAAF ASC domestic depot system which also performed modification as an addition mission function. There were four major depots in the system which expanded to about a dozen during the war. The depots had sub-depots and auxiliary locations. There were also major overseas depot and sub-depot systems which predated addition modifications to combat aircraft.

Notes

  1. ↑ Built from May–October 1942[3] for altering new B-25 Mitchells from the nearby Air Force Plant NC, Fairfax's center was a dual hangar of timber frame on the south edge of the airfield near the Missouri River (some alterations were performed on the airport apron). A west extension and several outbuildings were added to the modification center and in October 1944, it became an adjunct to the final assembly line. Post-war, "Transcontinental and Western Air leased the modification center" for servicing airliners.[4]
  2. ↑ Across the river from the Fairfax B-25 modification center.

References

  1. 1 2 Futrell, Robert F. (July 1947). No 69 - Development of AAF Base Facilities in the United States, 1939-1945 (PDF) (Report). US Air Force Historical Studies. Air Historical Office. p. 141. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-09-08.
  2. ↑ Arnold, Gen. Henry H. (foreword). AAF: The Official Guide to the Army Air Forces. (p. 129)
  3. ↑ Freeman, Paul (2012-12-29). "Sweeney Airport / Fairfax Airport / Fairfax Army Airfield (KCK), Kansas City, KS". Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields: Eastern Kansas. Airfields-Freeman.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  4. ↑ “TWA to Center,” Kansas City Star, October 24, 1945 (cited by Macias p. 260)
  • AAF Study No. 62, Modification of Army Aircraft in the United States, Virginia
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