US Aircraft to England?

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Lbrannma

Recruit
1
0
Jan 15, 2009
Hi.. My mom says that prior to US involvement, four or five aircraft per day were flown to England by US military pilots who then took ships back to the USA. These US made aircraft were used by England during the war. She would like to read about the pilots. Are there any books about this topic? Many thanks from a new member.
 

IIRC - RAF and RCAF pilots did most of the flying of US aircraft prior to December 7, 1941. US pilots may have flown ships to Canada but the bulk of the pre WWII US aircraft were accepted by RCAF/RAF pilots in US and flown out from each of the factories - first to Canada.

I have been wrong before.
 

Don't see how they would have landed in England! More likely first in Northern Ireland - via Greenland Iceland, or Scotland. Why fly the extra distance to land in 'England'!?
 
merlin said:
Don't see how they would have landed in England! More likely first in Northern Ireland - via Greenland Iceland, or Scotland. Why fly the extra distance to land in 'England'!?
Click to expand...

IIRC, the usual route was Newfoundland-Greenland-Iceland-Scotland; they used this route throughout the War for getting aircraft from North America to Europe.
 
There was a large base at Liverpool for US aircraft received into the UK, but if that was for planes that had flown over, or preparing aircraft that had been shipped over I don't know.
 
I have a bad habit of callling Britain, "England". Now I know that is culturally insensitive and will refrain if possible.
 
In my freshmen social studies class a kid was confused when my teacher showed a map of Britain and was referring to it as the UK... He was wondering were the country "England" went and was completely and utterly confused confused... Got a good laugh out of it

Kinda pitiful actually
 

In the junior class of my college prep school, there were kids that didn't know where China was or that Alaska bordered Canada.

Then again, isn't there some sort of saying that college is wasted on the fools?

Also, we had some English students visit, and one of them got really pissy when she was called British. I told an English friend of mine and he didn't see what the big deal was. He also gave me a lesson on the British flag.
 
Most of the students they send to my class couldn't find any country on a map, at all.
 
ONE_HELLCAT said:
Also, we had some English students visit, and one of them got really pissy when she was called British. I told an English friend of mine and he didn't see what the big deal was. He also gave me a lesson on the British flag.
Click to expand...

If you want to get technical about it, the "British" are the original inhabitants of the British Isles (primarily Celts and Picts), which is why the Romans (in particular Julius Caeser) referred to them as "the British". "English" actually means a person of Anglo-Saxon descent and, hence, are different from the "British"; the Anglo-Saxons progressively invaded the British mainland, starting in the south and east, during the early Middle Ages (i.e.: the "Dark Ages"), and pushed the original inhabitants west north. The surviving "indigenous peoples" ended up occupying Scotland, Cornwall and Wales. The word "English" originally came from the word "Angles", which were one of the Germanic tribes who invaded Britain from the Continent during the early Middle Ages. However, new evidence indicates that the "invasion" of the British Isles by the Anglo-Saxons was actually more peaceful than originally thought, and that it was more a process of assimilation rather than invasion.
 
Wow... so thats the difference...
So I have a question. Is Great Britian just the island and United Kingdom all the territories of Britain? So what do British prefer to have the country referred to, Great Britain or the United Kingdom?
 
In simple terms, the 'United Kingdom' is the mainland of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, refering to the once separate Kingdoms of these countries, united as one.This name has become more prevalent in recent years, as opposed to 'Great Britain', which means the same places, and not the Colonies of what was once the British Empire!
For formal identification, for example, on a Passport, a native of the UK would be described as 'British', although a native of Scotland, for instance, having the same description on such a document, would still be a Scott, and not, for example English! Confused yet?
The 'British Isles' generally refers to the mainland of England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, and includes the islands, such as the Western Isles, Orkneys, Scillies etc, and should also inlude the Channel Islands, which are nearer to mainland France than mainland Britain! Even more confused?
Personally, if asked, I would normally say I am British, but if specific, I would reply English, as I was born in, and am a resident of England, of English parents.
It is not at all surprising, and understandable, that our new member refers to 'Flying aircraft to England', as, basically, this is where they were going, even though, technically, they were being flown to Britain, but landing in Scotland first, normaly Prestwick, where they would then be flown to Air Depots in England, normally for those aircraft destined for U.S. Forces, but not always, to Burtonwood, near Warrington, which is between Manchester and Liverpool.
Generally, an English person (from England), does not take offence at being referred to as such, or as British, when, for example, a Immigration Officer in another country might refer to that person's country as England. But, when the same might happen to, say, a Scot, that person might take slight offence as, although the officer means Britain(!), the Scot, although from 'Britain', is Scottish, not English!
Now,if you're not totally confused, well done, as you should be by now... I am!
Terry.
 
Geographically there is the British Isles - which includes Ireland in its entirety.

Politically there is the United Kingdom Of Great Britain Northern Ireland (you can understand from that why its shortened to the 'UK'). That is in the UN it is under the name of 'United Kingdom'.

Parliament is largely refered to as British, there is talk of English MPs only discussing purely English matters, rather than as at present Welsh Scottish MPs are able to vote on these matters. This has only been an issue since some 'powers' were 'devolved' to the Scottish Parliament Welsh Assemblies.

So a person from Belfast, may either say he's Irish, from Ulster or from Northern Ireland (depending on his attitude to the 'Irish' question).
The identity of those on the mainland can vary, firstly the Welsh and Scottish are not English , they may regard themselves as also British. While perhaps someone from England sees little difference, and certainly wouldn't feel the need to correct a foreigner who doesn't know the difference.
Does that help?
 
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