I visited the Burtonwood depot on an open day in June 1989. At that time it was under the control of the 47th US Army Area support group and was their major Army storage facility in the UK.
The site had 4,800,000 ft2 of continuous covered storage space. Much of the site was off limits on the open day, but there was still plenty to see. The warehouses were piled high with thousands of boxes containing NBC equipment, clothing, boots, hats/helmets, even pyjamas. There were vast stocks of military medical equipment including large ‘containers’ which fitted together to make complete air conditioned field hospitals (‘Depmeds’). One warehouse area was full of US Army rations ‘MRE’ (meal ready to eat). Staff told me that approximately 5,000,000 were held at any one time, and that in a European war that amount would last ten days.
The complex contained row after row of Army vehicles which were periodically checked and re-stored. Outside there were vast quantities of oils and lubricants. I noted 500 water bowsers and the same number of ammunition trailers.
The theory was that in a time of potential war with the Warsaw Pact, US Army personnel would be transported over to the UK, pick up their kit from Burtonwood, and then go to the UK east coast ports for transit to the European front.
Like most US sites it was given the prefix ‘RAF’ and did indeed have a small RAF liaison staff on site, but this was wholly a US Army facility on a monster scale!
