I'm kind of starting this thread over.

The USAAF established maintenance depots called the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Base
Air Depots at Burtonwood, Warton and Langford Lodge. For typical activities
see:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/local...ro/facts.shtml

and the related links found on those pages.

These were the sites for heavy maintenance for aircraft and ground support
equipment.

In addition there were Strategic Air Depots designed to do the same tasks on
a smaller scale (Burtonwood was the largest air base in Europe). These were
located at Honington, Little Staughton, Watton and Wattisham (1st SAD, 2nd
SAD, 3rd SAD, 4th SAD with a 5th SAD later located in France. These were
the

These depots serviced both US and UK aircraft.

A little selective Googling on these names will give you additional history.

Source: USAAF HANDBOOK 1939-1945 by Martin W Bowman and Google.

As you will see, these organizations were highly developed and the
'blacksmith shop' approach envisioned earlier in the thread was not a
necessary thing although local innovation may have resulted in numerous 'war
stories'.

Tex Houston