Plane ice-cream

*Update*

I got an answer from the USAF (well, the AFHSO) and it is very interesting;

I think you may find that the British Armed Forces is tax exempt when in a theatre of war....
as in, we pay tax at home, not to the "Enemy" kind of thing?....

Smuggling....
It was more about smuggling dangerous stuff than tax evasion.
No one bothered about a bottle or two of Whisky.
As most of the phrench resistance was smuggling high explosives to parts that the Germans didnt want them to at the time, smuggling was "All to the good" dependant on what went where?...

External pods on Spits...
Yes they did have "Luggage compartments", they also carried extra ammunition, and anything else that was needed.
Mostly private possessions and kit went by Cargo plane.
But when that couldn't happen, yes they did modify Drop tanks to do carry other things.

I will dig the family archives for what I can find, my Granddad did his RAF apprentice years servicing Spits and Hurricanes?...

the article specifically said the english authority responsible for taxing beer stopped breweries donating beer to the war effort because of tax reasons.

*Update*

I heard back from the RAF Museum, who very politely informed me that they had never heard of this story. From this it seems that if this practice of making ice cream was used it must have been done exclusively by American airmen. There is the possibility that Commonwealth aircrews did this, but kept VERY quiet about it.

In any case it does rather simplify things, as we would only need to consider American rations and equipment.

I've dropped a line to the RAAF to see if they've run across this story and will keep you informed.

*Update*

The RAAF wins the award for the fastest reply to a question - seven hours from sending the email.

They don't have any records, official or otherwise, about RAAF pilots trying this. So it it appears that this really is a story that is unique to the American Military.

*Additional edit*

Can anyone think of a veteran's group in the US who might be able to provide additional information if I was to get in touch with them?

United States Marine Corps History Division

Using the information from the Caleb Bailey link, you* could use the contact us feature on the History Division link and send them a query.

I'm trying to find a VMF-122 unit page with an active membership and see what I can dig up.

* I figure you know what specific questions you want to asked/answered.

Roger that.

If you continue to have trouble, let me know what specific questions you have, either here or by PM and I'll see what I can do from this end.

Strange....
The USAF have always had Air bases on UK soil.
The USAF have always shared technology with the RAF...
We train their pilots, they help us.

So for the RAF to not have any clue on Ice Cream?...
(But then again, I did not hear this from my own RAF crew Granddad...)

However....
This myth's time frame is WW2...(ONO?)
We were heavily rationed at that time, its perhaps no surprise Ice Cream was in short supply....
Well, officially anyway....I know my own family kept Livestock, Chickens and Pigs...
I may make a guess that as the Americans were ahead of the UK on this Ice cream, it was no long journey, perhaps just over the other side of the runway, for RAF crew to "Share" a batch of fresh ice cream?....

I also believe that the Brits were not as used to ice cream as perhaps the USA....
Yes it existed.
But as an example, so does Maple syrup....
Now the USA pours it on many things, but the UK?... its reserved for perhaps twice a year use on Pancakes...
If at all.
I have to go specialist to actually get Maple syrup....

I dont think the UK's culture demanded such huge quantities of Ice cream at that point in time, and as we didnt know how, we bought it pre-made.

To the best of my knowledge the United States Army Airforce and United States Army were stationed in the UK, with elements of the US Navy providing ships both for Convoy Duty and for D-Day. No US Marine Corps units were stationed in Europe - not that surprising since as a maritime force they would have been far more useful in the Pacific.

The story as passed on by AFHSO specifically mentioned the Corsair fighter, which I don't think was ever deployed in Europe, but was used by both the Marine Corps and the US Navy. Of course Navy pilots had their floating ice cream truck, where as the Marines were often based on smaller islands well away from such niceties.

Former, I'll get in touch with you anyway I think. You might be able to get more information through informal questioning, or find people are more willing to talk to a former marine, than I could through official channels. As I think I noted before, I suspect that many of those who might have been involved in this would not have wanted to talk too much about this to 'official' sources, since would technically have been a misuse of military equipment and a court martial offence. So they might be more willing to speak (or have spoken) about this purely unofficially.

OK, I'll write up what questions are remaining about this idea here This should also act as a refresher for the myth and what we are looking for/at;

The story goes that back in WW2 pilots used to create their own ice cream by filling a container, then flying their fighters to high altitude. Investigation's conducted thus far, specifically information provided by AFHSO, the RAF Museum, Imperial War Museum and the RAAF Museum, have narrowed the scope of this 'myth' down.

Only the AFHSO had heard of this story, which would make it an uniquely American practice. However they themselves have never been able to confirm or deny if this technique was ever used - from what I can tell from research it appears as if all the stories are at best second hand, and that no one who might have actually done this has been willing to admit to having done so.

What the stories we have tell us is that the fighters used for this were Vought F4U Corsairs and that the practice seems to have been limited to fairly remote land-bases. Both of which make it highly likely that the story comes from the US Marine Corps. The 'ice cream' was created by retrofitting drop tanks with a propeller or spinner of some type that was connected to something inside the tank. As the spinner rotated it churned the contents as they were cooling.

What we don't know;

1; As noted, there is no conclusive evidence (ie - documentary) to confirm if this ever took place. Everything we have comes from second hand sources at best. No pictures and no first hand accounts are known to exist. It is likely that if such evidence does exist it would be in the hands of the men who did this, or may have passed down to their children with old wartime letters and photographs.
That aircrews kept quiet about this is not surprising, as this practice would probably have been frowned on by the senior officers and could have led to a court martial for those involved for misuse of military equipment and supplies.
Is any such evidence out there? AFHSO for one would be delighted to be able to get their hands on such information I'm sure.

2; The design of the 'mixer'. Although we have a basic idea as to how this was done, as noted above, we don't know the specifics of the mixer design used. This, of course, relates to point 1. Those who talked about this story don't seem to have been the people directly involved in the practice.

3; The specific ingredients used. We can make some educated guesses based on what rations were provided to aircrews. But we don't know specifically what ration packs they might have used, or if those units who did use this technique were obtaining supplies locally - or even flying them in from other areas themselves.