National 50's

This is a photograph of one of three, 3,000 foot drilling rigs designed and built by National Supply and staffed by Noble Drilling and Fain-Porter Drilling hands from Oklahoma, working in Eakring Field in England at the height of World War II. A fourth rig was shipped to England the same year, late 1942, but the freighter it was on was sunk by a German U-boat. A fourth, larger rig capable of 8,000 feet was shipped to England in 1943.

These 3,000 foot rigs were trailer mounted and could be moved every five to six days. The 87 foot, jackknife derricks could be laid down fairly quickly and drilling suspended temporarily if German planes were known to be doing reconnaissance work in the area of drilling. With these rigs Americans could drill Eakring wells with one bit trip.

Over a two year period Americans drilled 106 wells in Sherwood Forrest and England's daily oil production went from 300 BOPD to 3,000 BOPD. The Nazis never even knew about this incredible source of oil for Allied forces. For more see, The Oily Secret of Robin Hood's Hood.