UNSUNG TOILERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 204, 28 August 1943, Page 6

UNSUNG TOILERS

AIR FORCE WORKMEN VITAL GROUND DUTIES Official Correspondent GUADALCANAL A generous share of the credit for enemy aircraft destroyed, and enemy shipping shadowed and reported upon by New Zealand fighter and bomber units operating from Guadalcanal', belongs to the ground staff, men of a dozen technical trades who keep the Dominion's Warhawks and Hudsons ready for the air. And the pilots and air crews generally are the first to concede their complete dependence upon the unsung and usually grimy individuals who groom their aircraft for war.

The modern aircraft embodies infinie complications in design, and there are few men anywhere qualified to deal with engine, airframe and all auxiliaries. Instead, individual airmen are trained to a complete knowledge of separate components, and a whole team of specialists is required to keep a Warhawk or a Hudson airworthy.

Ground crews work under all manner of trying conditions in the tropics, for the bombers must be ready to perform missions whenever called upon, and the fighters may be required by the American controllers at a few minutes' notice, wet or fine, hot or dusty. Seldom do hangars exist. Nearly all work is done in the open, sometimes with coral dust blowing in grey clouds from the runways, sometim2s in blinding heat that makes it almost impossible to touch bare metal; and sometimes , in the hot, tropical rain that turns paths into quagmires. Difficult Conditions Unfavourable conditions are no excuse for slipshod work. In spite of the close supervision of the engineer officer and his senior noncommissioned officers, the standard of maintenance rests in the long run with the workmen themselves. It is a striking tribute to them that mechanical failures are a rarity, that Hudson crews begin 600-mile patrols with confidence, and that Warhawks that have been badly shot up are flown home to be repaired and to fight again. The work of the ground staff is unending. Apart from regular inspections and overhauls at fixed intervals, there are the manifold effects of aerial combat to be remedied. Members of a fighter unit's ground staff in particular may have worked for days to make an aircraft serviceable, and see it take the air in perfect condition, only to have it returned to them in two hours' time scarred with cannon and bullet holes, and with long hours of hard work needed before it can be flown again.

Serviceable aircraft are infinitely precious in a forward area, and ingenuity and engineering skill combine in making repairs in the field. Serviceable parts from a badly damaged aircraft may be used to repair another less seVerely shot about. A Warhawk brought in to a belly landing in an emergency can sometimes be back in the air within two days. And when an aircraft is returned for flying it is as good as new. No shoddy work goes into the Dominion's fighters or bombers, but skilful improvisation often makes the difference between essential aircraft being on the line for flying, or lying useless in the maintenance yard. Fighters and Bombers Home Similar scenes are witnessed daily on Guadalcanar, at the fields from which New Zealand's bombers -and fighters fly. Tired men, in greasy overalls and with hands and faces liberally smeared with dust, gather in groups near the runway, waiting for their "kites" to come home. When black specks appear against a cloud those with the keenest sight are quick to count. When the Hudson stops rolling a flight-sergeant is usually on hand to meet the captain, to note any comments he may have on the aircraft's behaviour, and to organise first the routine inspection, and then the correction of any faults. On the fighter field the home-coming is more spectacular. Pilots who have had a victory dive low over the field, and as each Warhawk finishes its landing run tne mechanic and rigger of the particular aircraft run toward it, climb on the wing and ride back to the crew room in triumph. Each knows that there belongs to him a share of that praise that the public, dazzled by glamour, reserves for the pilot alone.