SQUADRONS IN PACIFIC

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23944, 11 May 1943, Page 6

SQUADRONS IN PACIFIC

R.N.Z.A.F.’S ISLAND BASES WORKING CONDITIONS FOR PERSONNEL This is one of a series of articles prepared for publication by the Air Department, and released by the Director of Publicity. Several feet above the ground, on the engine nacelle of a bomber of an R.N.Z.A.F. squadron in the south-west Pacific, a flight mechanic sits crosslegged. Glistening with perspiration as he tightens a bolt, he curses the heat and the insects, and momentarily wishes himself back in the cool insectless peace of his New Zealand station. Then he turns back to the allimportant work at hand, completely efficient and completely absorbed. He has forgotten the discomforts, he has forgotten that he is an historic figure, if such a thought had ever entered his mind. Actually, he is symbolic of the extensive expansion of the Royal New Zealand Air Force through the southwest Pacific. He works where never a New Zealand airman worked before, at the top of a wide arc of R.N.Z.A.F. posts leading back to New Zealand. As he looks to the north, he looks to island areas where the R.N.Z.A.F. will aid its nation’s allies in smashing the Japanese; as he looks to the south, he looks to a chain of airfields where New Zealand airmen, in the air and on the ground, are carrying out a job of work which wins high praise from the American strategists responsible for this large and important command. This sweating, cursing fitter is but one of the thousands of highly-trained men, writing in deeds new chapters to the history of New Zealand and the R.N.Z.A.F. Great Expansion When war broke out, the R.N.Z.A.F. established the . rst of its island bases. The progress of the war, however, has seen great expansion from this modest beginning, until to-day there are few areas of the south Pacific war without fighter or bomber representation of the New Zealand aerial arm. The aerial accomplishments of New Zealand airmen in these island areas have already been publicised; they have drawn Japanese blood, and their reconnaissance has been praised by the Americans, Little as yet, however, has been done to describe the working and living conditions of the flying and servicing personnel of the squadrons "in the islands.” Strangely enough—and disappointedly . enou gh. to the romanticist— R.N.Z.A.F. Pacific operations, comprising mostly reconnaissance, partly fighting and bombing, and a large amount of servicing, are little different whether carried out in the tropics or in the frigid zone. Air Force work follows the same pattern of accuracy and exactitude all over the world. It is apparent, however, that the achievement of this pattern of accuracy can be greatly facilitated or greatly hindered by the prevailing conditions. To facilitate description of the cond'tions it is possible to make a rough classification of R.N.Z.A.F. Pacific squadrons into two categories; those where the natural conditions are fairly faithful to the novelists’ “South Sea Islands,” and those more akin to the steaming jungles of the Amazon. Thus, to the newcomer to these regions the greatest bug-bear is heat, whether it be a fairly dry heat, or a humid, clammy heat. This, however, is not the stumbling block that at the outset it would appear to be—within a remarkably short time the New Zealander becomes accustoTned to the conditions, and, with this stage being reached, his prodigious thirst abates, and. with it. excessive perspiration. Once acclimatised, he rapidly settles down in his surroundings, and, because of the lack of other diversions, spends his spare hours in writing letters and following some hobby typical of the region—not in sweltering and suffering, as some as prone to believe. The visitor to these R.N.Z.A.F. squadrons is struck not with the difficulties encountered in having transplanted them so far afield, but with the manner in which our men have .0 quickly adjusted their ways of life to their new surroundings. Everything goes on in much the same way as it does on a New Zealand flying station, perhaps with a quicker tempo, for these men are not far from the war; in Some cases they are within raiding radius of the Japanese, and, in other cases, they are close enough to the battle area to carry out valuable reconnaissance.

But no matter the island station, and no matter the nature of the work—whether a commissioned member of an aircrew, or a humble ranker of the ground staff, these men have but one ambition—to have “a crack at the Jap.” And even if at times, like the perspiring fitter, they grouse a little, it is not that the Royal New Zealand Air Force harbours malcontents, it’s just because the serviceman regards superficial grumbling as his inalienable right.