“DOCTORS” OF R.A.F.

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 September 1940, Page 2

“DOCTORS” OF R.A.F.

MEN ON THE GROUND. LONDON, June 9. The record of the fighter pilots during the withdrawal of the B.E.F. needs no further comment. The work of the ground staffs may have been less spectacular, but it was an essential part of our fighting success. The motto of the N.C.O.’s and aircraftsmen has always been “keep the fans turning,” and in those critical days on the beaches of Dunkirk fighter pilots were able to fly theft' Spitfires, Hurricanes, and Defiants more than two million miles to and fro across the Channel. ' They have re-fuelled, re-armed, and doctored aircraft making an average of 150 landings a day at any one of a number of typical fighter stations working in shifts day and night. The ground staffs never knew from day to day how many fighters might be landing or taking off from any aerodrome. One day, perhaps, there would be a couple of squadrons, the next 100 aircraft or more. COAXED ACROSS CHANNEL. Sometimes a fighter pilot would just manage to nurse his damaged aircraft across from France. Each landing meant a new and urgent problem for the men on the grourM. Some fitters and riggers specialised in emergency repairs. They made aircraft fit to fly again after they had been damaged, and so saved sending them back to the repair depots. Other aircraft that could not be dealt with on the spot they patched up sufficiently to allow them to be flown to the depots. A Blenheim fighter landed one day with its tail plane and port elevator shot away, and other damage caused by anti-aircraft fire. In little more than twelve hours that Blenheim was ready to go into action again.

As soon as a squadron landed from an engagement across the Channel, and the pilots had tumbled out of their cockpits to make their reports, the ground staff took over and machines were soon ready to take the air again.

The aim of all ranks was the same —to send out the pilots with aircraft perfect in every detail. It is this, among other things, which contributes to that feeling of superiority which shows in the combat reports of all our fighter pilots. They are always ready for a fair fight, that is, as one of their commanding officers said, “One British aircraft against three or four of the enemy.” <2 This confidence’ comes when a pilot knows he has not only a superior aircraft, but that, when he takes off, it is in perfect trim.