Caption | Aircraft mechanics of the USAAF 398th Bombardment Group change a B-17 engine, Nuthampstead, England, United Kingdom, May 1944 to Apr 1945 ww2dbase | |||||||
Photographer | Unknown | |||||||
Source | ww2dbaseUnited States Air Force | |||||||
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Added By | C. Peter Chen | |||||||
This photograph has been scaled down; full resolution photograph is available here (1,225 by 1,800 pixels). | ||||||||
Licensing | Public Domain. According to the United States copyright law (United States Code, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105), in part, "[c]opyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government". Please contact us regarding any inaccuracies with the above information. Thank you. |
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"You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs. Victory in spite of all terrors. Victory, however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival."Winston Churchill
16 Jun 2010 08:00:46 PM
Keep'em Fly'in
Ground crews kept the aircraft combat ready
the flight mechanics,were enlisted personnel
After basic military training,they were sent
to technical schools, and received training
on engine maintenance,hydraulics,instruments
electrical systems. Specialists needed to
keep the aircraft in the air. Radio repair,
armours to maintain the weapons, bombsight
technicians, and other specialists they were
all part of a team, and its mission, was to keep the aircraft ready for any maximum
effort. Anything the bomber crews needed to keep their aircraft combat ready, was passed on to the ground crew.
The crew chief was the man in charge of the
aircraft, and he made sure it was ready to
fly. Every man was a specialist and those
men did what ever it took to keep their ship
part of the squadron or group.
Sometimes a homemade fix,would solve a small
problem, flack and bullet holes were repaired with metal skin patch, and a few
rivets while others took more time to repair,but the ground crews did a impossible job, they were the unsung heroes of
World War II.
By 1944 the USAAF had 2,400,000 personnal,
80,000 aircraft and over 700 bases world wide
Other Nations had seperate Air Forces, the
British had the RAF,Germany had the Luftwaffe
The USAAF, would remain part of the US Army
until it became independent of the Army, and
became the United States Air Force on
September 17, 1947.