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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 1758.PDF
SEPTEMBER 6TH, 1945 FLIGHT 247 R.A.F. Spitfire pilots, back from the SittangRiver, make their way across an airfield flooded by monsoon rains. Jungle Maintenance Sisyphus Task of R.A.F. Qround Crews in Burma : Working in 150 deg,F. Inside Aircraft : Abnormal Expansion in Heat : Corrosion Overnight in Monsoon IN drenching monsoon rains, and in shade temperaturesof 120 deg. F., R.A.F. ground crews in Burma havekept in operation aircraft-^sat blasted the way through for the Fourteen^, Agny from In|phal to Rangoon. Theirs was the unglamorousjjob that o|ily rarely hit;, the head- lines. Theirs was a/task thaj?* had to be learned from scratch. The R.A.^j\ had neVer before been forced to service and maintain aircraft based dn what were airfields only in name. Frequently they were just earth strips rolled out of paddy fields or hacked out of jungle. The maintenance crews moved along the goo-mile way to Rangoon with the squadrons as they leapfrogged for- ward ; setting up bases on airstrips often captured lesri than 24 hours before. Forward, too, moved the servicing echelons, the second-line aircraft repair and salvage units, backed by the mobile aircraft equipment supply units. Sometimes the squadrons were preceded by detachments of R.A.F. Servicing Commandos, who handled the aircraft as they arrived on newly won bases and dealt with any Jap stragglers. Jungle "workshops" were only that in name. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion killed a fair number of these ground crews and put many out of action. There were no hangars. Repair and inspection of aircraft had to be done in the open, seeking, wherever possible, the pro tection of jury^p'gged awnings or trees. Tiees were a mixed blessing. Leaves, twigs and insects had a habit of falling into partly stripped aircraft. If, however, aircraft, tools and equipment were unprotected from the sun, they became too hot to handle Cases were not unusual of men getting second-degree burns through touching exposed metal parts or tools. The On the A front wejp smnyRnd 'spot Ing kit a for Ifakan Urmen mon- try todrier meals.
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