Issue 28.13
There is an old Air Corps truism that says “It takes ten men on the ground to keep one man in the air”. Looking back at my experience, that is very true. The U S Army garrison cap was worn by all Air Corps people, both officers and enlisted people. This cap is the headgear that we see often pictured that is a round cap with a hard plastic or leather bill sticking out in the front. The only difference was that those who flew were privileged to remove the wire grommet from the cap to make the stand up sides to collapse. This was so a flyer could use a both ear headset that has a curved adjustable metal spring band to hold it tight against both ears. We’ve all seen pictures of pilots wearing this cap at a jaunty angle. This was so the flyer could wear his cap and still have on a headset. Flyers used to sit on the caps or maybe sleep on it to give the cap a “Fifty mission crush”. The ground personnel did not have the privilege of removing the wire grommet in their caps. We affectionately called the non flying people “Ground Pounders” or “Gravel Agitators”. The ground pounders were every bit as essential to winning a war as were we combat flyers. To keep a wartime heavy bomb group operational just at the bomber base took a headquarters company, the control tower bunch, the food mess hall people, Operations planners, the base hospital and ambulance people, firemen, military police, truck drivers, chaplains, a barber and then those who worked on the planes. These were mechanics who worked on the engines, armorers who loaded and fused the bombs and kept the machine guns, turrets and gun sites working, sheet metal workers and gasoline, and oil haulers, radio and radar, and the oxygen people.
I wish to talk about the people who change engines, patch the holes in the bombers and fill the tanks. They have a twelve by twelve foot canvas tent with a small wood stove in the center. They keep the stove going when needed by burning scrap wood from shipping crates. On some cold December six AM mornings, a fire feels good while waiting for the time to pull the props through. Yes, it takes two men to pull a prop through. Radial engines permit oil to accumulate in the bottom cylinders and if props are not pulled nine times for each engine, then when an engine is started it will blow the cylinder head off of the cylinders at the bottom. When engines need changing, it is an all day and maybe all night job for three men. The fact that it may be snowing doesn’t slow these dedicated men. When we need some scrap wood from crates, we come to them. When we need some 100 octane cleaning fluid, we come to them. They never fail to say “Clean your clothes out doors in the open and no smoking within one hundred feet”. These are the same men who regularly give blood for the wounded flyers. When we see these guys at the nearby pub, we are happy to buy them a mild or bitter (English Beer). These are the guys who are lined up near the control tower when a mission is due to return. They all count the returning bombers and see the red flares fired from some of the planes. I never did see an attack from German planes on this base, but there were buildings with machine gun holes.
Sam Wyrouck can be contacted at 1-801-707-2666.