THE "RAT RACE"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 40, 19 January 1943, Page 5

THE "RAT RACE"

PATROL WORK BY R.N.Z.A.F. I WIDE PACIFIC SPACES Official AVar Correspondent N.Z.E.F. An Advanced Pacific Base, Dec. 18. I went out on a "rat race"' to-day wit.h a reconnaissance bomber crew of the Royal New Zealand Air Forcer operating from this United Nations: base in the Pacific. It had nothing whatever to do with rats or races'— but neither did those, famous, cease--less raids on Benghazi and Tobruk, the "mail run" and, the "milk run" " have anything- to do with mail or • milk. Any air force operation 'that develops into something approaching monotonous routine earns itself a nickname. And so the "rat race," a never-ending search for the 'lurik-> ing submarines and the bold surface raider that may sooner or later strike across the war supply routes of the South Pacific, takes a modest yet important place in history cn the list which perpetuates the mail and milk deliveries of the Middle East Command. New Zealand air units spend hoar after hour, day after day, in rat-rae-infi over the Pacific, leaving intricate webs of vigilance and protection above the routes along which the freighters and troopships hustle their cargoes of war. Their work is deadly monotony nine-tenths of the time, and the other tenth is usually a hope suddenly raised; and just as suddenly dashed—an "enemy raider" scare, a whale mistaken for a submarine. All of them long for the sound of "Bomb doors open!" to come crackling through their inter-conn munication phones, for the sight, cf their bombs and depth charges bursting like white Uowers in the dark water. Itnstead, they look down at big" ships and little, ships, war vessels and freighters, in convoy and alone, ploughing serenely and safely and confidently in and out of port. The picture they see is tremendously important, and yet the satisfaction they get out of knowing they have as big a part as anybody in the safety and confidence of these moving ships is small.

, But 3*estcrday's whale maj- be. a , Japanese submarine to-morrow, and. it is this continuing possibility of positive action that spices their dailytask. In the meantime, monotonous tlioijgh it may be, the "rat racc" goes on day in and day out. in fair weather and foul—as essential an activity as the movement of the sliius it protects. Still less, spe.ctaculaj - on the surface is the ground organisation that keeps their bombers in the air. Ground staffs at this R.N.Z.A.F. station work alternately in a fog of dust and a sea of mud. They /pore over delicate instruments and radio equipment, and grope under the cowlings of the bombers' .engine-':. Tilcj' work at lathes and .battery chargers and armourers" benches. Thoy swarm over the aircraft oja daily and 30-hour and (50-hour inspections. They locate defects reported, by the air crews, and rectify them. Their responsibility is greats and their work is signed for, countersigned, checked and rechecked. The ground organisation stretcher back from the airfield to the operations room and the wireless hut (th<* signals section listens constantly foi* messages from machines in the air maintains a link with New Zealand and conducts the station's telephone system), to the administrative office, the meteorological service, the mo-, tor transport section, the stores, th« hospital and the cookhouse. AC I these and the aircraft themselves are bound together as one, for intakes all these to keep them flying.