PACIFIC AIR FORCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 September 1943, Page 8

PACIFIC AIR FORCE

MAJOR ORGANISATION SUPPLY AND ADMINISTRATION. LIFE IN THE TROPICS. (Official Correspondent.) GUADALCANAL. Valuable if unspectacular work, without which the successful operation of New Zealand squadrons in the South-Western Pacific area would be | difficult if not impossible, is being done i at Guadalcanal and other islands by many hundred airmen in a great (variety of technical and other skilled trades. The connection between their , work and the actual operation of fighter and bomber aircraft may appear remote, but they are an essential part of the complex organisation behind a modern air force. Even in the most forward areas, there arc some 11 or 12 men, of different trades, on the ground, for each member of aircrew. And quite apart from those directly concerned with the maintenance of the aircraft, there are full stall's occupied with matters of administration, equipment, accounts, signals, parachutes and dinghies, transport, intelligence, operations, metrology, messing and many other items. All* are essential, for if any were to cease functioning, the efficiency of the station as a whole, and eventually of the flying operations, would be ad-, versely affected. Close co-operation exists between' nearly every branch, and the corresponding branch of the United States forces on the island. This is particularly marked in the case of equipment, since the New Zealanders arc flying American-made aircraft, driving American vehicles, eating much American food, smoking American cigarettes and seeing American films in the outdoor “theatres.” Certain supplies are received from New Zealand, I but so much American equipment is used that officers and airmen associat- i ed with this work have to be well! versed in Lend-Lease formalities. An entire staff is needed to keep I jeeps, trucks, motor cycles and station-! ary motors in good repair. Roads are ' rough and traffic heavy, and with' limited transport available, a high! standard of maintenance is essential.i Signals traffic is extremely heavy, I keeping operators on watch 24 hours a day; intelligence and operational re-1 ports arise from every flight; weather ■ must be studied; and all ranks must! be properly housed and adequately | fed. clothed, and kept medically and dentally fit. New Zealand organisation I covers it all. Apart from actual operational fly-i ing risks, the ground staff in the for-1 ward area bears a full share of in-1 evitable wartime hazards and discom-' forts Moreover, its members face a ! considerably longer period of tropical i service than aircrew personnel. There is not an officer or airman on ; Guadalcanal, be he pilot, accountant.! cook, mechanic or clerk, who has notj heard the 'siren's warning, listened to i the screaming rush of falling bombs,i and felt the earth tremble under viol-i ent explosions. Many have seen Jap-! anese fighters sweep in for ground-1 strafing, dive-bombers, plunging down | for the attack, and high-altitude nightl bombers, caught in the searchlights, | weaving to escape and dropping their bombs in sudden panic. All have spent seme time in foxholes, for while enemy action is declining as the Allies push North. Guadalcanal is still regularly raided by the enemy. All ranks know tropical heat, tropical rain and tropical dust. All know monotony, too, and ants and a thousand pests that ! crawl and fly.