THE GROUND-POUNDERS

This section is devoted to the non-flying members of the Fifth Air Force – those men who kept the air force flying. Jack Heyn was a photographer with the 3^rd Attack Group and recently put his impromptu views, memories, and impressions of the ground echelons of this forgotten Air Force. Aerothentic quotes him word for word, his visceral observations based on experience worth putting on the record:

“Before the war the Army Air Corps used the "pitch" to get new recruits by proclaiming that it took ten men on the ground to keep  one man in the air - join the Air Corps for a career in Airplane Mechanics,  Radio Communications,  Armaments, Photography, etc.  I don't know how accurate that assumption was but I expect it was pretty close.  Of that group, the most important, and most unsung, were the aircraft mechanics that kept those magnificent flying machines flying.  They took great pride in their work, their airplane and their combat crews. Some of our crew  chiefs on B-25s flew on missions with their planes.  In fact a few of them flew the plane going to and coming from - as long as there was no danger of  enemy action.  I don't know how prevalent that practice was in other units, but I know it was done in the 13th Squadron the year I was with them. 

You know, there were an awful lot of unsung guys on the ground that  made each unit and the 5th Air Force what it was - one of the most active and effective Air Forces in the war - the Radio Shack guys, the Armorers; it was no picnic handling all  those bombs and ammunition day in and day out,  the Motor Pool that kept  things and crews moving, the medics who kept the guys healthy, and were ‘Johnny on the Spot’ when those planes came home with wounded men on board, the clerks who kept the paper work going, and saw to it that there was money on hand every month for those ever-present poker games,  the cooks that kept  the guys fed as well as could be expected under the circumstances.   

Consider even the Photo Section, a few flew combat, but mostly we kept the  cameras in working order, picked up the film when the planes came in,  processed it and got it over to 5th Bomber Command, usually in the wee small  hours of the morning.  All the Groups, regardless of type - fighter, bomber,  Transport or Service unit - were made up of a combination of these men”.   

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