Another unusual historical anecdote brought to you by Aerothentic

The 27th Air Depot Group assembled and fixed aircraft with a minimum of facilities. In New Guinea their primary base was Port Moresby, where they were located between Wards and Seven-Mile Dromes. However, it was hot work, often outside hangars, and when they arrived they had no washing machine.

So, they designed and built one. Take a careful look at this design and see some real American-know-how and ingenuity. The drive engine is a water pump which drives a belt attached to a flywheel. This in turn rotated a 55-gallon fuel drum in which clothes were laundered. The whole mechanism was constructed on a trailer so that it could also service other units which paid for the favour in either US dollars or alcoholic beverage.

The hill in the background is one of the foothills of the South-east end of 7-Mile. Where the washing machine is sitting is, in the year 2001, part of the main parking apron of Jackon's International Airport.

Aerothentic is proud to bring you some of the more esoteric machinary of the forgotten Fifth Air Force . . .

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