Ground Crew Tours

[pjw4118]

Over the years adding to the NZBCA archive , it has been relatively straight forward to follow aircrew service via their logbooks , ORBs and notes , yet with ground crews it is much more difficult as they dont seem ever to have had a "logbook ", and  postings are locked away in "records " . Some of the NZ ground crews with the RAF appear to be airfield rather than squadron based , yet suddenly they are posted almost at random . In one case a 75 squadron armourer on Lancasters at Mepal went to 80 squadron on Tempests in Europe. Another ended up in India via Rhodesia.
Was there such a thing as a " tour " for ground crews and who or how were postings arranged?
This has some implications regarding Squadron Ass membership as one famous squadron refused to accept ground crew members as they were not able to prove they had ever  served on that squadron.
There may also have been a difference between Europe and the Pacific forces , but there doesnt appear to have been any set time for ground crews to stay on operations and  receive any regular R&R at the set intervals aircrew enjoyed.
Can anyone enlighten me ?

[Dave Homewood]

RNZAF ground crew members could also be posted to a station rather than a squadron (and it's still the same way). As well as squadrons which do the line maintenance, there's usually a need for a station-based network of troops doing the more in-depth or perhaps less regular maintenace on items that could be removed from an aircraft. Stations had engine, airframe, instrument, tyre, propeller and other bays, plus the parachute packers, safety equipment section, station armoury, MT, Admin, Medical section, etc etc all on a statiuon,and squadrons could come and go but always be backed up by the station's groundies. In my years in the RNZAF I was always a member of base maintenance units (Technical Squadron at Wigram, Maintenance Support Wing at Auckland and Maintenance Support Squadron at Ohakea) and never any operational squadrons, but I was doing work for the aircraft of No's 5, 40, 42, 14, 75 and 3 Squadrons plus NATTS, PTS, etc.

In WWII with the Pacific, groundcrews were posted on a tour for a year in the 'operational area'. However as disease and other ailments were so prolific up there, a huge proportion of them never completed a year before being sent home on medical grounds, often in a very bad way with malaria and other nasty bugs. And as a result a lot of guys would end up doing longer than a year as they were short staffed. And a lot would complete a year, come home for three months or so, and go back on a second tour!

I think the worst place to be groundcrew was the Pacific. The guys in Europe had it easy by comparison, even if they had harsh winters, they could at least go to the pub after work. The desert and Burma would have been bad too, but the pacific had it all in terms of undesirables.

[pjw4118]

Thanks Dave , so did the ground crew members carry a service card with their service/units dates ? Was this done during your time .
So perhaps the only way of charting ground crews service details is through their official service record.
Yes things in the Pacific must have been pretty grim especially the fungous infections . I once worked with a guy who served as a radio mechanic in the Solomons and he still wore the scars of petrol treatment for fungus ulcers around his "gentlemens department." He also talked about the mental problems brought on by "bush toddy " and the heat.

[saratoga]

From stories i have read of service in the pacific, it was almost a mutiny at times, the long,continuous serving ground crews seeing the 'fly boys' rotate on relatively short tours. and the rush to the landing transport aircraft to get the last of the fresh milk!

[Dave Homewood]

Jun 12, 2018 10:09:58 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

Thanks Dave , so did the ground crew members carry a service card with their service/units dates ? Was this done during your time .

Their units and their dates were written on their Service I.D. card, a little like the Army Pay Book, it seems. See this one from WAAF Judith Copeland


And the aircrew were the same, this from another page on this forum


In my time we had a blue notebook called the RNZAF Form 858, and at every unit you joined some boss stamped you in, and then stamped you out when you were posted. It formed a handy record for the airman to keep. Not sure when they began, but I assume they are still in use.

So perhaps the only way of charting ground crews service details is through their official service record.

The Service Record is definitely the best way, ID cards would be a bit of help too. And if they kept a diary o wrote decent letters, both are rare to find though due to security.

Yes things in the Pacific must have been pretty grim especially the fungous infections . I once worked with a guy who served as a radio mechanic in the Solomons and he still wore the scars of petrol treatment for fungus ulcers around his "gentlemens department." He also talked about the mental problems brought on by "bush toddy " and the heat.

Heat rashes of all sorts, dhobi's itch, fungus, malaria, fly-borne disease, rats, snakes, scorpions, crabs, and all sorts of creepy crawlies, plus working on metal aircraft in the intense sun! Alex Horn's book "Wings Over The Pacific" describes a lot of the problems, and how hot it got inside the likes of the Hudson and Ventura with their big glasshouse canopies and turrets - I know full well when i climbed into the Hudson at Temora with Steve Death - it was 42C outside and all the black surfaces in the Hudson's turret were like hot plates, literally. I would guess it was up around 60C inside that aircraft. I was sweating buckets when I came out into the 'cooler' 42C air. And it gets even hotter in the Pacific. (that was flaming Autumn at Temora too, stupid hot!)

[pjw4118]

Thanks for that , the ID cards are certainly of interest , I hope the RAF did the same .

[Dave Homewood]

You might find some of the bomber boys still have their I'D' cards, worth asking them.