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Show - V- MainleEHance Keeps Planes m Flymg. Trfn :4 143 Types of Aircraft in Use By Army nags- -, Magnitude of Field's Job Now Colossal ' 'A mie maintenance division of Air Service Command has the ' -wsyfr fc mMtfXif)i mils' and does the job - of iob keeping planes in flying con dition. It makes sick planes swarm of well. Its world-wid- e know must crews repair how to care collectively 143 types of planes. Pi "Vir Clements Mc Mullen, chief of the Air Serv ; ice Command's maintenance "We division, , nut it this way: v are the garage mechanics of the Army Air Forces. With out the services of our men and machinery, a plane could operate only so long as noth ing serious went wrong with it. In combat, that wouldn't be very long." jog '.I for Gen. Major "A. ' ' 1 1 r5 Tbe h C & . . Is the slogan and the goal of Hie BOMBER A DAT Une at Hill Field. This assembly line is unique to Utah at one ry end enter battered hoiks of bombers; from the other end eome repaired giants, ready to return to the fighting fronts. war-wea- f cold, and while electricians, carpenters and other plumbers, workmen went about completing it, Maintenance perform what it the winterizing process went on in calls third and fourth echelon work. a realistic atmosphere. The bombThe first and second echelons con ers had to be made ready to fly sist of refueling, routine checking in temepratures of 60 degrees below and minor repairs that can be zero, at which ordinary rubber done by a flight crew on ground parts, carbueretors, lubricants and hand tools. The third echelon using is mainly salvage work carried hydraulic fluids fall to function. the out by wrecking trucks and mobile In November of last year first airplane production line was machine shops. 0 and 0 The fourth echelon represents set up, handling trouble and A persistent fighters. overhauls and intricate done heavy bus in the F38 t Airacoora") at Hill Field and ten other main some cannon was straightened out, and Maintenance this in country. depots Field means came a letter of commen at Hill rebuilding forthwith ASC's commanding dation from and reassemdown planes, tearing H. of general Major General Walter inmanufacture bling engines, was also emergency parts, and modication. Frank. The indiscovery a manual published A good example of modification corporated at ASC in Dayton, of headquarters new nose the is in the 4 or Liberator bomber. Ohio. A cargo ship was fished out Originally this machine had two of the9 Columbia river, brought to in nose. machine the fixed guns as a Hill and reconditioned Field, a Apparently enemy fighters found plane for mechanic learn way of coming in between the training After six or barrels. A power operated gun tur- ers to tinkerofwith. main such months service, eight in installed was ret experimentally tenance It officials that decided the nose of a Liberator operating could groomed it for fly again. The in the southwest Pacific. This innoso flight, it flew, and is still flying vation proved so effective is at its home base in Sacramento. to the that ASC Jap deadly year a production line in now installing turrets the noses forEarly thisattack bombers and a of all Liberators until such time line were set up. as the factories can make the im- supercharger the Meanwhile departparachute manuprovement during original ment, which had got under way in facture of the plane. the fall of 1941 with 15 "chutes" Was Small Start It to be packed, was growing by tre . of could work such No magnitude mendous strides. In September, even or dreamed have been done were packed, 2990 inof when the maintnance division 280 "chutes" for stock, and 4800 pieces at Hill Field got it start. That spected of flying; clothing were repaired was in June, 1941. inspected by the parachute deThe first maintenance officersa and partment. set up and civilian executivesin one of the Overhaul BigtheBombers skeleton organization most important ac which Currently buildings five temporary Field Hin indeed in the at tivity structures then constituted the only Ogden Service Command on the field. They had no workshop. whole is the 4 production line. Their repair work was done by area wnere trie big bombers are comcrews the of service overhauled as they pass pletely m Salt 19th Bombardment Group through ten stations, and 500 cl Lake City. vilian workers have "A Bomber a .. By August, however, maintenance Day" as their goal and slogan. and first sorts of the a had shop for When the line was set un in work order was accomplished 130 work benches. First really im February, 8000 man hours were re job was the assembly and quired to overhaul one bomber. portant installation of a wind direction in- - mis has been cut in half. In the four months the average time dlcator, which is still m use for last a "sick" bombet stays In the Hill the guidance of incoming planes. The maintenance men had much neid "hospital" has been cut from determination and big ambitions. 30 days to 22. Sparkplug of maintenance at Hill On the floor of their little shop Field is the work production sec to Indicate lines sep painted they divisions, such as fabric, tion, which has established close liarate sheet-meta- l, paint, and so on. The aison with the supply division, and work orders department consisted of which "mothers" parachute one table. through the repair lines to avoid just The great dust storm of Sep unnecessary delays. Set up two ago with one officer and tember, 1941, messed up all type years civilians, work production now writers and tempers on the field two a personnel of 300. This section indiscriminately, but it was espe has hard on maintenance, for nss to its credit an efficient subdally every engine and other piece division of maintenance functions, nearly of machinery had to be claned and and is largely responsible for the most had to be dismantled. Main highest output per man hour at tenance considers itself one of the Hill Field of any ASC depot in the luckiest beneficiaries of the plant- - country. ins; and erosion control program which now keeps dust to a mini Leroy Marriott Inducted mum. LeRoy Marriott, formerly an assistant property and supply First Plans Project clerk, The first airplane project got supply division, left for the armed under way in February, 1942. This services last week. Prior to his was uw "wlnterisation" of 23 Ma departure, several parties and dinrauder bombers for ners were by his friends. service in the Aleutians. The main He and his given wif make their home tenance hangar was still unfinished in Ogden. Wj .this : Saturday November 6, 1943 B--24 nnodLTm mb jorc ; 24! Enemy Plane in Our Midst and . V limil ificsl "7 wh tie The i MS ture hugi - P-3- e fuai BOV - t BUU figs P-4- ire tm btt -- four-engin- a- trai - to 1 Th 1)1) ed CM B-2- C-3- s "l&fK B-2- now-famo- us a two-engin- 0 w A-20- B DESTBUCTTVIS Ne longer, above is one Zero plane that wEI never fly for the Mips again. Lieut. OoL J. M. Harward stoooed here last week en rente te flying the plane to Wright Field for exhaustive examination. r I 1 4- - Base Sergeant Dies Road Accident In Zero Plane Lands Here on Calls Attention to Jap Need to Walk Way to Wright Field Inspection A Japanese Zero plane, rebuilt bladed type similar to the Hamil- Against Traffic ton used on our ships. It carries 304th Dep a "belly" fuel tank which can be Bgt Frank Mikosz, FieM, Hill dropped by a simple lever control. Repair squadron, Its tanks are not leak-pronor f.f.ii inturoH Thursday eveniflft does it carry any protective armor. Oct. 28, when struck from beWnJ urallrlnff OS ... . i t Hrht.hiuid side of the highwV. On landing here, ineffective contrary to army Hill FieM" brakes caused the plane to roll about 500 feet south of beyond the runway, but Col. Hay-war- d south gate. th cut the power and brought The importance of training films nrf Mikosx was taken to it under control without damage. was saving training time was pointHe said that poor brakes were in hospital where he Edwin ed out in a memorandum from base common to all Zero type ships. treatment by Capt l defense, plans and trainPainted a smoky gray with the base He died about two Wright conw office last week after the ing bright blue nose, this late model monthly film report indicated that later without regaining fighter, known as JThe Hap," about half the units at Hill Field ness. He naa suiiercu . i MinriPlP. is powered by a Nakajima Sakae skull ana iracturea vaTchrj. are not film the double-roand utilizing library. radial engine which deAngus Gibson Training films cover the entire tensen of Layton, pa isenge r velops about 1000 horsepower. It field of military subjects and are the truck driven by At hurdon is not unlike the Wright engine used in the United States. It is divided into basic, mechanical, were treated at the civilian technical, and tactical types. The tories dispensary for minor capable of speeds up to about 320 memorandum directed all squad- tlons from flying glass. miles per hour. na Weather conditions on the field ron training officers to acquaint Sgt. Mikosz had army themselves and make the with, two forced the plane to remain here years M utilisation of, the mately and lived at 6310 West overnight ' before taking off for greatest possible .uthoriti street, Chicago. Wright Field. It is built to con- training films. Hill Field army tain two 20mm cannon in the ma FleMer Abroad Cpl. Ken stressed the fact thatleftP- o nni leading edge of the wings and nethR. Saunders, former Hill should keep to ones two .30 calibre machine guns on Field mechanic is now serving road when walking. the of top fuselage synchronized to AM fire through the propellor. It has with the army air corps in New a retractable landlns sear which Guinea after recently completing Intelligence Headnow im ntet folds up into the wings. his basic training at Gulfport ttUt, don V. Holcomb is roe prop is the standard three- - Miss. office, Q headquarters, from captured and wrecked planes in the south Pacific theatre of war, was flown to Hill Field last week by Lt. Col. J. M. Hay-warengineering division, Army Air Forces material command. He is flying it to Wright Field for examination by army engineers. d, of Urge Film Use in trt Training Program gJ ... w . - - |