Pacific Counterblow - Air Force Historical Studies Office

Nine maintenance men for nine aircraft were all that could accompany
the 26th to Efate, and these nine served additionally as ground crews
during the subsequent 3-week period of intensive operations. Under
such circumstances, a large share of the service and maintenance
burden fell upon the combat crews. The 26th owed a debt of gratitude
to the Negro enlisted men of the 24th Infantry Regiment who
helped to service the planes and even improvised spare parts. Artillerymen
messed the airmen on Efate, while over on Espiritu the entire
98th Squadron, not excepting Colonel Saunders, slept under trees or
wings, or in the Forts themselves.
The iith had no water carts; two of its eight Cletracs had arrived at
Nandi, when they were needed at Espiritu. The shops aboard the
USS Curtiss, Admiral McCain's headquarters, contributed tow bars;
but homing devices and navigational aids could not be improvised.
At Espiritu existed a fair example of South Pacific logistics. On
18 August Colonel Saunders described its unloading facilities as "one
barge, a sandy beach and a prayer." Heavy equipment was slung
over the side of cargo vessels into a lighter. Ashore there were no
cranes and the small, finger piers made of coconut logs salted down
with coral washed out and disappeared after 2 or 3 weeks' use. Since
the supply officer seldom was informed of arrival dates, boxes and
crates accumulated in the coconut groves. There was no question of
living off the country; each item of food, clothing, and housing had
to be brought in. The mud was there in abundance. Espiritu possessed
a foot-thick covering of soft black dirt, a quagmire after the
tropical rains.
The Navy had moved .50-caliber ammunition and 300,000 gallons
of gasoline to Espiritu in preparation for the iith. Fuel consumption
had been estimated for 2 weeks of operations and a safety factor of
ioo per cent allowed, but the supply was exhausted in io days and
only the timely arrival of the Nira Luckenbach with 3,ooo drums of
gasoline prevented operations from coming to a sudden halt. Getting
the fuel out of the drums and into the tanks of the B-17's was one of
those impossible jobs which somehow got done. Gas trucks and
trailers did not exist; the steel drums were dumped over the ship's
side, floated ashore in nets, hand-rolled up under the trees, and dispersed
in dumps of 20 to 30. From these they were loaded on trucks,
rolled up on stands, and emptied into the tank wagons which serviced
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