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