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"Keeping them Flying": Mechanics and Bomb Leaders

Bomber crews’ lives depended on the skill and diligence of their ground crews.  Ground crews constantly maintained the large, complex bombers, repaired battle damage, and performed modifications to make the aircraft more effective. 

Bomb loaders in the ordnance section had the dangerous duty of preparing the bombers’ deadly payload.  They assembled, transported, and put bombs in the aircraft.  Accidents happened from time to time, with catastrophic effect.

Bomb loaders retrieve a 1,000-lb. bomb casing from a dump.  They will add tail fins and a nose and tail fuse before loading it.

Ground crew changing an engine on a B-24 in the snow at an Eighth Air Force base in England.  Most maintenance was done outdoors regardless of the season or weather.

Wartime poem expressing ground crewmen’s emotions when bombers did not return.


 

Deadly Accident

On July 15, 1944, US ordnance personnel were unloading high-explosive bombs at Metfield airfield in England.  One bomb accidentally detonated, which in turn set off 1,200 tons of bombs.  The catastrophic blast killed five men, destroyed or permanently grounded more than 20 B-24s, and damaged several others.  The explosion was heard for 40 miles and shattered windows in a village several miles away.

In 1970, historian Roger Freeman found this twisted bomb casing while visiting Metfield—embedded within is the sole of a shoe believed to be from one of those killed.

 

 

Ordnance men put on the tail fin and arming wire for a 500-lb. bomb before hoisting it into a B-17 bomb bay.

Enlisted Technical Specialties

The success of the bombing campaign depended on tens of thousands of highly-skilled enlisted Airmen.  Beginning in 1943, Airmen wore patches on their uniform sleeves to indicate their specialty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Related Fact Sheets

 

The Memphis Belle: American Icon and 25th Mission

Memphis Belle Crew

The “Memphis Belle” and Nose Art

26th Mission: War Bond Tour

Memphis Belle: A Story of a Flying Fortress”

Heavy Bomber “Firsts”

Combat Aircraft to Museum Artifact

Crippling the Nazi War Machine: USAAF Strategic Bombing in Europe

Enabling Technologies

Key Leaders

Early Operations (1942 to mid-1943) - Eighth Air Force in England

Ninth/Twelfth Air Forces in the Mediterranean

Combat Box/Communication and Life at 25K

Keeping them Flying: Mechanics and Armorers

Combined Bomber Offensive: Summer 1943 to Victory

Bigger Raids, Bigger Losses, and Crisis

Deadly Skies over Europe (Luftwaffe defense)

Bomber Crew Protection

Operation Tidalwave (Ploesti, 1 Aug 43)

Regensburg/Schweinfurt (17 Aug 43)

Black Thursday/Schweinfurt (14 Oct 43)

Fifteenth Air Force (created Sep 43)

Gunners

Women’s Army Corps

Fighter Escort: Little Friends

Big Week (20-25 Feb 44)

Target Berlin

Operation Frantic: Shuttle Raids to the Soviet Union

Blind Bombing

D-Day Support

Strategic Bombing Victorious

Epilogue

 

 

Return to the B-17F Memphis Belle Fact Sheet

Return to the WWII Gallery list