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The Men Who Kept 'em Flying!


siege1863
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This collection of original documents and photographs is attributed to Arthur D. Ethier of Rhode Island. In 1936, at the age of seventeen, he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps working on four different projects until his discharge in 1939. His occupation was truck driver. Arthur enlisted in the Air Corps in November 1941. He performed aircraft maintenance at stateside airfields until his discharge in December 1945.

 

Here is a fantastic photo of maintenance guys at Peterson Field in Colorado. Arthur is identified in the upper right corner. You gotta love the grimy coveralls!

 

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Here is a series of documents that relate to the training and work Arthur undertook during his time maintaining bombers.

 

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Here is a larger image so as to see detail...

 

For whatever reason, I cannot remove this image. It is NOT a larger scan than above.

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Nice group. "They Also Served." We tend to think of veterans as "combat men" but for every man in combat there were probably five or more backing him up. This man gave six years of life in defense of his country without firing a shot. A great record of service!

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Siege1863: what a wonderful collection and great photo!

We usually see studio shots of these guys and rarely see them in their "everyday" dress. I love it!

Also it's fun to pick out the details in the background like the vintage electric clock, maintenance bulletin holder and old porcelain drinking fountain. Oh, and I just noticed the picture was taken just in front of the men's room!

Kim

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Did you also notice the small cream/milk bottle on the sill above the drinking fountain? Wonder if it has a patriotic design. I really like the array of clothing and caps. When they called the men together to pose for the shot, some did not stop to wash their hands! A real moment in time.

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siege1863 was kind enough to let me post some other photos showing groundcrew and mechanics in the field.

These 3 photos came from my Uncle Bob Bland who was a Ground Crew Chief in the 374th Fighter Squadron. Dates are from 1942-1943.

Here is a photo of him up close and personal with the engine of a P-47 (I think):

 

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As explained to me by my Uncle, this is a photo of a meeting of the Squadron engineering officer on left with line & crew chiefs:

 

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