I was talking to my Uncle Steve via email the other day. You may recall he was a fighter pilot during the WWII. We had a discussion about the mechanical limits and issues that aircraft can have during their lifespan. He relayed the story to me as such...
During the war whenever I did not have a combat mission to fly I would go down to the flight and test hop a plane or two for the Crew Chiefs. I just loved to fly!
One day one of the Crew Chiefs came up to me and said he had a problem. A pilot had aborted a mission complaining of a rough engine. The Crew Chief had checked it out and could find nothing wrong on the ground. He asked that I take it up and check it out.
I took the P-51 up and "Rung it out" as they say. I did aerobatics, snap rolls to the right and left, slow rolls, and spins and flew it inverted. I test hopped it for about an hour and could find nothing wrong and I told him so.
He said, "Sir, I don't know what to do. I hate to just let it go like that." I said, "Why don't you change the plugs and write it up?" He gave me a funny look and I suddenly realized this was not a car that he was changing 6 or 8 plugs on this was a fighter plane. The Mustang had a 2,000 Horse Power Rolls Royce Merlin Engine with 12 cylinders with two plugs in each cylinder - that's 24 Spark plugs you have to change. Remember in those days you had to set the gap on every plug and those mechanics were working outdoors. In those days you could always recognize the mechanics by their skinned knuckles from reaching down in the engine between the cylinders to get at those plugs.
Seeing his look of consternation, I laughed and told him, "I'll sign the log and note that the engine runs smooth as silk!" He smiled and thanked me.
Being a Crew Chief in those days was a rough job! You had to service those planes after every mission outdoors late in the afternoon or at night, in the dark by the light of a flashlight. No nice warm hangers then. I always admired the work that they did. Servicing those "High Performance" aircraft on a daily basis.
Getting up 1,000 bombers and 600 fighters almost every day was some sort of record under adverse weather conditions.
What a terrific achievement!
What a fantastic bunch of men!
Blue Skies
Uncle Steve
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