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Fred

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We worked around the clock for all combat ready aircraft ( P-39 P-40 P-38 B-25 B-17 B-24) and Naval aircraft under our depot . . . combat overhaul, new modifications., engine changes etc. . . .

BUT THE P-38 WAS OUR SQUADRON BABY.

We performed complete combat overhaul .
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Left to right: Ted Stelmach (Gary, Ind.) hangar engineering; Russell Roberts (Montpelier, Ind.) engine and airframe flight line inspector; C.M. Johnson (Elko, Nev.) a gofer, he would supply all aircraft and engine parts to the flight line mechanics. James Murdoch ( Buffalo, N.Y.) a graduate of the Embry Riddle School of Aviation , Miami, Fla., aircraft and engine flight line mechanic; Fred Chew (Fall River, Mass.) another Riddle graduate, aircraft and engine flight line mechanic.

Fred writes: Jim Murdoch and I still have our own reunions and keep in touch with old friends in Australia. Getting close to 60 years ago. I graduated from high school in June, 1942, and enlisted in the Air Corps in October, 1942. My brother was in the Navy at Pearl Harbor. I had basic training and went directly to the Embry Riddle School of Aviation in Miami, Fla. After graduation, both Jim and I joined the 44th Depot Repair Squadron at Brookley Field. Ala. There we worked on B-17 bombers and were given Arctic flying gear.

The entire outfit left for Brisbane, Australia. There we joined up with the 81st Air Depot Group and finally took over all aircraft under modification. We had extensive work on P-38 aircraft. From there to Finschhafen, New Guinea and from there to Clark Field in the Philippines.

Brisbane, Australia
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A Tribute to the Forgotten WW-2 Mechanic

* Though the history of world aviation many names have come to the fore
great deeds of the past in our memory will last, as they're joined by more and more

* When man first started his labor in his quest to conquer the sky. He was designer,mechanic and pilot and he built a machine that would fly.

* But somehow the order got twisted and then in the publics' eye
the only man that could be seen was the man who knew how to fly.

* The pilot was everyone's hero, he was brave, he was bold, he was grand, as he stood by his battered old biplane with his goggles and helmet in hand;

* To be sure these pilots all earned it; to fly you have to have guts, and they blazed their names in the hall of fame on wings with baling wire struts;

* But for each of these heroes were thousands of little renown, & these were the men who worked on the planes but kept their feet on the ground;

* We all know the name of Linbergh and we've read of his flight to fame, but think,if you can,of his maintenance man, can you remember his name?

* And think of our wartime heroes Gabreski, Jabara and Scott. Can you tell me the names of their crew chiefs? A thousand to one you cannot;

* Now pilots are highly trained people and wings are not easily won, but without the work of the maintenance man our pilots would march with a gun,

* So when you see mighty aircraft as they mark their way through the air, the grease-stained man with the wrench in his hand is the man who put them there.

From Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Alumni Newsletter