Okay, I just got finished watching Midway on the History Channel for the umpteenth time, and as they were fishing a pilot out of the ocean, I was struck by how clean the floatplane was on the outside. I mean, spotless. Not a chip on the paint, not an oil slick running down the side of the thing. It looked like it had just rolled off the factory floor.
Now, I realize that the plane in the film was one that had been meticulously restored by someone after the war, but would a plane have looked that good during the war? Every time you see clips of planes from that era firing up their engines, there’s always what appears to be oil smoke blowing out the exhaust. And I’ve seen lots of shots of planes with what look like oil streaks down their sides. Now, admittedly, the film stock used back then wasn’t always the best, and nor were the preservation methods used very effective, so it’s possible it could be simply an artifact in most cases, and not actual grease streaks.
No. Actually, planes were assigned to certain crews when the group first went overseas but that soon fell apart. The plane pictured was “Rosie O’Brady” and was named by Capt. Bill Brady. However, whatever planes were available were what went. If this plane was up and Brady was on the loading list he flew it, if it wasn’t up he flew another. If it was up and he wasn’t on the list then someone else flew it.
The paint damage occurred when the group flew into a hail storm. All of the planes had paint stripped and some had other damage such as dented leading edges of airfoils and so on. The “cleanliness” varied from this sample up to planes that were just out of the depot maintainance. We were fortunate to have Pratt and Whitney engines. With Wright engines you also got a lot of oil on the engine nacelles.
But with a slew of guys to keep things clean- they were cleaned back up pretty darn fast. When there’s no shooting around, Captains like their ship (and all in it) to be spic & span.
I’ve seen pics of clean planes and pics of dirty planes. I would assume that they would try to keep the planes as clean as they can since dirt would produce more drag. I would also assume that during intense campaigns they might not have time to keep the planes anywhere near as clean as they’d like.
It depends upon what kind of “clean.” The crew chief saw to it that dirt, grease and so on was washed off and vacuumed up to the extent possible. After all, others were observing “his” airplane. Paint jobs were an entirely different matter. Groups and squadrons usually didn’t have the equipment necessary to paint airplanes. Whatever wear and tear happened to paint just stayed there.
Keeping planes clean, particularly seaborne ones, is not a luxury. A plane that is mostly aluminum plus stee with salt water pretty much equals a battery. Keeping planes clean is part of corrosion prevention, very serious matter.
True, but I don’t know what resources were available to Navy crews back then, or if they could afford the necessary amount of fresh water needed to wash the salt off the planes. I don’t know, but I think that large portions of the plane might have been wood. Here’s a page on the kind of plane they had in the film.
Interesting to know that the plane could have been in that good of shape after the battle of Midway.
Dunno about WWII but I was a Cobra crew chief (a few years back)
When my bird got back from ops, first thing that happened (if it didn’t have any bullet holes in it) was it went on the wash rack.
After that I went over the entire aircraft, pulling every inspection panel. There was not a blade of grass, speck of dust, anything not put there by Bell or myself.
After that was done, I’d spend about an hour going over the flight log and waxing the blades. Then I would go to the flight lounge and talk to my pilot. (a man who knew danm well his life was in my hands) We’d shoot the shit about the bird for a few until both of us were satisfied that it would come home next time it flew.
There is no way we could repaint an entire aircraft in the field but we damn well took care of chips, peels and other paint defects right then and there. After we got IR suppressant paint doubly so, pity the poor private who took a can of OD laquer to my tail boom. He probably still has nightmares.
I can’t imagine my betters, the brave men and women of the US Army Air Corps would be any less proffesional.
So, in my opinion the answer is no, no self respecting crew chief would allow his bird on the flight line in anything but top shape. Remember FOD is a noun.
I’m fairly confident that there was hardly the time in WW2 to worry about scratched paint. Bullet holes, damaged props, failing fuel pumps, all surely took priority. Sure, if there’s time to clean the thing, fine. But time was a luxury.
If you’ll accept another “read somewhere”, I did read somewhere that weight was very important for WWII planes, and that they kept the planes, especially fighters, exceptionally clean. They even stripped factory paint off them to reduce weight.
The article was specifically about the fighter with the big teeth on it.
Peace,
mangeorge
It would be interesting to hear from someone about the difference between the Navy and the other services at that time. One thought: could the maintenance of naval aircraft paint jobs be something along the lines of the hollystoning of ship decks and “Bristol fashion” of the Napoleanic era British warships? With nowhere to go and time to fill, would the crew chief and his men put a lot of elbow grease into making their charge look good?
My Dad was in the USAAF in the SWPA–New Guinea and the Philippines–flying A-20 attack bombers on low-level missions (98 of 'em–I’m glad he got back to produce me!). The photos of his plane and those of his squadronmates show well-worn paint jobs, with obvious and sloppy paintbrush marks around access panels that were opened frequently. According to Dad, many bullet holes were left unpatched, depending on where on the plane they were located.
I’m guessing the Navy had a different approach.
You don’t happen to know where that photo was shot, do you? Judging from all the holes in the ground, someone got more than their share of “shock and awe”!
I dunno, and certainly can’t speak for David, but considering the kinds of atrocities the Nazi’s committed, I’d say that any “shock and awe” they got was well deserved.
I don’t know what the difference was. However I suspect that, as an earlier poster said, the Navy had a bigger problem because of the effect of sea water on aluminum. My guess is that they had a routine of washing down the planes frequently with the fluid, water or a special rinse, being resupplied to the carrier by one of the supply ships that accompany the task forces.
Not for sure. I vaguely recall someone telling me it was east of Luxemburg but being young and heedless I didn’t make a note of it. The river is the Rhine and the cratered area is the site of a rail yard.
Naval aircraft do get special care to prevent corrosion from the salt water, and this includes keeping the protective paint intact. This is why US Navy aircraft didn’t switch over to the bare metal finish that the Air Force began using from about 1944 onwards. Now, the pace of combat operations would sometimes prevent non-operational fixes like paint touchups from being done right away, but they would likely be attended to as soon as there was a lull in the action.
The PBY Catalina you posted a picture of is virtually all metal. The movable part of control surfaces were covered in doped fabric as was common practice then but that is completely waterproof. I don’t think the US military was operating any planes by WWII that had major wood structural members.
A bullet hole that doesn’t cause a serious structural compromise like a crack that may propegate is no big deal. Corrosion setting into structural joints can cause large bits of the airframe to fall off. This can be a significant incinvenience to the aviator if it happens during flight.
Lack of fresh water is a problem but there are other ways to clean aircraft. I’m not sure what they used in WWII but I had to supervise many a crew of turd shirts cleaning an entire F-14 with aerosol cans and rags. We’d clean off all the exposed surfaces to remove salt residue and apply anti corrosion compound to every bit that wasn’t covered by paint. This would include every fasterner over removable panels, joints, tie down points, launch bar, tail hook point, etc.
