Air Force Mechanic
Our air force mechanic is operating a portable vice in the workshop at an airfield on the Western Front
Australia may not have had an 'air force' until 1921, but the Australian Imperial Force provided ground staff and aircrew for an Australian Flying Corps (AFC) that numbered four operational squadrons and at least one training squadron by 1918.
The AFC was equipped with at least a dozen different types of aircraft during the course of the Great War. Most of them biplanes, they were almost universally made of stiffened fabric stretched tight over a timber frame. Flaps and ailerons were operated by tightly strung metal cables, and aircrew sat almost on top of most engines and machine guns. To keep these primitive aeroplanes flying, each squadron required teams of skilled and ingenious mechanics.
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On this day
On this day
3 June
1942 — Battle of MIDWAY began. This decisive victory by the US Navy over the Japanese Navy shifted the balance of sea power in the Pacific and forced Japan to abandon plans to attack New Caledonia, Fiji and Samoa. Japanese losses were 4 aircraft carriers, 1 cruiser, 248 aircraft, and over 3,000 sailors. American losses were 1 aircraft carrier, 1 destroyer, 150 aircraft, and 307 men
1944 — 78 Squadron, RAAF, carried out the last major air combat by the RAAF in WW2, off BIAK Island, New Guinea. 10 enemy planes were shot down for the loss of one Australian plane and pilot
1969 — HMAS MELBOURNE collided with USS FRANK E EVANS in the South China Sea. EVANS was cut in half and 74 of her crew were killed