15th Army Air Forces; WWII
15th Army Air Forces; WWII

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41st ADG August 1944

41ST AIR DEPOT GROUP (Unit)

APO 620

UNIT HISTORY

XV Air Force Service Command Period 1 August to 31 August 1944

INDEX

Section I . . . . . . . . Narrative History Section II . . . . . . . Operations Section Annex #1 . . . . . . . . APO 620 Statistical Report Annex #2 . . . . . . . . Photographs

Section I

  1. The 1133rd Signal Company was inactivated during the month and later merged with the 1044th Signal Company which had just arrived in this theater, per Section I, General Orders #36, Hq. XV AFSC, dated 30 July 1944. This organization is now attached to the 41st Air Depot Group in operation of Air Force Advanced Depot #53.
     
  2. The present strength status of Air Force Advanced Depot #53 is sixty-eight (68) Officers, two (2) Warrant Officers and one thousand five hundred and ninety (1,590) Enlisted Men. The present strength status of Air Force Advanced Depot #51, which is operated under this command, is eight (8) Officers and two hundred and ten (210) Enlisted Men.
     
  3. During the month a total of thirty-five (35) B-24's were flown into the Depot for repairs which consisted of major and minor overhaul. Twenty (20) of these planes were repaired and put back into operation. This was a drop of three (3) planes compared to last month.
     

a. Nine (9) B-24's were salvaged during the month and six salvaged aircraft are still being dismantled at other fields by crews from this Depot. Salvage & Reclamation issued one thousand eight hundred and forty-six (1,846) items on Forms 81, cleaned, inspected and shipped five thousand four hundred and twenty-nine (5,429) items to Tech Supply and shipped one hundred and thirty-six (136) tons of scrap metals and rubber to AFSD #5.

b. All the original "war weary" planes left the field but were soon replaced by more and later models with "war weary" classifications. Included among these planes were nine (9) B-24's, the first of this type to come into the Depot. Many more are expected. A C-47 checked for poor flying characteristics is still awaiting parts for its final completion. (See Annex #2)

(1) Many a man reported seeing a plane on fire during the month only to find out later that it was only a plane brought into the Depot as "war weary", repaired and now being tested at 25,000 feet with its bomb bay filled with P-38 Belly Tanks filled with water, and a sand bag at the regular position of each crew member, the water being released giving the appearance of smoke streaming from the bomb bay.

(2) "Purple Shaft" was brought into the Depot with the tail section peppered with flak holes. It was reskined and bulkheads from station 7 to station 9 were repaired, a 60 hour inspection was completed, main fuel tanks replaced and all controls synchronized. The "Purple Shaft" was test flown but the fifty missions to her credit were too much for this gallant B-24 and it is to be reclassified as "war weary" and to be converted into a non-combatant ship.

c. One of the features of the month was the repair and modification of General LeMay's personal plane. Our crews did a job to be proud of in two days less time than it had ever taken before. Another, was the biggest repair job our men had undertaken on a B-24; a plane that had been next to one that had exploded was brought in to be rebuilt.

d. As usual men were sent out on temporary duty but in different capacities than on previous occasions.

(1) Men were sent as far north as Leghorn to survey work to be done on aircraft.

(2) Other men were sent to surrounding fields with instructions to do nothing but instruct ground crews in certain types of repair work. The purpose of this is to teach the service units this line of work, so as to relieve the Depot from sending out crews that are badly needed here.

  1. The Machine Shop, Hydraulic Shop, Electric Shop and Instrument Shop were in operation both day and night and on several nights crews from Sheet Metal and Aero Repair were on duty. The Propeller Shop was enlarged during the month to take care of the large number of governors to be repaired. Civilians are now doing the sewing in the repair of electrically-heated flying clothes.

a. "One thousand Trunnion blocks for prop governors" was the order found in the Machine Shop order box one morning. This presented quite a problem as the steel and iron necessary to the manufacture of the blocks was not available, so scrap iron and steel from crates that once contained engines were used. The job was completed and the Trunnion blocks are now being assembled in prop governors.

  1. The converting of the revetments surrounding the field along the Taranto Road into warehouses for bomb bay tanks and racks is rapidly being completed. By plane and by trailer there was a daily stream of tanks and racks into the Depot. Here they will be stored in the warehouses to await the day when the aircraft of the XV Air Force leave this theater. The Fuel Cell department is now flooded with repair work on many of these fuel tanks.
     
  2. The 37th Depot Supply Squadron and 2460th QM Truck Company (Avn) comprise Air Force Advanced Depot #51. Their duties are to supply five (5) Service Squadrons with engines, parts and accessories for B-24's stationed in the heel of the Italian boot - the 47th Wing. A total of three thousand twenty-eight (3,028) tons of Air Corps supplies were transported by the 2460th QM Truck Company (Avn) during the month. The number of miles covered by the organization while transporting supplies and personnel was eighty-nine thousand five hundred and four (89,504) miles.
  3. The 2603th QM Truck Company (Avn) stationed at this Depot transported three thousand one hundred and eighty-nine (3,189) tons of freight and a total of six thousand five hundred and eighty-eight (6,588) personnel were carried during the month. Approximately one hundred and twenty-one thousand one hundred and twelve (121,112) miles were covered during this period.
     
  4. A Letter of Commendation dated 25 August 1944, was received from General Bartmhof, commending our group on the efficient operating Depot we have built. Also commended by the General this month in individual letters dated 25 August 1944, for extreme devotion to duty and tireless energy in handling the hundreds of replacement planes and crews arriving here were the following named officers and Enlisted Men: Captain Ludwig F. Schmidt, Captain Francis A. LeMay, T Sgt Jimmie D. Littleton, Sgt Edward B. Johnson, Sgt Harry A. Daniels, Cpl Philip L. Johnson and Cpl Leonard J. Curtis.
     
  5. The 41st Air Depot Group celebrated its first year overseas this month and all organizations held their individual parties. In our year overseas we have performed various assignments but we believe that the present one has tested the ingenuity of the organization - and that it has come through.
     

FREDERICK R. TURBOW, Captain, Air Corps, Unit Historian.

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Section II

Section II

  1. The month of August was a record breaking one for the Operations Section. Four hundred and fifty-four (454) replacement aircraft were received, modified, checked and sent on to their final assignments. Of this total, one hundred and sixteen (116) Fortresses were "processed" plus three hundred and thirty-three (333) Liberators. These represent an increase of one hundred and ninety-nine (199) heavy bombers over the month of July.
     
  2. Normally the A-2 Section of XV Air Force assigns these replacement aircraft with the crews. In certain cases, it becomes necessary that the crews be divorced from the ship they flew from the United States. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the Operations Section to notify Group Engineering and Tech Supply. The Staff of Tech Supply then collects all head-sets, throat microphones, all tool kits and thermos jugs for safekeeping and eventual delivery to the crew ferrying the replacement plane to its final destination. In the past the Operations Section experienced considerable difficulty in preventing the loss of these items. Through the complete cooperation of Tech Supply, Group Engineering and Operations, this situation is now well in hand.
     
  3. With the increase in replacement aircraft, the minor repairs necessary for these aircraft increased correspondingly. The number of repairs performed by the Alert Crew of the Operations Section doubled this month totaling sixty-four (64) individual jobs. These repairs included the replacement or correction of faulty hydraulic actuating cylinders and nose wheel assembly changes as well as first and second echelon repairs.
     
  4. The Test Flight Section is maintaining its average record of from three to four Test Flights per day. It is interesting to note that the Flying Officers and Enlisted Men put in more flying hours during the month of August than in any single month since the initiation of the Operations and Test Flight Section.
     
  5. Plans for the expansion of the Operations Office and the Alert Crew Room were completed the latter part of August. The expanded location will be ready early in September. These modifications will eliminate the confusion which exists when arrivals and departures are handled in the same room. There is to be one room for arriving Pilots and another for briefing departing Pilots. Provision is also being made for the Flight Test Section Room. The latter will be shared with the Finance Exchange Office which collects all United States currency from the arriving replacement crews and exchanges it for Italian lira. Half of the exchanges taking place in the XV Air Force went through this office.
     
  6. Another new procedure followed with arriving crews is to obtain their temporary APO numbers. This information is passed along to the Transient Camp which in turn obtains any mail that is held in the Bari APO. A Mail Call is held the following day. This new service is a great factor in the morale of these Combat Crews.
     

FREDERICK R. TURBOW, Captain, Air Corps, Unit Historian.