RNZAF Servicing Unit engineers

Following the Americans’ experience of pilot fatigue while fighting in the tropics of the Pacific, the RNZAF created distinct aircraft Servicing Units. These were permanently stationed at an airfield, and separate from a squadron’s aircrews who were stationed in the forward combat zones for only six weeks at a time. It was the Servicing Units’ responsibility to check, refuel, rearm and repair the RNZAF’s planes after their sorties. These engineers from the No.10 Servicing Unit are repairing a plane's engines in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.