The 13th Flight Line This is the way it usually looked with a mix of planes of all colors as in this early 1952 shot before the Squadron switched over to all "hardnoses" . Each heavy bomb had two fuses -- one in the nose and the other in the tail. Armament crews fused the bombs and loaded them into the belly or under the wings. The fuses were armed by a little propeller that needed a specific number of turns to complete the arming. When the bomb was dropped a wire pulled free and the little propeller could spin. Until fused the bombs were safe. The Armament crews sometimes rolled the bombs off the delivery trucks -- except for Comp B bombs. An Officer from 5th Air Force was on the base in May 1952 on Squadron Commander Fortney's birthday and wouldn't believe that the airplanes were lined up to spell the Commander's name by random parking. He told Maintenance Office Kosciuszko it was a waste of energy. Some minor maintenance on Baker. There are other photos of aircraft with the same tail letter, but they were not in the Squadron at the same time. Sometimes the airplanes were lined up nice and neat like this with a tug or when the airplanes returned from a mission and were parked as they returned. They usually weren't quite this neat. Ten airplanes in a row were well over half the fleet. Routine engine maintenance was accomplished out on the flight line by a crew chief assigned to the plane and his assistant. Crew Chiefs and their Assistant got their name on the crew plaque. Another view of the flight line. Return to Planes Home