The Ground Crew serviced 431 and 434 aircraft, many of these fellows eventually became a member of an Aircrew on a squadron. Equally important to every squadron were the men behind the scenes, the ground crew worked long hours. They prepared the aircraft for flight, which went beyond engine maintenance; it included loading of oxygen tanks, mines, bombs and fuel. Ground crew often became acquainted with many of the men who flew in the bombers, when a mission was scrubbed or the squadron was stood down for a few days then there was time for for a pub crawl together. An unfortunate part of this job was not working on the same aircraft repeatedly and sadly unable to count the same total of returning planes that had flown out hours earlier.