\ said:
Can imagine in the desert the problems they had. Would think they were desperate in just keeping out the sand rather than the camouflage looks of the aircraft. A large piece of history missing here.
Laurie
Absolutely right Laurie but it is important to distinguish between what happened after an aircraft had been accepted and entered service and what happened during the production process. Both were subject to stringent rules but what went on at a forward airfield in North Africa may well have been very different to what went on in a factory near Birmingham.
I really can't comment on the structure of the RAF repair system as I don't know much about it. Someone else may elucidate for us.
I am familiar with the structure of the maintenance system used by the Germans and it is quite a complicated structure. I have a schematic of this which I could post elsewhere for anyone interested but I warn you that it looks like the menu system for a Japanese knitting machine!
In simple terms basic repairs were made at operational level (Staffel,Gruppe or Geshwader level)
Larger repairs were made at an administrative level by the Airfield Regional Command.
Both of these were in a chain of command headed by the Luftwaffe via the appropriate Luftflotte.
For large repairs, rebuilds,or upgrades aircraft were passed by the Luftwaffe to German industry where the work was done by the manufacturers and specialist repair,salvage and overhaul firms. This is another complicated structure in itself. Storage of salvageable parts etc was the responsibility of the aircraft industry although of course the Luftwaffe would approve and accept the rebuilt or repaired aircraft.
You will sometimes see an aircraft with a Werknummer ending with the letter F. This stood for "Flugklar" and indicated that a repaired or rebuilt machine was cleared to fly again.
Cheers
Steve