Mechanic on the Wing: The Untold Story of Carrier Aircraft Service Unit Eleven (CASU-11) 1943 - 1946

During World War II almost 60 United States Navy Carrier Aircraft Service Units (CASUs) were established and deployed to Pacific locations in support of naval aircraft operations. Faced with a lack of aircraft carriers early in the war and no organizational means to support airplanes at quickly constructed airfields on islands in the Southwestern Pacific, the CASUs were a wartime necessity and their story has not been told.

CASU-11 was commissioned on Friday, 22 January 1943 and decommissioned on Friday, 1 November 1946, a period of service that lasted three years, nine months and ten days. During that time they traveled approximately 27,000 miles, serviced over 2,000 aircraft and more than 1,700 aviation machinists, metalsmiths, enginemen, electricians and ordnance men passed through its ranks.

It is noteworthy that CASU-11 bookended World War II in the Pacific. They were present on Guadalcanal, the first island reclaimed from Japanese occupation, and they were present on Okinawa, the last island reclaimed before the war ended.

A war diary for this unit has never been found and little has been written about this CASU. Based on personal diaries, face-to-face interviews, service records and memories shared by CASU-11 service members with their children Mechanic on the Wing is the story of these heroic men.