Marx 50mm USAF Figures - Cave Finds

This year has been about discovery - re-discovering treasures out in The Cave that is - and bringing them to the light of day here on the blog. Just yesterday I found a bunch of Marx 50mm USAF figures and accessories. In August I posted the complete set of 50mm USAF figures and at the time thought I had gathered them all in one place, until...

...I came across a box full of figures and accessories!

Ed

This inventory shot taken back in June shows all the USAF figures I thought I had

Here's what I ended up with after The Cave find!

From 27 pieces to 104!

The top row in the photo below shows original figures in various shades of metallic blue that Marx made.

The second and third rows reflect colors I wasn't aware of. Are they original Marx? Repops?

Marx 50mm USAF Figures - Metallic Blue SP - Pt 12 (Final) Pose 11

Last, but not least, we have the Maintainer. The wrench turner without whom those fancy metal birds wouldn't get off the ground. These are the guys who do basic maintenance and repairs. Flying squadrons have a core group of maintainers assigned to them each with its own separate AFSC (each  particular job has an AFSC - Air Force Specialty Code - assigned to it and throughout this series we've already seen how other specialties come into play). There are AFSC's for hydraulics/pneudraulics, avionics, radar, egress, electronics, munitions, etc., etc., etc. 

My understanding of how things worked back when Marx released these figures, was that when something broke, a lot of troubleshooting and maintenance was done right in the hangars of the flying squadron. Later, as the planes became more and more complicated, the flying squadron personnel could only troubleshoot to see which little black box (actually a lot of them are gray) was acting up, then remove it and replace it. The box would then be sent to another squadron for repairs. If it still couldn't be repaired it was sent to the depot for maintenance. But there were other things that needed looking after as well, like the landing gear, control surfaces, the engines, the cockpit and instrumentation, structural issues and so on. You can imagine that an air base is no place for shade tree mechanics!

Ed

Marx 50mm USAF Figures - Metallic Blue SP - Pt 11 Pose 10

While a number of munitions were light enough for one person to handle, don't let that light weight fool you - you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of one of these! Like yesterday's post, this guy would have probably been part of the Munitions Squadron.

Ed

Marx 50mm USAF Figures - Metallic Blue SP - Pt 9 Pose 8

This guy is a POL (Petroleum-Oil-Lubricants) troop and likely assigned to the Marx AFB Supply Squadron. Marx's version is a bit simplified, but that heavy hose with its down-turned nozzle is clue to its purpose.

Ed

Here's my friend Bruno on the George AFB flightline in 1980  getting ready to re-fuel an F-4 Wild Weasel. 

Bruno was assigned to the Supply Squadron's POL branch ('branch' is the old term, now they're called 'flights')

Marx 50mm USAF Figures - Metallic Blue SP - Pt 7 Pose 7

Okay, I may need a bit of help with this guy. First, he is definitely a maintainer but he is not a POL guy holding a fuel hose (that guy will be covered next). Is he holding an air wrench? hydraulic grease gun? (At first I thought it was a grounding strap but then there's that large round-ish contraption on the end of the hose, so yeah, I don't think so).

Ed