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41surface and, to reduce the amount of power needed to get a fully ladenstationary aircraft moving, the aircraft were routinely %u2018tugged%u2019 a few feetout of their holes before engine start. It was clear that tarmac surfaceswould require attention to maintain the intensity of operations for anextended period but they withstood the wear and tear during thehostilities.Fuel. The one bulk fuel farm is sited near Georgetown some 5 milesfrom the airfield. Aviation fuel was supplied by US Sealift Commandtankers discharging their cargo through a floating pipeline to the fuelfarm. Initially the fuel was then transported by road to %u2018ready use%u2019 tankson the airfield. The critical link in the supply train was the speed atwhich fuel bowsers could be filled and driven from Georgetown toWideawake. Although twelve RAF bowsers were imported tosupplement the Pan Am fleet, the bulk fuel farm could dispense fuel toonly one bowser at a time and the system was under continual pressureto meet the demand for fuel at the airhead. One unforeseen problem wasthe very high rate of bowser tyre wear caused by the extremely abrasivesurface of the linking road; 3000 miles was a useful life. In late April thefuel supply to the airhead improved when, in a matter of days, the RoyalEngineers assembled and commissioned a temporary pipeline from thebulk fuel farm to the %u2018ready use%u2019 tanks at Wideawake where fabric pillowtanks were installed to increase the capacity to 1,000,000 US gallons.Although the pipeline required continuous maintenance and the repeatedfilling of the pillow tanks accelerated wear and caused leakages, itsignificantly improved fuel availability at the airfield and reduced thetime taken to prepare an aircraft for its next mission. At the end ofhostilities, air operations from Ascension had consumed 5%u00bd million USgallons of aviation fuel.Detachment Support. Permanent buildings were few, the main onesbeing the %u2018nose%u2019 hangar and the Pan Am ground equipment building.There was no alternative but to accommodate all detachment supportunder canvas or in inflatable buildings, the latter providing a %u2018clean%u2019, orat least a %u2018cleaner%u2019, environment for the storage and servicing of sensitiveequipment. Sunlight, wind and abrasive volcanic dust soon took their tollwhile exposure to UV radiation degraded material and equipmentserviceability.Pan Am Requirements. With the hectic pace of events it was easy to