midnight
Only a war pilot can visualize the confusion and excitement incident to moving a squadron base up to the front . There is work enough for all even when such a move is foreseen and planned for days in advance , but when a moving order comes down in the dead of night -- as is so frequently the case -- then rank is forgotten . Pilots , Commanders , Supply and Operations officers , air mechanics , flight leaders , in fact everyone , from the C.O. down to the lowliest greaseball , pitches in with a gusto sufficient to produce a miracle . For it is little short of the miraculous to carry out an order , received at midnight , calling for a movement at dawn . In fact , one inexperienced in army ways would declare that it could n't be done . But Great Headquarters considers only what must be done , issues orders accordingly , and such is the magic of discipline and proper spirit that lo ! the thing _ is _ done .