Blue Sky Warriors!

[ShotOne]

Just come across the above book about RAF service in Afganistan; cracking read. Good pics too, including one of a C17 flt deck. Putting aside the caption "flying west to the dawn"(!?) the copilot (but not the Capt) is wearing a helmet. Why might he be so attired?

[Dash8driver1312]

You might have misread, it's not west to THE dawn, it's flying west to Dawn, but you need to know the names of lusty ladies to get the veiled coded reference ;-)

[devonianflyer]

Helmet mounted NVG's is the most likely candidate, and for what it's worth the Captain in the C-17 could elect to sit in either sit without restriction.

[ShotOne]

Without wanting to send my own thread up the garden path, why would Capt and copilot swap seats? I can see a number of minor drawbacks but no benefits. Would there ever be a situation with one pilot on NVG and the other not?

Not to divert from this excellent book; perhaps the only book I've read about the RAF which has placed the daily detail of its conduct of air warfare in the context of the overall campaign illustrated by first-person accounts from SAC to Air Cdre