Originally Posted by
WHBM
Family question.
Mr WHBM Senior was a Nav on Halifaxes (Topcliffe, 1942-3), and later on Dakotas in Burma (1943-5). Seemingly sat behind the pilot in both, not much of a view out. So just what did the Nav do on night bombing. Celestial navigation, sure, but it was commonly preferable to be inside cloud. Visual navigation ? Then why not position at the front. Radio navigation of some sort ? Dead reckoning ?
I got the impression that in Burma, necessarily daytime, it was mostly visual and dead reckoning, but difficult from that position surely.
How many of the bomber crew were officers ? He certainly said their pilot was a flight sergeant.
On the Halifax, the navigator was in the nose below the pilot. I assume he was to the rear of the pilot on the Dakota.
The navigator role changed throughout the war with the advent of radio navigation aids such as Gee and H2S. Celestial navigation giving way to those developments, although it was used as a back up.
Dead reckoning was all they could do in the early years of the war.
The Nav would call the time to set course, call the turns, check wind etc. His tasks were varied. On him the lives of the crew depended. Not noticing a change in wind, not turning onto a new course at the correct time could be disastrous.
The majority of aircrew were NCOs, I believe around 70%, but I stand to be corrected on that. Although promotion was rapid, some individuals going from sergeant to Squadron Leader in a year.
The RCAF towards the end of the war insisted all its aircrew were commissioned.