Scorp 63. Your memory is the same as mine. There was a long oxygen pipe used for getting around. Of course for non-bombing missions there was no need to be in the bomb aimers position at high level and I only ever did low level ones. I was lucky(?) to be small enough to stand next to the pilot for low level navigation (and I could see exactly what speed/heading he was actually flying). However we used (on 7 Sqn) to practise low level aborts (which the Nav Leader used to call whenever he got lost so he could get a fix!) which meant going to the spare back seat, doing up dinghy and lap straps as a min in prep for banging out. I am not sure we would have survived with that but what was the alternative?
On rangers, the rear cabin would eventually ice up and your carefully prepared chart (ready for marking by the Nav Leader) would get "rained" upon in the descent, ruining it. BTW, cabin pressurisation was standard fifties design. Half the altitude plus 2000 i.e. at 45K, 24,500. The max limit for decompression sickness was 25K (but it can start to set in after 18K)and after long flights, aching shoulders and elbows were common.
There were several incidents of the rear hatch being (inadvertantly) blown off. This led to the guarding of the firing switch which was inexplicably next to the arming switch (so much for design). I also seem to remember experiments with what was known as the "frangible" hatch but never flew with one.
BS
Last edited by BSweeper; 20th Feb 2012 at 12:08.