Crewing-up.
Jeff and Pete,
This extract from my #2592 p.130 may be of interest. It details what I was told was the crewing-up procedure in Bomber Command OTUs during the war (harrym and Ormeside may wish to comment), and my own experience in other circumstances:
"The next stage was to get myself a crewman. Actually, it wasn't quite like that. I was told that at home, the drill was (on bomber crews) that the new nav was supposed to wait, like a wallflower at a dance, until a twin-wing prince came over and popped the question. If the deal was done, the pair then went round selecting the rest of their crew".
"But that presupposed similar levels of experience all round. In our case, the ex-Blenheim navs and wop/ags were all battle-hardened veterans from shipping strikes over the Channel and the like, and the squadron had taken a fair hammering. They were not going to be picked over by this intake of sprogs fresh out of training !"
"So it was that Sgt Keith Stewart-Mobsby (Wop/Ag - and hereinafter "Stew") came over and said "You're my Pilot - any objection ?" It seemed that the deciding factor had been that he wanted a British pilot this time - being fed up with the Wild Colonial Boys he'd had before. As I was the only new one in town, it had been Hobson's choice for him. It worked out fine, and we stayed together, off and on, till the end".
Danny.