Does anyone know a good web site that shows preferably with illustrations what each crew member did and where they sat on the more common bombers? Or do I have to make an airfix kit? lane:
The most common bombers? The best thing would be the cutaways: Hampden (with crew of 4) Lancaster A.V.R.O. Lancaster W4960 Stirling Wellington
One thing to be aware of with contemporary cutaways such as the one of the Hampden, is that they tend to show the crew figures with a massive amount of space around them. In reality they were a lot more cramped than that! Kyt hasn't shown you a Halifax cutaway, but in that aircraft the radio operator sat directly underneath the pilot. The flight engineer sat alongside the pilot in early versions, and back to back with him on later models. And (at least in the later versions with the streamlined nose), the bomb-aimer and navigator sat together in the nose, like in a B17.
They could all be sergeants, Clive, or they could be a mix of sergeants, warrant officers, pilot officers, flying officers, flight lieutenants ... and of course squadron leaders, wing commanders or even the occasional group captain (but, naturally, the latter was a rare occurrence and not 'usually' flying with a regular crew). It was common for the pilot to be a sergeant but the navigator, for example, to be an officer. In the air, the pilot was boss. I think the RAF recently discontinued the rank of sergeant with relation to aircrew.
Avro Lancaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia As for ranks, Andy has set it out but you would find that the crews made up of higher ranks were most likely the most experienced, and in, for example, Pathfinder squadrons, the proportion of officers was much higher because many of the crews had already done at least one previous tour of duty. And this 360 panorama of the Lancs cockpit gives soome indication of the restricted space (you will need to download Quicktime if your computer doesn't already have it) Avro Lancaster 360 Virtual Tour
IN my experience of ranks of the crew in the aircraft from squadron records that I have obtained.I generally found that the ranks of the crew with the exception of the pilot usually tended to be about the same rank .Of course there are exceptions to every rule.Ie all junior officers or all sgts etc with exception being the pilot ( often) .Looking forward to any body else s findings on this. Cheers Tony
Usually unless a crew member was a replacement, or one or more of the crew was on a second tour, they would have got together at the OTU stage - hence why many were of same or similar ranks (with the possibility of one or two rank differences). But as you say, there were exceptions. E.g. a relatively junior crew lead by a Wing Commander Wellington DV818 of 103 Squadron (lost 22/23 June 1942) W/C OGodfrey DFC Sgt V J Gallogly RAAF P/O A C R Downward F/Sgt H G Edwards Sgt J W Porteous Sgt F E Barnett
Hi yes a good example of what i was saying . PS what is the anpc looks like it beneath your KyT user name ??
Come on then Clive, give us some details of what you are looking for. Forgive me if l have missed something as l have been away for a spell. Is it you, me and Michael Fish? Old Woking boys will understand. Regards, Nick
The RAF hasn't had NCO pilots since the 60s (and not in front-line units since shortly after the war). Now, Navigators are always officers (in Tornadoes they are known as Weapons Systems Operators). But some Air Loadmasters are NCOs, and so are some electronic systems operators in Nimrods and Sentrys. But in the Army Air Corps, a Sergeant can still be a pilot. The Lynx displaying with the Blue Eagles at Biggin Hill last Sunday was flown by a Sergeant (or he may have been a Warrant Officer), with a female Captain in the Observer's seat.
