[ARC5] Video discussing the loss of the Lady Be Good

[Mike Hanz]

On 12/31/2014 9:14 AM, D C _Mac_ Macdonald wrote:
> I strongly suspect that LOTS of folks were rushed into combat with extremely limited training, especially in the earlier parts of WW II.

Perusing nav logs and experiences during the war, I would venture, "It 
all depends..."  The navigator courses provided all the techniques 
required to do the job at the time of the course.  From there on, as it 
frequently did, the training effort appears to have been a bit spotty 
and depended on where you were.  The good navigators I've talked with 
all had one goal - to practice constantly until they were the best they 
could be.  It was a matter of pride for them to keep up with all the 
latest equipment and techniques.  On the other hand, since the 
navigator's position was almost universally an officer's job early in 
the war, there also seems to have been a hint of entitlement in the 
ranks, an assumption of professionalism because of the grade, so there 
was rarely a big push to force the navs to refresh their skills on a 
daily basis, especially with groups that were involved in large bombing 
raids. Single aircraft missions (like the Navy patrol aircraft in the 
Pacific) who were stuck without companions were a whole different story 
- the logs for specific missions had frequent, multiple media fixes that 
gave the navigator a workout on a 30 minute basis.  In the final 
analysis, it was (and *still* is) all about continuing education.

> My own USAF Navigator School training (1961-1962) did NOT heavily cover the use of ADF for navigation.  AFAIK, the ADF radios and indicators were only at the pilot position.

That would make sense for the early 1960s, with more reliable equipment 
available.  In WWII, there was a determined push to provide redundant 
capability in more than one crew position.  For the SCR-269 ADF in the 
B-24 (and in most of the other multi-place bombers), there was a 
separate (smaller) I-81-A compass indicator on the pilot's panel and the 
larger I-82-A at either the radio operator's or navigator's position.  
See Section 6 of http://www.angelfire.com/wv/liberator2/roif/roif.html

73,
Mike  KC4TOS