[Milsurplus] North Atlantic Ferry

[Hue Miller]

AVIATION magazine for May 1941, recounts a test ferry  flight of Lockheed 
Hudsons from Newfoundland to England. Pretty interesting. Some tidbits:

“Pilots received $1000 per month, co-pilots or first officers, $800 per month.
The crew was completed by a radio operator who was paid $600 per month.....
Radio equipment was Bendix, one transmitter and two receivers, with loop
direction finder. Celestial navigation equipment was provided for the lead
plane of the squadron only. Actual navigation was done chiefly by dead 
reckoning. ......Pan-American Airways allows an error of 30 mi. in 1000 mi.
when flying by dead reckoning....
“My radio operator soon got a bearing but it didn’t fit my idea of our location
and I asked for a confirmation. But when my operator tried to reach the
station they refused to answer. After circling the island for 45 minutes with
fuel running dangerously low, I authorized sending of a ‘priority’ message,
which demands immediate attention. This got us a proper bearing in short
order and we flew on to our destination without further delay. However,
I heard a great deal about the priority message later as it stirred up quite
a protest in British radio circles”.

via: Hue Miller