The Cause and the Consequences
So we're all asking: How in the world could we get a navigator who doesn't know how to navigate on a search mission?
Come to find out, the navigator who was supposed to fly had dengue fever and was in the hospital, and this was the only navigator they had. So they put him on.
But the standard procedure was, any crew member who came from the States, before he could fly a combat mission, had to get checked out:
If he's a pilot, he has to fly the aircraft, land, take off, make bomb runs, and so forth. If he's a navigator, he has go go on a navigation mission to review and apply all the things that he learned in school. If you're a bombardier, you go out and practice dropping bombs, and if you're a gunner, you go out and shoot bullets at targets that are towed, so that you won't forget how to shoot.
In our case, that hadn't happened. But it now became top priority that if a crew member doesn't fly until he's been checked out by the combat unit.
Looking Back
If you were that navigator, I'd love to hear your memories of that flight. . . .
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