Air Crew: Combat Crew, 1943/44 - The Bombardier

"There are ten men in the ship-- but you're the one who gets to press the little button." This Lieutenant has pushed that button about as many times as any U.S. bombardier. He has 40,000 tons of Jap shipping to his credit, including one heavy cruiser.

"There's a terrific kick in your job-and a terrific responsibility. The entire reason for the existence and training of a combat crew is to put you where you push that button with the maximum results."

The bombardier's combat problem is developing concentration. lt must be an inhuman concentration that can ignore a sky ahead rocking with ack-ack and shells streaming in from Zeros in the rear-and see nothing but the target below.

The navigator normally brings the plane within ten miles of the target, at which point the bombardier takes over with the target map, and directs the bomber to the target. Major problems, aside from the ever possible bomber's blight, zero visibility, will be distraction by fighter planes, blasting anti-aircraft fire, and the cones of blinding searchlights that make instrument reading impossible. Another difficulty, especially in night bombing, will be dummy fires and other target decoys. A bombardier must learn to be a suspicious soul.

The bombardier must be familiar with the various types of bombs employed, understanding their fusing, selection, release and jettison. He must know his bombsight to the point where its operation is as automatic as looking at a blonde.

The bombardier should get in the habit of making dry runs at any choice target along the route, in particular rehearsing the use of the AFCE. One point about that gadget is that you and your pilot have to learn how to use it in cooperation. Let the pilot make the major changes first manually. Keep the AFCE adjustments minor. The run must be made in a minimum number of seconds. Long runs in combat, especially over Europe, are a good way of collecting a pair of angel wings. ln combat, bombardiers are more and more using an evasive approach-and scoring bull's eyes with amazingly short runs. It can he done-but hand and eye must function with machine-like precision.

"On a flight, you're going to be a bombardier for a few minutes-maybe only seconds. The rest of the time you man a gun. At this stage of the war it is the most important gun in the plane. When the war started, enemy tactics were to get on the tail of the big bombers-but we stuck in tail guns and the Jap and Nazi started looking for new tactics. They decided the nose was an unprotected spot-so they started coming in nose on nose. Now we've got that neatly covered with plenty of fire-power to squirt any fighter hitting us head on-and the bombardier sits behind this crucial gun.

"But the real job remains of pressing the little button- at the right spot. You can make this war mighty unpopular with anything that is below you. Incidentally, take it from one who has made the social error, there is no way a guy can become unpopular quite as fast as a bombardier who keeps making dry runs over a target popping with ack-ack--not even a copy of 'How to Win Friends and Influence People' seems to help the rest of the crew. Learn to hit that bull's eye the first time.

"One last point. You come here fresh from bombardier school. There, you have been flying a ship you know. Your pilot was a specialist. Here you are climbing in a new ship. Bombing is new to the pilot, too. Don't expect to equal your school scores the first week-and don't blame the pilot. You, plane and pilot have to be welded into a team."