Air Crew: Combat Crew, 1943/44 - The Radio Operator

"I think any radio man who has heard lead buzzing by his ear will back me up on this one." The tech sergeant talking was pounding a key over the North Pacific a month ago.

"A day will come in combat when the job of getting home is up to the radio operator. Maybe you'll be heading into a British airport in radio silence--and have to flash a blinker signal or else the guns below will start popping ack-ack. Maybe you'll be floating in the South Pacific on a life raft-and your ability to handle the emergency equipment will decide how long you'll play tag with the sharks.

"Maybe you'll get in a jam like me. We were on the run home-and the fog rolled up like it was made of jello-frozen jello. The only hope we had was the radio compass and it turns out the navigator had never been introduced to the gadget. These were the early days of the war. Officially, I knew nothing about it-but one night when I was too busted to get in the poker game, I got out the tech orders on the compass and ran over them-just to kill a couple of hours.

"I didn't know much-but what I knew got us back-through a fog so thick that we were not sure we had hit the home field till we started bouncing. The navigator knew his compass the next trip. People learn quick in combat-if they live.

"The idea is to learn before you get in combat. Most of you, here from radio school, will make the discovery that there is a lot of difference between code speed on the ground-and in the air. I hate to see a man go into combat who can't handle 20 words a minute under the worst possible conditions. That is more than regulations require-but the extra speed builds up confidence. Know your equipment-and how to keep it in shape. Brush up on the blinker codes-communication signals, you are going to use in action.

"Summing up, speed up your code taking, understand the basic principles of radio, he able to use the radio compass and other navigational aids, play with your frequency modifier until its operation becomes second nature-and master your gun. You won't be the weak link in the crew."