Air Crew: 25 Missions. The Story of the Memphis Belle - Navigator.

CAPTAIN CHARLES B. LEIGHTON
Navigator

Quiet, likeable Captain Leighton has never been lost in European skies, tough as long-range navigation is in aerial combat. He calls it luck. His fellows on the Memphis Belle credit it to skill and alertness. Declared Sergeant Hanson, "He has never made a mistake." He is 24 years old, comes from East Lansing, Mich., was a chemistry student at Ohio Wesleyan before entering the Army January 20, 1942.

HIS STORY

WE usually have three hours between the briefing and the take-off. During that time the navigator is busy as hell. He must make sure that he fully understands weather conditions, including any anticipated changes. He must check on any flak areas on or anywhere near the route so that he can avoid them. He must be thoroughly familiar with the formation that is going on the mission.

After briefing, he consults with the pilot. In fact, it is a very good idea to go over the route with the pilot and the whole crew before take-off. Otherwise, some of them won't be able to keep up with where they are, and that is a great handicap.

It is especially important for the navigator to talk to the radio operator and to make sure that all the radio equipment is ready.

I think the navigator should brief the pilot on how to get back in the event something happens to the navigator. I have tried drawing the route on a small map for the pilot. I think it's a good idea, but every precaution should be taken not to let a map get out and it must be destroyed if the ship goes down.

I SHOULD have had more gunnery training. The first moving target I fired at was a Focke-Wulf.

I could have used more practice in navigation. It would be good training to take a navigation student up, let him play checkers or something for a few minutes, and then have him try to figure out where he is. Without practice of that kind, you might have a hard time finding yourself after a fight.

There are two conditions that might cause a navigator trouble:

First, poor weather when he can't see the ground. Second, a fight that takes him out to sea, causing him to lose all his landmarks.

This leads me to this important advice: Train yourself to write down your compass heading and to continue your navigation work even through a stiff fight.

I like being a navigator. Of course, I would like to get up and walk around a little sometimes, but I can't. I have to work like the devil all the time. But there is nothing like the satisfaction a navigator gets when he hits his ETA (estimated time of arrival) right on the head.

When you are the lead navigator, the whole formation depends upon you. The responsibility is frightening sometimes. It really keeps you on the ball. Actually, though, you should be just as alert if you are the navigator of any of the other ships in the formation. You might lose your lead ship or you might get separated from the formation.

There are some things to watch for. The Germans will sometimes send out beams exactly like ours to throw you off. Once some of our ships were fooled by these false beams, and the Germans brought them over Brest, which looks like the English coast. Then German fighters dropped on them and got three of our planes.

Another German trick is to stay just out of range and play around, trying to get us to use up our ammunition.

You get scared sometimes, but usually any feeling of fright or tenseness leaves you when you start mixing it up. The worst scare I ever had, I think, was in our second mission over St. Nazaire. We were at 10,000 feet. Looking out the window all the way down the run I could see the bursts following us, one after another. It was only a minute or so, but it seemed like 15 years. When we heard "bombs away," we ducked. It wasn't a second too soon.

From experiences like that, I have learned that it is important to keep your eyes off the flak. It helps a lot.

I also got scared the time I ran out of ammunition. We were away down past Paris. It doesn't bother me if I can shoot back. But looking down those barrels and not having anything to shoot is no fun.