"gatt" wrote in message
...


The biggest issue, which might be a topic for discussion here, is that the
pilot's career was destroyed because the crash was blamed on him despite
the
extreme, uncontrollable conditions reported by the other crewmembers.

The pilots had no need to be flying on the extreme edge of the airway. There
is no indication in the record that they attempted any sort of course
correction. They misinterpreted where they were, got lost in bad weather,
and hit a mountain.

The old radio ranges were like VORs, only they had only four 'radials.'
Pilots listened for the Morse code letters A and N to determine whether they
were to the right or left of the range. If you were at the edge of the
airway you were likely to lose the signal altogether. You then had no more
idea where you were than a modern pilot has when his CDI is deflected full
scale.

They 'thought' they heard an A, but in fact they already knew that their
radios were marginal and they later lost all their radios to static buildup.
So now they are left wandering about in the mountains in IMC at low level in
extreme turbulence with no communications and having not a clue where they
were. If that isn't the pilots' fault, whose was it?

People get lost in this area all the time. In fact, I have been lost there.
Navigation radio coverage is poor, even today. Low altitude makes the
problem much worse. Most of the time if you get lost you also manage to find
your way out. These pilots were not so lucky, but you cannot fly into a
place where you know the conditions are bad and then blame your problems on
the conditions. Did the B-17 really need to be that low? Did it have to take
that route, or was the crew trying to cut the corner of the airway in order
to get home faster?