Bomber Pilots Never Look Down

Bomber Pilots Never Look Down

I was surprised to learn that bomber pilots never looked down. We flew all our
missions out of Florennes Belgium by doing our join-ups over Liege. We would
take off, get on a climbing heading for Liege, then do a wide, slow 360 while
the group joined up, each plane getting into the slot behind the plane it was
forming on. Then East into Germany. As a bombardier navigator, it wasn't long
before everything on the ground was etched in my memory. Every town, city,
river, rail line, lake was as familiar to me as the back of my hand. But not so
to many others. The war had ended and we now flew 4-hour missions to maintain
proficiency and earn our flight pay. On one of these missions Paul, our pilot
said, "Art, we are just going to do some stalls and engine outs so why don't
you go back into the nav compartment and take a snooze".

I did just that. After a while the intercom came alive and Paul said, "Ok Art,
all done. Take us home". I grabbed my sectionals, my E6-B and my Wheems plotter
and started forward for the nose. As I got between Bob and Paul I looked out
the windshield and there was Liege big as life. What the hell! Were these guys
pulling my leg? There is no way they couldn't recognize Liege, our join up
point for every mission we flew out of Florennes. I didn't get into the nose I
just pointed about 20 degrees left and said that way. You'll see the runway of
about 12 minutes". Paul said, "C'mon Art, stop screwing around. Get in the nose
and take us home". "That way Paul" I said. "Trust me" Paul shook his head in
disbelief but did as I directed and sure enough there was the runway in the ETA
I gave him. When we landed he said, "How the hell did you do that? How did you
know where we were so fast?" I said, "Are you guys kidding me? That was Liege
we were over. Don't tell me you can't recognize Liege when you see it?

Both Paul and Bob looked embarrassed. Further conversations revealed the truth.
Bomber pilots have their eyes glued to the plane they are forming on. Their
total attention is to the formation. They never looked down. The landmarks
which every bombagator knows by heart, is a mystery to most bomber pilots who
only see the plane they are formed on.

But this incident was good for lots of laughs on flights to come. When we
would cross the Rhine I would say, "hey guys that's the Rhine. And see those
two big church steeples?, that's Cologne. Remember all that stuff and maybe you
won't always have to wake me up to take you home".




Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer