A good bollocking?

[Boac]

I see the first female RAF Squadron Commander is in place (a navigator), taking over 12 Sqn (Tornado). Would you get a good dressing down and a good bollocking from her?

Well done, M'aam. It would certainly make Mess Rugby more interesting.................

[Ex-Ascot]

We had one of the first Navigator bosses on 10 Sqn, that was novel enough. He was a great boss.

Congrats Wg Cdr Thomas

Weapons System Operator Boac

[Boac]

You mean she doesn't know where she is? Don't tell me the pilot is allowed a map..............! I recall the huge 'fuss' when the Hunter guys started training on the Phantom with Navigators and insisted on knowing where they were for themselves. much to the disgust of the Union of Navigators.

PS Ex-A - old habits....................

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

You don't want to rub SODCAT* up the wrong way. Invites to the Navs Union dinner can become very difficult.

Went on my first 2 seat nav solo on the OCU. Nav took us straight over a red dot within 2 minutes. After that I did the nav. That's AD navs for you. Actually the F3 radar in the early days took all their skills to wring something useful out of, so the pilots normally did the nav anyway.

*Society of Directional Consultants and Allied Trades, aka Navs' Union.

[ExSp33db1rd]

An instructor Nav. once told me that I'd never make a navigator as long as I had a hole in my asre until I'd been circling Berlin with the shells coming through the cockpit as I tried to assess the wind velocity from three readings 120 deg apart, held for 2 minutes each, through the drift sight.

I never had to. ( fortunately )

Thinks ? Wouldn't the wind plotted whilst outbound to the target be nearer enough to calculate the track home ? Or have I missed something for all these years ?

[Fox3WheresMyBanana]

Flight time around 7 1/2 hours to Berlin & back.
Germans probably not very forthcoming with weather updates
Flying at night with normal European cloud cover, and the entire continent blacked out.
Never tried using a bubble sextant, but a normal sextant on a small boat is quite difficult enough.
So, no I don't think the outbound estimates would be good enough. Helpful, but not good enough.

[ExSp33db1rd]

Valid points,but ... the last fix before reaching the target would not have been 7 hours ago, so might well be relevant with regard to a useable wind for the first reciprocal track, after which subsequent fixes / airplot would update info. and ... appreciation of the synoptic situation over Europe before departure would give a clue as to how the wind might be veering, or backing, and ... If in doubt, lash out, i.e. fcuk off in fine pitch heading slightly left of North might have been a good idea, instead of remaining over the target for precision navigation ?

What's that Military Axiom ... It's not a good idea to bale out over the territory that one has just bombed... ?

Still, what do we know, weren't there, thank goodness.