Merced Army Flying School - Yearbook (Merced, CA)

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fs 'Mk . '. 1 HITS OR MISSES? Whether our bombers, hurtling across thousands of miles of ocean waste like this, smash targets or miss obiectives completely, depends largely on the navigator, dubbed The Little Tin Guy. Above, a training ship from one of the Navigation Schools flies a plotted course over the Atlantic. Below, left, a student navigator keeps on course by shooting the sun through the blister in the ship's top. After graduation, young navigators with motto, Get 'em there-Get 'em back! can take bombers anywhere-Tokyo not excluded. muster ,,,. s il ..f- X + Hundreds of two-engined training ships like this whisk students aloft on l,000-mile missions. Ships carry a crew of five, the pilot, navigation instructor, and three students. They call him the Little Tin Guy. His nerves seem all metal, his mind works like a compass, and his iob is to get our bombers there and get 'em back, over land, over water, through weather and rain and hail and fog-through anything! He is better known as the navigator and he is being trained at specialized schools. The Little Tin Guy is being hammered out by the hundreds, and he will be hammered out by the thousands. He was present to smash the Jap fleet at Midway, and he carried the tire to Tokyo with General Doolittle. If he had not been along with his octant, his dividers and compasses, his maps and charts and unpronounceable gadgets, there would have been no victory at Midway, no tires at Tokyo. Below, right, in the back seat, another cadet navigates the same course by pilotage, or by checking points on his map with corresponding points on the ground. The river he sees coiled below is a well-known landmark, l

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Wg ,A '.,' - . ...-.. A . A ts . This Douglas B-I8 bombardier lraining ship wilh ils bomb racks loaded wilh praclice bombs and manned by aviafion caclels en roule lo large? range. He learns how lo loose his bombs eilher in a slring, which is one al a lime, or in a salvo, which is all logelher. Al lhe end of his I2 weeks he is gradualed and gains his coveled wings. From +ha+ lime on he is a finished bombardier. He may be used lo frain olher bombardiers or he may be assigned fo a combal squadron anywhere on lhe face of lhe earlh where lhe 'far-flung armies of fhe nalion are in combal. Like lhe pilol and +he navigalor, lhe bombardier is a highly specialized man. He is lrained lo 'funclion as an inlegral parl of fhe bomber crew, and he knows lhaf he was picked for his lask, iusl as fhe pilol and lhe navigalor, because of special skills which have been furlher developed by lhe course of lraining which he has undergone. dala and release his bombs wnlhin 20 seconds of sughhng his oblechve. ii iff fill ' 'i From bombardier cadefs, eager lo go upslairs 'lor one of lheir regular lraining flighls ai an advanced flying school, check oul lheir flying lack al' Supply Headquarlers. AJ I 5 ,..... . A . l A . .yu Us . gs Q Planning lhe Pay Load. Tools of 'lhe cadef bombardier's imporlanl' lrade are lhese IOO-pound 'lraining bombs, ready lo be loaded info lhe gianl' belly halch of a B-I8 bomber.

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X -- A QQ 1, ,. ' 13- I iv a . f' ,, ' 4L-1'Etie'S2lE.1'1lif1ii'Sls..imsrs T . N i ' A5 5 iff' aryl.. ik f l v ii' gaze. . ,ls r f l - i I an u' V- VL, , . , Q f Y s . -fig. w p.ij:,,1?j : . !. :A ky WITH MAPS NEATLY ROLLED and lnslrumenfs in lheir cases young navigalors march fo fhe flying line and board ships assigned fo fhem Wifhouf lhe navigafor, bombers would be freighf loads of de- sfrucfion rushing af ferrific speed lhrough fracfless space, buf rushing wifhouf purpose, wilhouf deslinafion. The navigafor CAN gel 'em lhere. He CAN gef 'em back. This is why: He doesn'+ iusf happen fo be a good navigafor. He is made a good navigafor. Appoinfed an avialion cadef, he goes lo a classificalion cenler. By rnenfal examinafions and weighled psychological fesls il' is defermined whelher he is by nafure besf qualified fo be a navigafor, bombardier, or pilof. To be classified as navigalor he musf be a sleady-nerved, cool- headed individual capable of making lighfning decisions. He musf have plenfy of gray maffer befween fhe ears for he musl masfer fhe equivalenf of a full college course in a shorf lime. He cannof be merely fhe bookworm-fype infelleclual. He musf have fhe brawn and fhe wind fo move around in a plane af high alfiludes, forsaking his oxygen. He musf be able fo work complicaled problems af diuy heighls where fhe average man cannof add fhree and six. Classified navigalor, he is puf lhrough weeks of elemenfary lrain- if19 and lhef' Senl +0 -1 nevigefion School for 'flw feel filing- Cadefs sie one behind fhe Omer al desks in lhe belly of have several minufes fo figure lheir course while lhe With E68 compufer, called The Navigafor's Wife, because, cadefs say, lf does everyfhinq in an airplane buf cook, a cadef eslimafes lime fhe ship. Here sfudenfs pilof circles fhe field. of arrival lo lhe nexl familiar landmark ..,. Meanwhile anofher cadef, who musf figure entirely by insfrumenls, looks fhrough driftmefer fo see if wind is knocking lhe ship off course. , . . To be friple sure of the airplane's localionl fhe pilof pufs fhe ship on aufomafic pilof and lefs if fly ifself while he sfudenl gefs off course, he will nol correcl him, buf will keep his own bearings and fell sludenl his misfake lafer. . . . OXYGEN MASKS sludies his map. li are worn by all crew members above alfifudes of I0,000 feef. The Navigafor musf be in lop physical condifion, for in combaf missions he musf forsake oxygen and move around fhe ship lo use his ocfanl. In acfual combaf he mans a machine gun. 'fllijf' wg! 5