June 3, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Who communicated with Ground Control for landing instructions, the wireless operator or the pilot?
By: Moggy C - 3rd June 2013 at 13:07
Don’t forget the differentiation between WT and RT
The Wireless Op would normally be sending and reading message in morse. Hardly ideal when looking for a landing clearance.
The Pilot would use voice with the tower.
Moggy
By: jamesinnewcastl - 3rd June 2013 at 12:51
Hi
I’m also researching what the landing procedure was. I was told by Jim Coman (W/O on Stirlings and many others) that it was the Pilot. That may seem odd given that the W/O was just there to communicate, but I guess that it was the Pilot doing the Flying and really you wouldn’t want instructions at the critical points being relayed nor could the W/O actually see much out of the window (on the Stirling at least) so he would at most have been little more than a parrot. I believe that the Pilot had his own radio with pre-tuned channels, this only had a relatively short range. I’m not at home so can’t give more details.
I do have a very interesting document regarding the operation of a WWII Airfield which you (and anyone) can have a copy of. It includes much of the nitty gritty such as W/T conversation instructions , ground crews on duty, types of ground vehicles required, etc
Always interested in anything like this!
James