I’ve read that at some point in the war, a Lancaster crewmember–typically the flight engineer–was appointed to be an “assistant pilot” and trained to at least be able to fly the airplane home to a point where a crew bailout could take place even if the flight engineer wasn’t capable of landing the airplane.
Question: I know there was a fold-down jumpseat to the right of the pilot’s position, but did the second pilot sit there and use a throw-over yoke–and no rudder pedals–or was the wounded or dead pilot dragged out of their seat so the second pilot could occupy it?
(I once flew a Bonanza from HPN to RDG with the rudder-lock in place–don’t ask–and landed in a moderate crosswind, so I know that rudder pedals are nice to have but not “required.”)
By: Creaking Door - 7th September 2017 at 11:42
I think the ‘flight-engineer’ in most Lancaster crews should really be thought of as ‘assistant-pilot / flight-engineer’…
…but ironically the flight-engineer would be the least likely to have had any pilot training as I think I’m right in saying that most flight-engineers were British (rather than Canadian / Australian etc) or at least were trained in Britain as there was less need for ‘flying’ training (much of which was done in Canada for other aircrew for example).
I’m not really sure how the initial crew selection process worked in the RAF but weren’t navigators and bomb-aimers mainly trainee pilots who had been ‘washed-out’ of pilot training? As such, depending at what point during that training they’d been ‘washed-out’ there would possibly have been more ‘redundant’ piloting skill on board the average Lancaster than may have been imagined!
There were instances of navigators or bomb-aimers flying bombers back to Britain after the pilot had been killed or otherwise incapacitated (or had baled-out!) including landing (damaged) bombers on darkened wartime airfields…
…the reward in one case was ‘remustering’ the crew-member concerned for pilot-training!
By: ozjag - 7th September 2017 at 10:14
Hi Smirky,
I may be able to answer part of your question. On Aussie long nose Lincolns the second set of rudder pedals were commonly used however it was still necessary for the crew to reach the front of the aircraft, they could either climb up a ladder at the nose to enter via a hatch or from the main crew compartment. The second set of rudder pedals was not permanently fixed but could be easily removed for access by pulling on a handle in front of the flight engineer. As an aside it was not uncommon for the pilot to fly the aircraft ‘solo’ for things like airtests but they did need a second person (who might only be groundcrew) because the pilot couldn’t reach all of the necessary controls when strapped in.
Paul
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By: QldSpitty - 7th September 2017 at 08:21
Off memory the radio operator and bomb aimer were given basic flight training as well.
By: smirky - 6th September 2017 at 12:23
Yes, the second control wheel thingy was not normally fitted.
I see from a picture that PA474 has a second set of rudder pedals as well – that must make access to the forward compartment difficult?
By: Creaking Door - 5th September 2017 at 23:47
The incapacitated pilot would have to be removed from his seat.
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September 5, 2017 at 10:56 pm