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Navigator

The navigator shared the nose of the aircraft with the bombardier and was responsible for keeping track of where the plane was and what heading the pilot needed to reach the next point on the mission. Navigators used many methods to navigate. One of the most common was actually navigating by the sun and stars. During combat, navigators used a combination of visual landmarks, radio triangulation, and dead reckoning (the idea that flying at a certain speed, with a certain wind, on a certain heading, mathematically a plane should be in a certain spot). The navigator was also responsible for protecting the aircraft, and would frequently man guns on either side of the nose.

 479th Fighter Group
 Military Specialty


VOLUNTEERING

Are you an AAC, AAF or USAF Veteran, family member, historian or WW2 enthusiast? We Need YOU! Contact us today to see how you can help the Army Air Corps Library and Museum, a Texas Not-For-Profit Corporation. We need your help! We are looking for volunteers that can help us with the following tasks. Typing and Transcriptionists: One of our big projects is extracting data from the thousands of documents we have and putting this data into a database where we can display the information on a website such as this one. We also need assistance with retyping unit history documents.

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