A Citizen Soldier in the Air - a B-24 Liberator pilot's story.

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A Citizen Soldier in the Air.

Flight School for the Crew

Many of Charlie’s early missions were long-range patrols, searching for enemy ships, with bombs on board to attack any that were found, which didn’t happen that often. So these flights were often long and uneventful, six or eight hours of flying over the water. It was at this point that Charlie decided to break a regulation in the cause of crew safety.

The crew of B-24 Cookie

Charlie (back left) and crew (unknown why they were not posed here with Cookie). - Click for a bigger image

He started teaching his crew members to pilot the B-24! He would sit in the co-pilot seat and have the crew member sit in his seat and practice level flight, turns, climbs, and descents, and he would go over procedures for landing and emergencies. "I figured that if my co-pilot and I were killed or injured, but the plane was still flyable, why not give the crew a chance to make it home alive?" He doesn’t recall discussing this very much with other pilots or with his C.O., so he doesn’t know how many other pilots did this. But his crew seemed to like the idea, and some of them really enjoyed taking the controls.

This little flight school on patrol would soon prove to be a smart idea!

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