CREW COMPLEMENT

The basic crew complement of our RAF crews consisted of:

Pilot
Bombardier (also acted as 2nd pilot)
Navigator
Wireless Operator/Air Gunner {Radio, Waist Guns and Camera If required)
Air Gunner (dorsal turret)
Air Gunner (rear turret)

The exception to this was W/0 Moss who actually had a Co-pilot and a Navigator/Bombardier. This was also how the four SAAF crews were assimilated.

Operationally the distribution of duties worked well, although the bombardier's 2nd pilot duties and responsibilities differed from crew to crew, depending on the individual pilots wishes and the flying talents of the bombardiers themselves. Those talents again depended on the individual training received both pre-Marauder and on the aircraft itself.
All bombardier's had received basic pilot training when going through the Grading School program. Where they received the normal basic instruction on the Tiger Moth to assess their pilot potential. A few had also received pilot training to FTS standard before becoming bombardiers.

At Squadron level this was added to the pilot's discretion with some being given much greater opportunities than others. Some were therefore capable of take-offs and landings, formation keeping and the whole range of flight techniques. While others were restricted to little more than executing basic manoeuvres of straight and level, climb and descent.

Most of the navigators (many of whom had also been through the Grading Schools) also practiced at least the basic maneuvers, as befitted their target area role in the cockpit right-hand seat.

Thus, in an emergency where the pilot was incapacitated, the bombardier and navigator combination was capable (we thought) of flying the aircraft to base, or to a more friendly area, and possibly getting it back on the ground in, more or less, one piece.

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