Aircrew trades

Early years...

Pilot  - The pilot flew the aircraft and in the Royal Air Force was usually the captain (function not rank) of the crew, making the key operational decisions even if his rank was junior to other members of the crew. The pilot was often a commissioned officer but he could hold any rank from Sergeant up to Group Captain. Officers of higher rank did occasionally fly operationally but were discouraged from doing so due to concerns of them being taken prisoner. Captains were often informally referred to by their crews as Skipper or Skip. A pilot wore the traditional double-winged brevet "pilot's wings" on his tunic above his left breast pocket.

Second Pilot – A fully qualified, usually less experienced pilot who assisted the captain, who might assist the Observer and was usually a sergeant or commissioned officer. A second pilot wore the traditional double-winged brevet pilot's wings on his tunic above his left breast pocket.

Observer – The role was to navigate the bomber to the target using astral navigation, map reading, and wireless position fixes and then to release the payload onto the target. The observer was often a commissioned officer but could hold any rank from Aircraftman 2nd Class (until 27 May 1940) up to Group Captain. An observer wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letter "O" on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization. If the aircraft was operated by a Polish or French manned squadron the observer was often the senior ranking crew member aboard and was captain (function not rank) of the crew.

Wireless Operator/Air Gunner – The role was to send and receive wireless signals during the flight, assisting the Observer with triangulation "fixes" to aid navigation when necessary and if attacked to use the defensive machine gun armament of the bomber to fight off enemy aircraft. In the early stages of the war usually an enlisted man, he could hold any rank from Aircraftman 2nd Class (until 27 May 1940)upwards but most often a sergeant. A Wireless Operator/Air Gunner wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letters WAG on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization and a cloth arm patch featuring lightning bolts.

Air Gunner – The role was to defend the bomber using the aircraft's machine guns. In the early stages of the war usually an enlisted man, he could hold any rank from Aircraftman 2nd Class (until June 1940) upwards but most often a sergeant although some air gunners were commissioned officers of which a small number were considerably older than most aircrew and even veterans of World War I. An Air Gunner wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letters AG on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization and very early in the war might also have the brass "winged bullet" qualification badge of a pre-war air gunner on his sleeve

Later years...

RAF Bomber Command recognized the requirement for heavy bombers and brought into operational service the bombers usually associated with attacks on German targets in Europe. From November 1940 the four-engined Halifax was introduced, followed by the four-engined Stirling in January 1941 and the under-powered twin-engined Manchester (which had relatively brief operational service before being replaced by the world-famous Lancaster) in February 1941. In November 1941, the fast twin-engined Mosquito light bomber was introduced and finally in March 1942 the four-engined Avro Lancaster came into service.[40] The Vickers Wellington continued in service with RAF Bomber Command in Europe into 1943 although the squadrons were being converted to four-engined bombers

The introduction of heavy bombers with four engines brought the necessity of engine management and a new trade entered service with these aircraft.

Flight Engineer - chosen specifically for mechanical aptitude the Flight Engineer sat beside the pilot and assisted him particularly at take off, during the flight monitoring the engines and vitally the fuel efficiency pumping fuel between the tanks as required. It was not unusual for these airmen to be a little older than their colleagues and often had prior mechanical experience. The flight engineer was usually a sergeant, promotion was very slow indeed. A Flight Engineer wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letter 'E' on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization. During the initial operational service of four-engined bombers second pilots were carried until sufficient flight engineers had been trained.

The original trade of Observer began to be phased out although those airmen who had qualified in that role early in the war continued to wear their O brevet with great pride. It was replaced by two new trades.

Navigator - who worked at his desk behind a curtain and instructed the pilot on route and airspeed required throughout the operation in order to arrive on target within the expected time period in company with the other aircraft due to attack, he operated any radar navigational aids carried aboard. A Navigator wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letter N on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization. At this stage of the war pilots and navigators were often commissioned on completion of training.

Air Bomber more normally called the "Bomb Aimer". This crewman manned the nose mounted gun turret (usually twin .303 machine guns) during the operation and provided assistance to the navigator only to crawl into the bomb aimer's compartment in the lower section of the nose of the aircraft to operate the bomb sight and press the button to release the bomb load onto the target at the necessary time. During the "bombing run" when the bombs were about to be released he would instruct the pilot on minute adjustments to course in order to release the bombs as accurately as possible, the release of the bomb load activated a flash photograph to record the target below. The Bomb Aimer was usually often a commissioned officer, he wore a single-winged aircrew brevet with a wreath containing the letter B on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization.

Air Gunner - in order to protect the heavy bombers from a German Luftwaffe night fighter force which had evolved at great speed to become extremely effective, most of the new heavy bombers had three power operated gun turrets usually sited in the nose, dorsal (mid upper) and rear (tail) positions requiring an additional gunner. The traditional tail end Charlie "Rear Gunner" continued in place facing rearwards with his quad mounted .303 Browning machine guns while an additional air gunner, known as the "Mid Upper" gunner climbed up into a sling harness to man a power operated dorsal turret on the top of the fuselage. On the Halifax this turret was armed with four .303 Browning machine guns and on the Lancaster it had twin .303 machine guns.Within crews some gunners preferred one turret or the other would usually fly in that, in other crews the gunners might swap turrets regularly.

Signaller - the middle years of the war it became more usual to train airmen specifically as "Wireless Operators" and no longer add air gunnery training to their instruction. These men graduated training schools to earning a single-winged aircrew brevet over a wreath containing the letters S on his tunic, above his left breast pocket denoting his trade specialization as "signaller".

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As the war progressed it became common for airmen to "team up" and form the crew with whom they would fly "operations" while still at their "Operational Training Unit" before being posted to their squadrons. On joining the squadron their pilot would often be assigned to fly one or two operational missions as Second Pilot with an experienced crew in order to gain operational experience before taking his own crew into action. In this situation he would be referred to as a Second Dickie (second pilot).

Source: Wikipedia