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Long-range Navy patrol aircraft required better all-weather navigation systems like LORAN.
These tools were critical for quickly accessing distances and plotting courses.
An astrodome on a Douglas C-47, circa 1944.
The E-6B remains the most successful flight computer ever made.
Harry H. Crosby wore this insignia during his service with the 8th Air Force.
Eighth Air Force Patch and Navigator’s Wings.
Lead navigator of the 100th Bomb Group, Eighth Air Force.
After the harrowing losses of 1943, Crosby and his fellow crew members found less opposition in 1944 and 1945. However, navigational challenges increased as missions moved deeper into central Europe.
In early 1941, the Army Air Corps had only 44 trained navigators, mostly from a civilian contract school. By war’s end, the Army Air Forces had graduated over 50,000 navigators from its own schools.
