| I asked this question of Hubert Spencer who was a Lancaster W/O, here is his response.
Hi David,
While we were training and flying cross country exercises we were given
specific morse contacts to make which were recorded in a logbook. These were
assessed back at base. As wops we (or at least I ) didn't use R/T, the pilot
would use R/T when he contacted base on return. Besides using morse we had
to practise getting bearings from beacons for the navigator to confirm his
calculated position - and I remember doing that for real once or twice. So
really most of the wops activities involved morse reception and
transmission. During an operation the Main Force maintained radio silence
but ready to receive important messages from base e.g. being recalled to
base, or receiving new information about the weather to assist the navigator
in his plotting. When Master Bombers were used, to control the bombing and
reinforce target markings, we switched to R/T to hear his orders. Hope this
helps, regards, Hugh. |