RAAF Flight Lieutenant Clive Tindale tunes the radio of Lancaster 'G for George', ex-460 Squadron RAAF, as the aircraft is prepared to take off for its flight to Australia from the United Kingdom, 11 October 1944. Beyond Tindale sits the navigator, Flying Officer Wilfred Gordon RAAF. The duties of a wireless operator (WOP) on operations in a Lancaster were varied. Much of the time he spent taking bearings transmitted from ground stations in England and passing these to the navigator. His Morse code transmitting and receiving skills had to be of a high order to allow him to receive messages from base or other aircraft if required. Mostly, however, radio silence was observed in flight. The WOP also had the job of pushing the thin strips of metal foil—Window—out of the aircraft, which on descent helped confuse German radar. From early 1943 the WOP also operated 'Tinsel', a radio system for jamming frequencies used by the German night fighters and their ground controllers. If the crew intercom wires were cut by enemy fire, the WOP would endeavour to repair them and he was also responsible for ensuring the intercom system worked, by checking the crew's helmets. [AWM UK02052]
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