Frank Ward - Selection as navigator

Transcript

I wanted to be a pilot, of course, but they did tests. Actually, you went in for the first three months and that's when they classified you to what you were best suited for and they had examinations, you know.

It was like going back to school the first three months, lectures, physical exercises, you had to be in bed at a certain time. It was pretty strict. It was like being at school and they had the classifications and three officers would interview you with the results that you'd achieved and said 'We've decided to make you a navigator'.

So you had no choice but a part of the test was on your depth of perception, you know.

It was that angle between your eyes and the ground and mine was defective and they said,'You'd be trying to land the aircraft about twenty-five feet in the air and that's dangerous for the aircraft and the crew'.

So they made me a navigator and I was quite happy with that. I liked geography and that sort of thing at school and I think they were quite right. Well I think I had to be a good navigator to make thirty trips.