How did the old B17 pilots navigate on night bombing runs, and did they ever get completely hopelessly lost?

Answer 1

some flew the "beam", which was the old way of saying they followed the radio signals to the target area, by undrground agents sending out signals along the way, picked up by radiomen with the coded frequency tuned in. they also had compasses, and gyros, and could dead reckon pretty good with those two aides, and since they bombed large cities, they looked for the lights, and black outs where never that effective in blocking out the lights, London was bombed nightly for years even with there stringent black out system. also some times scout plans would go ahead, locate the target and lead the air aquadrons to the mark. And yes sometimes in fog, or bad weather they got turned arund, and sometimes bombed the wrong city, but not as a rule. most got close atleast. the night bombing was more more crushing morale and keeping the enemy nerves all strained, the day light bombing was far more accurate.

Answer 2

They had navigators aboard. There also were aircraft called Pathfinders and it was their job to lead the main bomber group. Once they located the target they would drop flares and get the hell out of there.Yes, some did get lost and were never seen again, and some managed to make it back before falling into the sea. Navigation was very basic compared today but the going gets the tough the tough get going.

Answer 3

Coach is referring to the ill-fated "Lady Be Good", a B-24 Liberator that got lost deep in the Libyan desert after missing its base upon returning from a nighttime bombing run over Naples. Her story served as the inspiration for "'King Nine' Will Not Return", a "Twilight Zone" episode, as well as the TV movie "Sole Survivor", which is one of the most frequently asked-about "What was that movie?" questions on the Internet.

Answer 4

By radiolocation , celestial readings and by the flares dropped by pathfinder aircraft.
If an area of Berlin waschosen for example then the pathfinder aircraft would drop flares at each corner of the area and the bombers would unload within that box.
After the first wave of aircraft the target was often obscured by the smoke from fires.
Many bombers got lost on the way back when they were damaged or had to break formation to avoid fighters.

Answer 5

By an instrument called a Sextant. Same type of instrument Columbus navigated the ocean at night in the 1400's. And yes, a few bombers got lost. I can recall a story of one that crashed in North Africa during WWII (B-25) that went way past its base and ran out of fuel.

Answer 6

By compass and by the stars. They had navigators to
calculate the direction, speed, height, wind, fuil and weight
to determin their destination. Bombs Away.