I have been reading a few books that indicate that in 1942, crews for heavy bombers were self selected. They were put into a large room with equal numbers of pilots, navs., gunners, etc. and told to sort themselves out. Can anyone tell me if this was the case for Blenheim crews in 1941? Regards, Nick
In my research I have noticed that of the Blenheim crews of 59 Squadron 1939-1941 that: - On one occassion two (of the same crew) members had sequential service numbers and on another occassion there were 2 crew members 2 numbers apart. - On a couple of occassions crews had 2 members with the same last name (ie Smith or Jones). - On quite a few occassions, members (of the same crew) had last names that either started with the same letter, or very close to eachother in the alphabet, thus they were frequently listed in Alphabetical order or within very close proximity to eachother on the CWGC Debt of Honour Roll. Im unsure whether the above shows that names were selected from lists (Broken down into muster - W.op or Nav, Pilot etc) or whether these men met because of circumstance (that they had sequential numbers possibly knowing each other before hand etc) and thus selecting their own crews but If I was a betting man, I would say that the Blenheim crews were pre-selected rather than self selected. In the memoirs of F/L EE Allen who joined 59 Squadron Coastal Command in feb 1942 (not long after 59 had converted to Lockheed Hudsons in July 1941) they were choosing their own crews at this time, so if they were pre-selected during the Blenheim period, this had ended by early 1942. Without any solid evidence to back this up and really with only limited knowledge on the topic (sorry) but I personally would think that the RAF crews that flew Blenheims early on in the war would have been pre-selected (even if during pre-war training), just due to possible RAF protocols at the time (and more that crew selection doesn't seem to me like something the British would leave to chance early on in the war)... ... and perhaps with the influx of the airmen from the commonwealth imperial forces into the RAF from 1940-41 onwards, it was deemed necessary for crews to self select to lessen inter-crew conflicts and then the high casualty rates of crews during the first two years may have added to self selection being set up... (in that if crew survival expectancy - either individually or as a unit - was deemed to be very low, maybe it would be more efficient to let them crew with buddies etc?) Like I said, and I stress only my personal opinion but I'm open to be discredited Hope this is of some help to you, Lorenzo.
