ww2 RAF navigators bag

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Member for

10 years 5 months

Posts: 64

I have in my collection a large green canvas navigators bag but why is it so big ?

What went in it besides a few maps , pencils and the usual navigators instruments ?

This has puzzled me for a while at one point i thought it was large so they could carry their flying helmet goggles ect or even their parachute pack but after viewing period photographs and film i have even dismissed that.

Original post

Member for

10 years 5 months

Posts: 64

Thanks for the reply but what about a Lancaster navigator, i thought he did not need a chart board as he had a dedicated table with a fixed rule on a pantograph arm or am i wrong ?

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,000

I'm not an expert on Bomber Command kit, but just as an "enthusiast's guesstimate" I would think that A) a Nav's bag would be a standard bit of kit for all aircraft types and the B) even in the heavy bombers the Nav wasn't always at the table. On the Lanc there was a folding "second Dicky" seat behind the pilot and the Pilot's headrest could be flipped down as something to lean on, so a Nav would sometimes sit in this position when D/R  navigating in daylight, at low level etc. 

This is how the BBMF Lanc Navs work today, sitting behind the Pilot rather than using the table.