Who Watches the Watchmen (Our Chit Chat Thread)

cnocbui wrote: »

Where are you getting that from? Seems slightly odd I would have both an issued watch and pocket watch chronograph for navigation, issued to a fighter pilot. Perhaps the Royal Navy were more generous or because of the over water thing.

The RN tended to be. Over water could certainly be a factor alright C.

Watches and timekeepers were naturally very important tools in prosecuting modern mechanised war, but fighter pilots would have been low enough on the list of military personnel requiring them. One big reason was range. At the start of the war fighters were single engined one man craft of very limited range tasked in interceptor roles where they were usually vectored onto targets by the ground, or in defence of their own airfields, or used in the escort role for bombers(here again range was their weakness). Yes there were two engined two man fighters with greater ranges, but it was quickly discovered they themselves needed fighter escorts or they were cut to pieces by the single engined craft.

So if we take say the Battle of Britain, a Hurricane pilot would have taken off and bunched up with his mates and would be vectored onto target by the ground. His counterpart in his ME109 would have been flying bomber escort, the navigators on the bombers needing timepieces to set their course which they followed. The Germans did favour watches, particularly privately or unit bought chronographs and have said it was to time the very limited fuel they had left over England. Not much more than ten minutes on some runs.

Secondly and unlike nigh on every other personnel fighter pilots already had a timepiece as part of their equipment sitting right there in front of them on the dashboard. It's always good to have a backup of course, but again more important in bombers, transports and reconnaissance aircraft. The latter two usually operated on their own as well.

Then we have the high workload involved flying those aircraft. On the fly navigation was largely rudimentary. You're not going to be pulling out charts in a Spitfire too often. When you read accounts of fighter pilots back then navigation was mostly about where the lines are and hoping you're on the right side of them and recognising landmarks that get you back to base. On bombers and the like you had a navigator and usually a navigator's position where they could concentrate on setting the right course and instructing the pilot. The reconnaissance guys had about the hardest job as far as flying and navigation went. Having an accurate fit for purpose watch as a backup for their cockpit clock was a requirement alright.

In the days before GPS and radio beacons(that advanced rapidly during WW2) and before the war accurate wristwatches were a given for pilots of all types for navigation and fuel timing purposes so most pilots would have one as par for the course. Even so fighter pilots of that era would actually require them least. I remember a similar conversation on another forum and one poster noted that in a lot of photos of WW2 fighter pilots they weren't wearing any watches and where they were and the watch was clear to see, it was just as likely to be a civilian watch.

Here's a pic of a German pilot, note the Tank style on his wrist.

Boorish unrepentant nazi prick, but the the most decorated pilot of any side in the war.

Pic of two Spitfire guys.

No watches at all.

Five Allied pilots

Only two are wearing watches.

Fantastic photos C. "How David lost his teeth". :eek: I'd say constipation wasn't much of an issue either for David after a while that. The conversation with his dentist might have been interesting. Eating too many sweets eh David? Nope, pranged a Tiger Moth in Libya funny enough.