John Curry

Francis Chichester's Pinpoint the Bomber: Bomber Command Air Navigation Training Wargame (1942) John Curry

The games in this book were made to help the navigators of Bomber Command improve the chances of locating their target. Written by Sir Francis Chichester, the games reflected his vast experience at the exacting art of pinpoint navigation. This book was first published in 1942 at the heart of World War II. Bomber Command was flying regularly to hit targets on the content, but the navigators in the individual bombers were struggling to find the targets. Using his experience of long-distance flying, Chichester created three games to help the navigators improve their skills prior to operations. Game 1 was a game of chance, game 2 involved finding the correct longitude and latitude, but game 3 required the player to correctly locate themselves on the map. Reading the paragraphs that describe the situation, then studying the map for clues offers insight into the difficulties faced during the early stages of the bombing campaign, before electronic navigation aids became widespread.