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The crew includes the pilot and the flight engineer who fly the aircraft, the navigator who calculates and directs the flight path of the mission, the wireless operator who maintains radio contact, the bomb aimer who sat in the nose of the aircraft with the bomb sight and equipment to drop the bomb load at the precise time, as well as being the front turret gunner, and finally the remaining gunners who were located at the top, bottom, and rear of the aircraft.
Sift through any bomber squadron's operational record and the perilous position of the air gunner is clearly evident; with crew after crew returning with a shattered rear turret and so often a dead gunner inside. The bulk of Luftwaffe attacks came from behind or from below, with the gun turrets as the German fighter pilots' first target. Once the turrets were silenced a bomber was at the fighter's mercy. Even without guns, many gunners continued to act as a warning "outpost", advising the pilot on evasive maneuvers as each fighter attacked.
The brief bomb run involved a long ordeal of planning and preparation. The crew wore steel-reinforced vests to protect them from flak splinters, bulky flight suits to keep them warm in the frigid upper altitudes, and oxygen masks when at high altitudes. In this regalia even the simplest tasks required concentrated effort. Discomfort was accompanied by grinding tedium. Every few minutes the navigator calculated and logged the aircraft's position.
   
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