The Magic Of Human Chemistry

I have been reading a book ( Yeah I mean a real book) about The RAF (Royal Air Force). To find time to read a real book of any description on any subject is becoming harder each week as I become more wrapped up and engrossed in the Internet marketing niche.

Spending hour after hour reading my PC screen either researching for answers to technical issues , or just keeping up with new posts from the blogs I regularly visit leaves little time or inclination to read “real” books.

There is something unbeatable about holding and reading a “real” book that to me can never be replaced by my PC. Apart from anything else when reading from the screen it is so easy to click a link and before long you can be transported to a completely different and unrelated topic.

I have been reading another great post from one of  the blogs I regularly visit  virginbloggernotes

A newbees guide to guest posting.

What has that got to do with a book about the RAF?.  Well I think it is an interesting concept that even though we are all individuals  finding your favorite blogs and guest posting (either  way) could be similar to the selection process for manning the Lancaster’s in WWII the RAF called it “crewing up” .

Even though the RAF had a very rigid and formalized selection procedure, and volunteers were assigned the various jobs within the aircraft by a strict and standardised system, (typical military I would imagine )… the magic of Human Chemistry was employed when selecting the actual seven man crew for each airplane.

How did it work?…. each plane had six different “Trades” employed in order to make it fly

The pilot,the flight engineer, the navigator, the bomb aimer, the wireless operator, and two gunners

During the initial enlistment procedure the volunteers were sorted by a series of tests into the various “trades ” to which they were best suited. Then they were separated by trade and sent to their specialized training camps, for up to a year or more.

At the end of their training instead of trying to use any kind of scientific approach to  match suitable crew members together the RAF did something that required a leap of faith not normally expected from a military organization.

They let the crews select themselves

Yeah the were just shoved in a big room and told  to team up. Jack Currie a pilot said this…

” I’d imagined that the process would be just as impersonal as most other’s that we went through in the RAF. I thought I would just see an order on the noticeboard detailing who was crewed with whom, but what happened was quite different. When we had all paraded in the hanger and the roll had been called, the chief ground instructor got up on a dais. He wished us good morning… and said “right Chaps , sort yourself’s out”.

Naturally each trade clustered together initially….. Jack Currie…. as a sergeant pilot his  first priority, was to find a navigator and he saw a group of them standing together…. But which one to pick?

This is how how he describes it

” I noticed that a wiry little  Australian was looking at me anxiously. He took a few steps forward. eyes puckered in a diffident smile and spoke….”looking for a good navigator?” I walked to meet him. He was an officer. I looked into his eyes, and received an impression of honesty, intelligence, and nervousness.

He said

” you needn’t worry I did all right on the course!” I held out my hand… Jack Currie.

I’m Jim Cassidy have you got a bomb aimer? I know a real good one. He comes from Brisbane, like me. I’ll fetch him over.

The bomb aimer had a gunner in tow and while we were sizing each other up we were joined by a tall wireless operator, who introduced himself  in a gentle Northumbrian accent and suggested it was time for a cup a tea. As we walked to the canteen I realised

I hadn’t made a single conscious choice“…….

The interesting thing is that it was very very rare for a crew to ask to be split up once they had selected themselves and their friendships and bond lasted a lifetime.

Perhaps it is far harder to create the Magic of human chemistry with the written word. The first impression that a physical meeting can subconsciously engender is subliminal and hard to replicate in words, at least for most of us. ….. and good job. We as writers of blogs  may sometimes have to much time to think.

Thank you to Patrick Bishop for his insights in his book Bomber Boys( Harper Press)

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