2nd Lieutenant Moses Hanna--Navigator

 

 Lt. Moses Hanna of West Newton, Pennsylvania navigated using a combination of dead reckoning (using airspeed and time elapsed between checkpoints to compute position), pilotage (using visible landmarks), radio usage, and celestial navigation. The B-24 had a small Plexiglas dome just forward of the cockpit through which the navigator could shoot his fixes, however Celestial navigation was only used when delivering the aircraft to theater. In combat, bombing targets were approached by pilotage.

Lt. Hanna had to always know where they were, because if they had to leave the formation, it would be his job to find the best route to get back to Allied territory without going over enemy flak areas. Lt. Hanna always knew where they were. He was an excellent navigator right from the start--navigating down to Brazil, across the Atlantic, and over Africa to Italy (8,625 nautical miles) before they even flew their first mission.