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ORIGINAL: pasternakski

ORIGINAL: Ike99
Why three people?

It's a French idea, actually...

Menage a plane?

ORIGINAL: PizzaMan

You obviously haven't seen pictures taken by tourists from the top of the twin towers on 9/11 as the planes were coming in.  They're proof that the most unusual pictures can be salvaged despite impossible odds.

[:D]

That particular picture is a fake

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/photos/tourist.asp

With Devastator TB's used through Midway there was a 3rd crew member who only flew on bombing missions and was left behind on torpedo missions. In one case at Midway a man thought for a while that his brother and fellow shipmate had died with rest of VT-6 but later found him on board safe. He'd been left behind on board ship as it was a torpedo mission.

Also, as you may already know, in Japanese TB's the commander was often the center seat observer, not the pilot. With aircrew at a premium I assume (maybe it was just pilots in short supply?) I often wondered why they couldn't do w/o that 3rd seat position man on torpedo missions. They were putting 50% more men at risk with each sortie.

And of course in naval aviation it was always a nice luxury to have an extra man around to navigate. I'm not sure if the non-pilot 3rd crewmember did that on any TB.

In the Swordfish (IIRC) there was (front to rear) the pilot, the Aircraft Commander, and the gunner. The A/C commander stood up in the cockpit during an attack directing the pilot and gunner. Most of the time the A/C commander was left on the carrier. It has always amused me that you have this guy (the A/C Commander) standing up in the cockpit with straps holding him to the A/C direction the A/C's operation like the captain of a ship. You gottta love the RN. [:D]

The pilot was the bombadier, the A/C was placed on a course to intersect the targets course, at a particular altitude, speed and distance, then the torpedo was dropped by the pilot. Most radio operater were trained as gunners.