WWII 1943 R.A.F. Bomber Navigators D-Day Normandy Invasion "Bordeaux-Limoges" Air Map
WWII 1943 R.A.F. Bomber Navigators D-Day Normandy Invasion "Bordeaux-Limoges" Air Map
This WWII map was carried by both British (RAF) and American bomber navigators during the initial invasion of Normandy and the Allied D-Day landings in June of 1944. This air map covers the areas just south of the D-Day landing in Normandy as the Allies began to push deeper into France.
Aircrews and bombing navigators carried these charts to determine lines of position using a Gee receiver and oscilloscope. The Royal Air Force (RAF) established new chains as the Allies advanced eastward after D-Day. An operator using this chart could determine a fix using two or three lines of position within three or four minutes. Gee was a hyperbolic system that provided short-range navigation and bombing guidance over Britain, western Europe and the northern Mediterranean during World War II. Developed by the British Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) under the technical guidance of Robert G. Dippy, the system guided ships and larger aircraft (bombers, transports, reconnaissance aircraft, and night fighters) to accuracies of a statute mile or better at ranges up to four hundred statute miles. Both the Royal Air Force Bomber Command and American VIII Bomber Command depended extensively on this technology. A blind bombing system called Gee-H (or GH) used the Gee transmitters along with modified aircraft equipment to create a transponder system that could guide bombers at night or in cloud to within several hundred yards of a target.