was being in a bomber crew voluntary?

Hi
Can anyone help find out whether you had any choice about being aircrew in USAAF. Or could you just opt to be non-combatant? A good source reference for this would be great.
 
Thanks

Bob...It has been impression, that those who wanted to fly, did so, and there were those who did not want to fly...to each his own...there were ground personnel in the army who preferred to fight on solid ground, and then there were persons in the air forces who preferred to fly.
There always have been certain ground personnel who unthinkinly feel that the air force personnel had it easy....a story I recently heard brings this out very well....
 
Two ground troops approached an airman and complained ? if that is the word about aircrew having it easy..sleeping in warm beds at night instead of being in a sometimies muddy foxhole...the airman then asked them if they wanted to go on a mission...they said YES..so he told them to meet him at 0400 the next morning...they did and were fittted out with parachutes  and the other gear...they were put on seperate aircraft and participated in the mission...on the bomb run, one was curled up in a fetal position in the radio room, while the gunners were fighting off enemy fighters...when back on the ground..both the ground troops again approached the airman and told him....You guys are CRAZY....because om the next mission, the airman and his crew, again flew.

What the ground troops did not take into account, was that if the aircraft was shot down...most likely the aircrew would be captured, (if they survived)...and would be most lilely hundreds of miles in enemy territory.
 
Jim :-)

I was an Airplane Armorer, MOS 911/ AFSC 462XX on B-29s.  I was asked by our operations officer if I would volunteer for gunnery. I accepted but was rejected for eye problems. I was then assigned to a crew as "maintenance support" and flew with the crew on long cross country flights (sometimes in a gunner/scanners position) and overseas TDYs., but did NOT train as a gunner.
 
During the Korean Conflict. the 98th Bomb Group was often short of gunners and I and many others were asked to fly on combat missions. I declined because I did NOT want to compromise crew safety if I could not see well enough. One personal armament friend was shot down and did not survive.
 
I did fly into the combat zone to salvage the bomb sight and guns from a downed B-29.
 
Herb Harper

       Greg,
  In the 94th BG many ground personnel eventually volunteered to become gunners aboard A/C and were sent to gun school at Snettisham. Many crew members (including Officers) decided somewhere in their tour they would rather be on the ground or flying in a non combat area and were re-assigned. In july 1944 after the crews went from 10 to 9 man crews there was an excess of gunners and they were taking volunteers to become Paratroopers.
  There were those removed from flight status due to disciplinary problems as well as "Battle Fatigue". Battle Fatigue was not limited to EM, but also Officers (including Pilots). The Squadron Flight Officer could remove a Pilot if he thought they were putting their crew in danger by their actions and the other crew members could also ask for a crew member to be removed from their crew. There was one crew in which half of the crew asked to be re-assigned from combat duty after ditching with the WG's head blown off by a 20MM. They had some tough missions before that one and called it quits. I have documentation from the Pilot as well as other "battle Fatigue" cases but I will not release the names. I am a researcher and it is not my job to judge them as I was not there. That judgement belongs to those who were there. People have different breaking points.
    Regards, Marc

My father was a radio operator/gunner on a B-24 in the 11th BG. He would tell you that it was voluntary, but better than the alternatives.  His opinion, of course.  After induction, soldiers were tested and, in my father's case, sent to radio school. He could have been a radio man on the ground, but the scuttlebutt at the school was that it was good to be on an aircrew. The pay was better, and my dad thought the leather jackets were cool (understand he was only 16 at the time!) so he applied for flight gunnery school after radio school ended. My book includes the story of a Marine who stowed away on a Liberator before a mission and, according to the strike mission report, was of "immense help in passing ammunition and cursing Jap pilots." He swore off flying after that experience. In another case, a gunner became sick after several aircraft had already staged to a forward airstrip before a mission, and Marines drew straws to see who would get to replace him.  The winning marine was offered $1000 for his place by a Marine officer, and the winning man declined.  Lastly, when the belly turret was added to my dad's plane and they needed another gunner, a volunteer soldier was reassigned to the AAF for the purpose. He had been at Hickam during the December 7 attack and wanted a chance to strike back.  As for your source question, try Rebecca Hancock Cameron's "Training to Fly: Military Flight Training, 1907-1945," US Government Printing Office, 1999.  Of course it wouldn't hurt my feelings if you also ordered my book! Interesting question, Greg, and best of luck!