Sometimes, your missions do not go as planned. Encountering many enemy aircraft and heavy flak can sometimes leave you with one or two crew members down, resulting in missing roles that aren’t filled for the time being until they are revived. From gunners healing people to navigators manning the radio, here are the top secondary skills you should choose for your crew.

Pilot

Your pilot is the guy who runs the show; being the person behind the stick to get you to and from the raid is a very important role. Without them, you’ll be stuck on the runway drinking tea.

Choose Engineer when assigning the pilot’s secondary skill, as this would free up any confusion when the crew needs to be switched around due to death or injury. Doing so means your pilot can be very useful when repairing things. However, you’re unlikely to move them from the pilot's seat unless they’re healing or dead.

If you were planning to use something else, though, their next best skill would be First Aid. That’s because the bomber will continue gliding straight through with little deviation while the pilot heals people around the front of the bomber. Once they’re done, you can quickly send them back into their seat before you hit something.

Bomb Aimer

Your bomb aimer is exactly what it says on the label. They aim and drop your payload on the targets; if you didn’t have this person, you’d be stuck with a plane full of high explosives and a giant target on you.

However, they’re also responsible for the turret directly above their bomb aiming position, which means their best secondary skill is Gunner. They are responsible for dealing with any incoming planes from your front and can be deadly if they’re accurate enough.

Alternatively, you could also make your bomb aimer an Engineer. Doing this would provide insight to the engineer's chair so you can check fuel and make adjustments, such as boosting or preserving fuel amounts.

Radio Operator

This crew member is your eyes in the skies. They’re responsible for your radar and communicating back to base to foresee any trouble ahead of you. They also get some pretty valuable upgrades later on in the campaign, such as Auto Tag or calling Spitfires to assist you. Your radio operator is an important person.

The best secondary skill for this person would be Navigator, which allows them to jump quickly onto the navigator’s chair in the event of unforeseen disasters. The short walk to the navigator's table means you’ll spend less time heading in the wrong direction.

However, if you didn’t want to choose Navigator as the second skill, you could always make them another medic with First Aid. They can assist the front of the bomber or send them to the back to heal the turret crew. But remember, you won't see anyone coming if no one is there to man the radio. 

Navigator

This guy with the compass and pencil is your navigator guide. They’ll get you right over that target and home again in time for tea, should you make it. He can give you all sorts of information based on dangers that may lay ahead, or you can avoid them if you wish with a custom heading.

The best secondary skill for a navigator is the Radio Operator role. As mentioned, the walk to that station is very short, so he can have a quick radar sweep of the area before returning to his station. This is very helpful if you find yourself with a crew member down or have to shake up your team for whatever reason.

You could make them an Engineer if you wanted to do something else. Since they’re close to the core components like oxygen tanks and hydraulics, they can quickly repair these items instead of your actual engineer, who can be off doing better things with their time.

Engineer

This crew member is basically a free, spare person, apart from when they’re looking at your fuel and fixing things; basically, they can do whatever you want them to! Remember when you got your fancy ventral turret? Stick them on that and give yourself another gun. Can’t go wrong with more firepower.

As mentioned above, it would be best to give this crew member a gun - a downward-facing turret - to deal with threats from below. Clearly, they were meant to be a gunner in this situation. Move them into the turret at the beginning of the mission and leave them there, only to move them when they need to fix something or check on your fuel.

If you didn’t want them to excel on the guns for whatever reason, you could make them a spare Pilot. Keep your secondary pilot for the road ahead in case of a disaster. Anyone can fly the plane, but having that spare, experienced guy around would surely help.

Upper Gunner

This personnel looks up to the heavens, but sometimes, the heavens like to throw down enemy planes at you. It’s their job to deter or destroy them, leaving your skies clear, from above at least. He’ll keep you safe if he has the correct tools for the job.

Clearly, being in the back of the bomber, their best secondary role is being a Medic. They’ll be able to tend to the ventral and tail gunner with only a short walk, ensuring they are in good shape to deal with enemies from the rear and below.

However, if you didn’t want them to be a medic, you could always make them an Engineer. This would allow very easy access to the electric systems and hydraulics should they go wrong, allowing you to bring them back online quickly and preventing as much downtime as possible.

Tail Gunner 

The tail gunner is your main deterrent, but they’re also very vulnerable wearing just a flak jacket and helmet. Being all alone at the back of the bomber, they’re clearly determined; they’re your last line of defense, after all. They’ll take on anything and everything that may come behind you with large guns.

Being at the back, they should become a Medic to take advantage of their proximity to the ventral and upper ball turrets. They could work with the upper turret crew and help each other out, healing the crew together before quickly returning to the turret to continue blasting away the enemy.

If you feel like the medic role might be wasted, you can always prepare them to be another spare Engineer. Because the electric systems are right behind them, it’s not that far a walk to the hydraulics. However, it's a slow walk to the other side of the bomber while wearing such heavy flak gear, so be cautious.

Final Thoughts

Adopting these secondary skills for your crew will increase their chances of survival if things don’t go well for you. Moving and adjusting to your situations are important; these secondary skills will help you deal with them accordingly. Remember to bring your bomber home, your country needs you!

You may also be interested in:

• Top 10 Bomber Crew Upgrades to Have First
• Bomber Crews Best Guns (Ranked)
• Bomber Crew Best Crew Gear For Each Role