But Professor Burleigh told the Policy Exchange think tank conference: “Germany had no qualms about bombing Warsaw and Rotterdam. It was responsible for terror bombing London and many other British cities. In Clydebank in Scotland only eight out of 12,000 houses survived undamaged. “The Germans had no scruples about using incendiary bombs or indiscriminate V1 and V2 rockets against Britain.” Rejecting comparisons to the Holocaust, Professor Burleigh said: “In contrast to men shooting women and children in a ditch or herding them into gas chambers, Bomber Command crews faced terrible risks with a 44.4 per cent fatality rate in a slugging match that went on night after night for years.”
During the Second World War Bomber Command flew more than 389,000 individual sorties from 101 operational bases across the east of England. Dozens of other bases, not included here, were used for training and maintenance.
The RAF strategic bomber offensive followed miserable performances by the British army in overseas theatres. Bombing was the one sure way of striking back, directly, at the enemy's productive vitals, and yes, civilian morale, a euphemism for indiscriminate loss of life due to the inaccurate technologies involved. An openly contemptuous Stalin was mollified when Churchill offered to share aerial photos of damage to German cities. A nation that had worshipped military might since Bismarck got a major shock when a firestorm wiped out 43,000 people in Hamburg. If you start a fight, you had better know how to finish it, especially one with hard and implacable men like Churchill and Harris.
Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Museum is based on a 1940's RAF Lancaster Bomber airfield. The only place in the UK you can enjoy a taxy ride experience in an RAF Avro Lancaster bomber.
This is a digital artwork in progress: Lancaster B III Type 464 Provisioning, ED912 / AJ-N: the 617 Squadron plane flown by Les Knight that breached the Eder Dam in June 1943. I would really appreciate expert critique, and assistance with some queries about details e.g. ventral gun, mid-upper cover plate, etc.
Deadly days of war recalledThe Daily PostRotorua's Don Curtis (left) and Baden Clare were on board Lancaster bombers during the war. They have two different tales of wartime experiences.
Ian Hall, Alan Baskerville, Harry Ellis, Jack Goulding, Jack McQueen, Jack Trist, Fred Smith. "The crew and I were only on 460 Squadron for just a few months as we each completed our 30 trip 'tour of duty'. Still, we were proud to have played our part in a great Command, to have upheld the honour and reputation of a great Squadron and to have been numbered amongst that splendid company of men who willingly went each night in jeopardy of their lives" Henry Baskerville. Here are our stories ....
Max's memories of wartime missions. His first time in the air was during a night raid where he sat in the mid-upper turret - a canopy located on top of the plane with a 360 degree view - of a Lancaster four-engine bomber.
L for Leather over the Eder - Gary Eason Photography... 0130 on 17 May 1943: ‘Cooler 6’ begins the attack. Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF) flying Lancaster Type 464 ED929/G, AJ-L (nicknamed “L for Leather”), makes the first run at the undefended Eder Dam during 617 Squadron’s Operation Chastise, watched by mission leader Wing Cdr Guy Gibson in AJ-G.
Memorial unveiled: Former bomber pilot from Stoke Abbott speaks about the warDorset EchoA memorial to the 55573 servicemen killed in Bomber Command is due to be unveiled on June 28.
As a keen young engineer, Jeff took a position as a navigator and was posted with the 460 Squadron in the Lancaster Bombers. He says many of his friends have since called him 'Lucky Mackay'. "There was 55,000 air crew killed just in the Bomber Command alone, so it was a matter of luck whether you survived," Jeff says. Few of those friends remain and those that do are also in their 90s.
World War II veterans are asking the Federal Government for help to get to the opening of a new war memorial in London. http://bombercommand.wordpress.com/
IN Day Two of extracts from Ross Kemp’s new book he tells story of three VC servicemen (RT @Lancasterbuild: Bomber Command heroism during WWII, a story of pure sacrifice...)...
Rear gunner remembers NZ pilot who died saving himCourier MailMr Chester-Master, a tail gunner, is the last surviving crew member of the No.514 Squadron Lancaster bomber that on August 13, 1944, was shot down by a German night fighter over Belgium.
MORE than 60 years after the Second World War air-raids on German-occupied ports and cities that the RAF Bomber Command is best known for, a former crew member has told of the unit’s work helping starving civilians.
Frederick Limer, 90, of Thornwood Road, Epping, was a flight lieutenant on a Lancaster bomber in 1945 when the RAF was dropping food parcels to more than 3 million civilians who were starving after four years of German occupation and a harsh winter.
His crew flew out from Norfolk with food loaded into the bays of the aeroplane normally reserved for bombs and dropped dried food from crates to the people just 200 feet below, as part of Operation Manna.
These were the crews of Bomber Command in World War Two. Freezing in their deafening Lancasters, Halifaxes, Wellingtons and the like, the sight of the Thames would have meant so very much more. It was the first hint that they might have just defied the odds and survived the night. Even so, their aircraft may have been limping home, battle damaged after the crossed beams had caught them and the anti-aircraft fire brutalised them. Some of the crew may have been bandaged and bleeding, praying for the moment when the wheels again touched down on the soil of Mother England between the blazing paths of FIDO that lit the runway’s edge.
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