In June the Australian Government’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs released a book called Bomber Command: Australians in World War II
Launched at the Australian War Memorial in the presence of three Bomber Command veterans, it’s DVA’s second book in a series looking at Australians and their experiences in World War II (the first looked at Greece and Crete). Dr Richard Reid, of the Department’s Commemorations Branch, was the author (though interestingly he is not credited on the front cover). A couple of weeks after the launch DVA gave a copy of the book to each of the Australian veterans who went to London for the opening of the Bomber Command memorial.
Until last week, nearly 70 years after the raid, the fate of ED427 was still a mystery. But now, thanks to an archaeological excavation in Germany, the truth of what happened can finally be told.
The story that emerges from the German soil is a heart-wrenching tale not only of tragedy, but of incompetence and an unforgiveable bureaucratic slip-up which kept the families of the crew in the dark for decades.
A week after the raid, Wing Commander Johnson of 49 Squadron wrote to Bone’s mother, telling her ‘so far we have received no news of any kind, but you can be sure that as soon as any is received, it will be passed to you immediately’.
No concrete news was ever to come. According to Bone’s brother, Arthur ‘Alf’ Bone, 91, their mother suspected the worst. ‘I think she knew he had gone in her mind,’ he says, ‘and I think I did, too.’
The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF’s 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis’s “bouncing bomb”. The film was based on the books The Dam Busters (1951) by Paul Brickhill and Enemy Coast Ahead (1946) by Guy Gibson.
The film falls into two parts. The first part involves Wallis struggling to develop a means of attacking Germany’s dams in the hope of crippling German heavy industry. Working for the Ministry of Aircraft Production, as well as doing his own job at Vickers, he works feverishly to make practical his theory of a bouncing bomb which would skip over the water to avoid protective torpedo nets. When it came into contact with the dam, it would sink before exploding, making it much more destructive.
A French farmer living in a little Alsacian village situated a few miles from the Rhine River and the German border talks about a Lancaster bomber and crew shot down and killed on April 27 to 28 1944. He says:
"I was surprised to read a memorial has recently been unveiled recognising, very late – 67 years after the end of the war – the courage and sacrifice of 55,000 men from the Bomber Command. Those who are buried in our village cemetery were always respected as heroes."
Bomber Command was at one point the principal way the Allied forces had to attack Germany. It was a fight that maintained the morale of the Western publics during the harshest and darkest days of the war. Twenty thousand Australians served during that campaign; 3,500 gave their lives and have the gratitude of this nation. Their actions and sacrifices have made the world and Australia a better place.
Merlins still inspire thousands of enthusiasts. “But it got better and better as the war went on. It was there, it could be relied upon, it would work.”Once Britain was safe from invasion, attention turned to striking back through Bomber Command – but its planes often suffered savage losses.However, from late 1941 the Lancaster, powered by four Merlins, gave the RAF the ability hit the Third Reich hard.Mr McKinstry said: “With its vast capacity, capable of carrying 22,000 pounds, the Lancaster needed a special engine and, as the epitome of reliability, the Merlin was ideally suited to the task.
As part of my visit to the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum, I took a one-hour flight on the B-1 Avro Lancaster (one of only two remaining air-worthy Lancasters left in the world today). The plane was the primary bomber used by the RAF & Canadian Air Force in their attacks on Axis-controlled Europe in World War II. Flying on such a historic aircraft was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and quite moving, actually. I will never forget this.
55,000 British Bomber Command airmen were lost during the air war over Nazi-occupied Europe; souls that did not know nothing about "political correctness" but knew well the future of their nations depended critically on their then present job. Beautiful machines flown by brave men.
Peter Stuart Isaacson AM, DFC, AFC, DFM (born 31 July 1920) is an Australian publisher and decorated military pilot. He was owner of Peter Isaacson Publications, the publisher of various trade publications and suburban newspapers including the Southern Cross and the Sunday Observer in Melbourne. He served in the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) as a pilot with RAF Bomber Command during World War II, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Force Cross and the Distinguished Flying Medal.
Isaacson became well-known in Australia for his tours in the Avro Lancaster bomber Q-for-Queenie to promote the sale of war loans, and in particular for flying his plane under the Sydney Harbour Bridge in October 1943. He transferred to the RAAF Reserve after the war, retiring as a wing commander in 1969. Since 1956 he has served as a Trustee, Chairman, and finally Life Governor of the Victorian Shrine of Remembrance. In 1991 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his publishing and community work.
We flew from 460 Squadron and Group Captain Hugh Edwards, he was a VC, he was a West Australian and he let us fly together as long as we didn't tell our parents and they never knew until the war was over.
AUSTRALIA'S OLDEST POW - Gordon Lake was flying a Wellington bomber when he was shot down over Germany and became a POW in Germany, Poland and East Prussia from 1942 to 1945. He is believed to be the only POW to reach 100 years. In 1942, the then 29-year-old tail gunner was the only surviving crew member of his Royal Australian Air Force 460 Squadron Wellington bomber, shot down over Germany after a raid on Stuttgart.
During WW2 25,000 aircrew from Bomber Command, flying from Lincolnshire, died. To mark their sacrifice, a memorial will be erected on the top of Canwick Hill, in Lincoln. The site overlooks Lincoln Cathedral which was a major landmark for crews leaving Lincolnshire and as a navigation point for those lucky enough to return. 46% of all Bomber Command’s casualties were based in Lincolnshire.
The project is being led by the Lord-Lieutenant of Lincolnshire with support from all sectors of the community including the Bomber Command Association, Local Councils, County Council, Lincolnshire Lancaster Association, Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire, active RAF stations in the county and elsewhere, Lincoln Cathedral and the University of Lincoln. Many other individuals and organisations have also pledged their support.
The formal launch will take place in May 2013, around the 70th anniversary of the famous Dambusters raid which left from Lincolnshire in May 1943 as part of Bomber Command.
It is planned to have the memorial completed by May 2015 to mark the 70th anniversary of the official ending of hostilities in World War 2.
Gardner flew 48 missions with 460 Squadron - 14 of them combat sorties in the Battle of Berlin in 1943-44, and his extraordinary contribution was recognised with the award of a Distinguished Flying Cross and Bar. He ended the war as a squadron leader.
The extremely hazardous nature of those wartime sorties is illustrated by one mission he flew, as a flight lieutenant, in a night attack on Berlin on September 3, 1943. Taking evasive action while under attack by a German night fighter, his Lancaster collided with another Lancaster and although still a long way from the target, and with his aircraft severely damaged, he and his crew displayed great determination and continued on their planned flight path, completed their bombing run over Berlin, and only then returned to base at Binbrook in England. They had lived up to the squadron motto, ''strike and return''.
This feature-length documentary focuses on the Canadian pilots who served in the air force bomber command in Britain during World War II. From the outset, it was clear to Britain that air combat would be the key factor in the battle against Hitler's Germany. Told they would be targeting factories and military targets, the airmen were actually ordered to drop their payloads on civilians in an attempt to annihilate the enemy. Using interviews, re-enactments, old footage and photographs, Brian McKenna's film depicts the war from the perspective of the pilots.
Beneath one of the plaques is a representation of a boomerang, symbolising the motto of the Squadron: ‘Strike and Return’. Sadly, many of the airmen of 460 Squadron struck… but did not return. In fact, the Squadron suffered by far the highest casualty rate of any Australian unit in WWII: out of around 2700 airmen who served in the Squadron, more than 1000 were killed in action – 589 of those being Australians. 181 aircraft were lost on operations in the four years of the Squadron’s existence.
Many of Fighter Command’s airmen became famous after the Battle of Britain, as their stories of heroism and sacrifice spread across the country. But during that period, from 10 July until 31 October 1940, it was Bomber Command that made the greater sacrifice, losing 718 men compared with Fighter Command’s 544. Yet it is only recently that the men of Bomber Command have been remembered, with the unveiling of a new memorial in June 2012. Churchill’s Few may have won the Battle of Britain with their prowess, but the devotion of the Many played a significant role too.
The Whirlwind. Remembering Bomber Command. "They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind." This was Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur “Bomber” Harris’s uncompromising vow to Germany, and he was a man of his word. He hated it when a single bomber was diverted to theatres other than bombing German cities. It was this historically contentious dirty work – highly dangerous – which prevented the men of Bomber Command (1936 – 1968) during WWII from receiving the recognition and honour they deserved: medals were not struck. But 55,573 crew (44.4%) never returned from their deadly missions. On every mission, they left knowing that they had around a 50-50 chance of making it back. Harris was eventually, and controversially, commemorated with a statue at St Clement
Squadron LeaderTony Iveson DFC talks about the important role bomber command played in saving Great Briton and in the victory and liberation of Europe in 1942-45.
Lincolnshire, England. 1944-12-08. Group portrait close up of air and ground crew members of Lancaster No. 460 Squadron RAAF at RAF Station Binbrook. In the centre front row (gloveless, holding a pipe) is Group Captain Parsons, the Station Commander. On either side of him are Squadron Leader (Sqn Ldr) J. Clarke DFC AFC, of Sydney, NSW (left), the CO of the Squadron, and Sqn Ldr J. R. Henderson DFC, of Mosman, NSW, Flight Commander. (My dad with Pilot hat just under the right hand engine)
My French Grandfather, Pierre Scordel is in the front row , the second man to the right of the Group Captain. His uniform is lighter and his hat different as he is wearing the French Air Force uniform. If anyone has more information, please share. Thanks.
Iain Hollingshead reviews Who Betrayed the Bomber Boys?, a Yesterday documentary that explores the achievements of the RAF Bomber Command in the Second World War. History, they say, is written by the victors.
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