Product Description

Long after the Battle of Britain, the aircrews of RAF Bomber Command risked their lives night after night during the Second World War. Over 55,000 of the airmen never returned from these missions; a further 10,000 became prisoners of war. And yet Bomber Command has been mired in controversy and its veterans – all volunteers – have never been awarded a campaign medal. Their crucial contribution to the outcome of the war has all too often been overlooked.

BOMBER CREW exposes the bravery of these men using gripping first-person testimony from the surviving pilots and crew. For them this was a time of incredible hardship and adrenaline, courage and friendship, and their stories bear witness to the strength of the human spirit in times of incredible danger. Never before has their story been so vividly told. This is also a revealing look at the history of Bomber Command itself, from the early days through to eventual victory in 1945.

From the terrifying action of the bombing raids to the intimate personal accounts of heroism, tragedy and triumph, this is the ultimate account of these brave men and their contribution to the Allied victory.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #206148 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Review
'This is a remarkable book ... a vivid history of a vital era, replacing popular notions with something more plausible and even more impressive.' -- Daily Express on SPITFIRE ACE 'Few readers will fail to be moved by the youth, innocence, dogged decency and determination of those airmen.' -- Max Hastings, Mail on Sunday

Review
‘This is a remarkable book . . . a vivid history of a vital era, replacing popular notions with something more plausible and even more impressive.’ (Daily Express on SPITFIRE ACE )

'These young men went out to fly knowing that they only had a slim chance of completing a tour of operations and they went on doing it. My admiration for them is undimmed.' (Max Hastings, Mail on Sunday )

From the Inside Flap
‘You have got to have implicit trust in all members of your crew. If they said there was a night fighter coming in right, you’ve got to be prepared to corkscrew.’ John Whiteley, Pilot

‘The worst moment was when you saw where the target was. You'd think, "Oh blimey, not that one again, I was shot to hell the last time we went there." It was really terrifying, that moment.’ Maurice Flower, Flight Engineer

‘I thought it better not to know what was going on outside. I didn’t really want to see all these shells exploding or all these aircraft being shot down on the way to the target.' Bill Burke, Navigator

‘All of us knew within a matter of seconds that the German fighters above us were going to start diving down, realising that we were all virtually blinded by this terrible white light, and that was quite alarming.’ Alan Bryett, Bomb Aimer

‘My initial wireless training was at Blackpool. We were almost continually reading Morse Code and I think a few people went rather berserk with the continual "Dit dot, dit dot". I found myself going around looking at signs on buses, reading them in Morse.’ Jim Rogers, Wireless Operator

‘It seemed a long trip to me, I think about seven hours. But we were so fortunate, because out of the fifteen or so aircraft that left Waterbeach on that trip, only three of us got down before the weather closed in.’ Ron Pitt, Mid-upper Gunner

Customer Reviews

Fascinating and Moving Documentary
There are plenty of books on this subject and this is the second which I have read, so I can't make any comparisons. My area of interest is in the experiences of those involved in the war and Bomber Crew dealt with this in a way which was easily digestible.

I believe that the book was an accompaniment to a TV series which attempted to recreate the experience of flying a Lancaster. I have no time for this kind of tosh: a serious and emotional subject presented as reality TV when a documentary would have been a far better option. Surely this speaks volumes about todays audiences. That aside, Bomber Crew represents that documentary. It is constructed with a well written and informative narrative which is heavily punctuated with contributions from veterans, taking the reader from training through to the end of the war. The contributions are remarkably honest, matter of fact and modest and dispel any notion that these men consider themselves heroes. This in itself is tremendously moving. The power of the written word over visual images is strong here as the imagination is the key instrument in interpreting the book, although there are a few images present and sadly these are poorly reproduced. One however, stayed with me: silhouetted ground crew waving off a bomber against the late evening sky. A poignant and evocative image.

There are many poignant, moving, humorous and occasionally horrific moments in the book. A crew member describes the ground crew swilling out the rear turret with a pump and hose: 'the water was running away pink. I looked at the guy doing the job and he looked at me, but neither of us spoke. I just carried on with what I was doing, but it gets to you a little bit'.

Reflect on that for a moment.

It got to me more than a little bit. Young men, barely out of their teens, flying out in a rattling Lancaster through flak and enemy fighters, simply not knowing whether they would end the night dead or alive and if it was to be dead, how? The spirit, comradeship and teamwork are explored here to great effect; it's powerful stuff and the book takes you to the heart of it. These men remain remarkable human beings, dead or alive.