Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #295151 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Customer Reviews

Invaluable information for anyone researching Bomber Command
I bought this book as I was researching the service history of my great uncle who was killed on operations in 1944. The size of the book was the first thing that alerted me to the scale of the sacrifice made by Bomber Command crews. 576 pages long, this is a reference book rather than a narrative, but the short details given against the loss of each and every aircraft soon brings home the awesome losses. Inevitably, more details are available for those aircraft from which crew members survived; most poignant are the entries stating simply 'Lost without trace'. Their families will never know what happened. The book does not pretend to be anything other than a list of every Bomber Command aircraft lost in 1944 so it is aimed at a specific market. It serves that market very well. Read it and remember 'The Many'.

RAF BOMBER COMMAND LOSSES
Having heard of the sacrifice made by my great uncle (a pilot of a Bristol Blenheim who was shot down and killed at the age of 21 on 7th April 1941) I decided to purchase this book to see if it contained any information about him. It did. Not only was I was able to see the details of his death but also the name of the Luftwaffe officer who finished him off as his Blenheim crashed into the sea. I also found out that my great uncle had escaped death two months before when his Blenheim crash landed on return from an operation. His wireless operator had died in that crash.

Having done my research I was simply unable to put this book down.

Although the book is primarily a list of every aircraft lost in a particular year (giving the date of loss and serial number of the craft) it is utterly compelling and incredibly depressing. It is difficult to comprehend the scale of the loss of life.

As we know all to well from current conflicts any death is a tragedy but the sheer scale of the deaths of these young men is staggering. It is apparent that each night they went out (and often this was night after night) there was a very good chance they would not return. It is a testamant to their bravery that they must have known this as they climbed into their aircraft night after night. The statistics speak for themselves.

I would thoroughly recommend this book as a fascinating read.