Product Description

Sixty years ago over 100 aerodromes in east and north-eastern England were occupied by the men and machines of RAF Bomber Command. The tenure of the majority of the bases was brief - some six years - but during that time more than 55,000 men lost their lives while flying from them to attack targets on the Continent. Split into seven operational groups, the airfields of Bomber Command formed the cornerstone of Britain's efforts to carry on the war against Germany in the years before the landings in Normandy. Thereafter they played their part in the battle against the V-weapons with one of the last raids of the war being carried out against Hitler's personal mountain retreat. Each airfield has been explored and photographed in the "then and now" style of Roger Freeman's previous books for After the Battle on the US Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. The physical development, construction and operational history of every airfield is described in detail and all are illustrated with wartime and present-day aerial photographs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89248 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 360 pages

Customer Reviews

Brilliant moving tribute to the men who gave us freedom
Renowned aviation expert Roger A. Freeman has compiled this well-detailed digest of all the airfields of RAF Bomber Command. In the often imitated but never beaten style of the After the Battle series, the book contrasts wartime images of the airfields with today's comparisons, giving life and context to the writing. Nature, in many cases, has sown weeds on the concrete where once lumbering four-engined Lancasters took off to fight.

All the Bomber Command airfields are covered, with useful aerial photographs and histories.

After the controversial bombing of German cities and centres of production, the British government rapidly washed their hands of this service (which had been following the government's own orders) and the airmen's sacrifices were quietly and deliberately forgotten. This book is a moving and factual memorial to the 55,000 men of RAF Bomber Command who lost their lives as part of the Allied war effort that gave us freedom.