With an average age of just twenty-two, the young airmen of the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command, all volunteers, began operating within minutes of the start of the Second World War. Continually, through to May 1945, the aircrews, with the odds heavily against them, fought in defiance of Nazi aggression. They defended the British Isles against invasion, they took the war directly back to Germany, they supported the Allied land campaigns, they opposed the enemy Navy and U-boat threats, and they countered the German V-weapon offensives. But the cost was high. From this multi-national force, made up of British airmen, Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Rhodesians, Indians, Poles, Czechs, French, Americans and Jamaicans, a staggering 55,573 airmen would lose their lives, 9,838 would become prisoners of war and a further 8,403 would suffer wounds. Fighting High Publishing brings together notable military aviation authors to tell the stories of some of those who ‘failed to return’ from operations. The carefully selected stories demonstrate the diversity of operational duties undertaken by the aircrews, whilst highlighting the extremes of danger they faced, often day after day and night after night. Most would not survive their ordeal, and many others would see out the war incarcerated in an enemy POW camp.The authors, drawing upon surviving veteran accounts, family archives, official documents, wartime memoirs and letters, flying logbooks, and relative and witness recollections, piece together the extraordinary, gripping, yet ultimately tragic events surrounding the losses described. Illustrated throughout with color and black and white photographs and documents, ‘Bomber Command – Failed to Return’ ensures that the memory of all the young men, some would even say boys, who sacrificed all, is kept alive. ‘Lest we forget.’

Bomber Command: Failed to Return

History

Bond, Steve

Feast, Sean

Darlow, Steve

Military

Fighting High Publishing

On the night of 16/17 May 1943 a select group of young RAF Bomber Command airmen carried out one of the most audacious and daring low level raids of the Second World War. Nineteen aircrews of No.617 Squadron, flying modified Avro Lancasters, each armed with a 'bouncing bomb', were detailed to attack specific dams, viewed as essential to Germany's war effort. Two were indeed breached in an extraordinary display of skill and courage, but at a cost of eight Lancasters lost. Of the 56 airmen flying these aircraft, 53 were killed and 3 were captured. In Dam Busters: Failed to Return Fighting High Publishing brings together notable Bomber Command historians to recount the lives of some of the Dam Busters who were lost that fateful night. Drawing upon family archives, official documents, wartime memoirs and letters, flying logbooks, and relative and witness recollections, and illustrated throughout with color and black and white photographs and documents, the authors piece together the extraordinary, gripping, yet ultimately tragic stories of these select young men.

Dam Busters: Failed to Return

Biographies & Memoirs

Owen, Dr Robert

Thorning, Arthur G.

Leaders & Notable People

On 6 June 1944 the Allies launched one of the greatest military feats of all time, forcing a re-entry in to 'Fortress Europe' - the sea borne and airborne assault upon the coastline of Normandy. Key to the success of the D-Day campaign was the contribution of the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command, who waged an unrelenting campaign in the run-up to D-Day, on the day itself, and in the months subsequent. Bomber Command aircrew attacked rail yards and communications targets to isolate the battle area from enemy reinforcement, bombarded enemy positions, supplied the French Resistance, and deceived the enemy as to the true whereabouts of the beach landings. The cost in young lives was, however, enormous. Thousands of young Bomber Command aircrew sacrificed their lives attacking invasion targets in the three months prior to the beach landings. More airmen failed to return on D-Day itself. Thousands more now either rest in French or Belgian cemeteries or are listed as missing as a result of further raids in support of the Normandy land campaign. On 1 July 1944 Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris wrote to Chief of Air Staff Sir Charles Portal expressing his concern over the lack of recognition in respect of his command's support to the invasion. 'There are 10,500 aircrew in my operational squadrons. In three months we have lost over half that number. They have a right that their story should be adequately told, and it is a military necessity that it should be.' On the 70th anniversary of D-Day Fighting High Publishing brings together acclaimed historians to tell the story of some of those who became casualties serving with Bomber Command. Illustrated throughout with color and black and white photographs, the vast majority previously unpublished, D-Day Bomber Command: Failed to Return ensures the memory of the D-Day bomber boys, who sacrificed all, is kept alive. 'Lest we forget'.

D-Day Bomber Command: Failed to Return

Hall, Marc

MacDonald, Andrew

Sandall, Howard

Shot down and killed in April 1944, Lionel Anderson, a low flying Mosquito intruder pilot, was part way through his second tour of operations. He had survived his first tour stooging up and down the French coast in an outdated Boulton Paul Defiant to confound the German night fighter defenses and allow the Royal Air Force bombers a free run to the target. Lionel’s journey to war had been one of enormous excitement, most of which had been spent training in the sunshine and mountains of Arizona, flying during the day and partying hard at the weekends. A prolific letter writer, Lionel continually regaled his parents with tales of cowboys and indians, rattlesnakes and spiders, ground loops and near misses. He also talked of his Hollywood connections, his new ‘pals’ Preston Foster and Gene Tierney, and a movie in which he had ‘starred’ as an ‘extra’. In A Thunder Bird in Bomber Command, acclaimed military aviation historian Sean Feast pieces together Lionel’s story revealing a young man dearly loved by his mother and father. He was similarly worshipped by his younger brother, Gerald, who would go on to become a world renowned television producer, director, and writer. It was Lionel’s connection with a little-known film that was to inspire Gerry Anderson to create a global phenomena - the legend of Thunderbirds.

A Thunder Bird in Bomber Command: The Wartime Letters and Story of Lionel Anderson, the Man Who Inspired a Legend

In the Summer of 1944 Nazi Germany launched its terrifying Vergeltungswaffen (reprisal weapon) attack against the population of southeast England. Under direct attack the Allies responded. The Supreme Allied Commander General Dwight D. Eisenhower was quite clear that the V-weapon counter measures were of paramount importance over everything except the urgent requirements of the D-Day and Normandy land battle, 'this priority to obtain until we can be certain that we have definitely gotten the upper hand of this particular business.’ He would use all the resources at his disposal including the Royal Air Force’s heavy bomber force.The task for RAF Bomber Command was simple. If the bomber crews could reduce the number of V1s launched, the fighter aircraft and gun defenses had a better chance to intercept and shoot down the flying bombs. But these pilot-less aircraft were not the only menace, the V2 rocket offensive would soon be launched, and the Allies closely monitored the construction of what they came to learn was the V3 ‘supergun’ site.When the war came to a close Bomber Command could justifiably claim success against the V-Weapons. There was a cost though – a cost in aircrew lives. V-Weapons Bomber Command Failed to Return tells the story of some of those airmen who were prepared to risk their lives countering the German V-Weapon offensive in direct defense of the civilian population. They had responded to what British Prime Minister Winston Churchill described as the attempt to ‘blast the viper in his nest’. Their story deserves to be told. ‘We Will Remember Them’.

V-Weapons Bomber Command Failed to Return

Europe

‘Tonight you are going to the Big City. You will have the opportunity to light a fire in the belly of the enemy that will burn his black heart out.’ The message from Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command Sir Arthur Harris was clear. As the Second World War continued into a fifth year, the airmen of Bomber Command were to fly deep into hostile airspace and bring the war direct to the German Nazi capital Berlin. From the autumn of 1943 to the last days of winter in early 1944, during the hours of extended darkness, the bomber crews braved the flak, the searchlights, enemy night fighters and extremes of weather, to bombard the ‘black heart’. Prior to the all-out campaign against the ‘Big City’ Sir Arthur Harris firmly believed his bomber force could break the German will to wage war, but he also prophesied that ‘It will cost us between 400 and 500 aircraft’. Fighting High Publishing brings together acclaimed Bomber Command historians to tell the story of some of the thousands of airmen who failed to return from operations as part of the 1943 and 1944 Bomber Command Battle of Berlin. The authors, utilizing family archives, personal testimony and records, wartime memoirs, diaries and letters, witness recollections, logbooks, and official documents, piece together the remarkable, yet ultimately tragic events surrounding the losses described. Illustrated throughout with previously unpublished black and white and color photographs Bomber Command Battle of Berlin Failed to Return ensures the memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice is kept alive. ‘We Will Remember Them’.

Bomber Command: Battle of Berlin: Failed to Return

Russell, Nicole

Coming Down in the Drink is the story of Flight Lieutenant John Brennan DFC. John is an Irishman who need not have fought in the war at all. A sense of adventure took him to London where he trained as a chef before joining the RAF and qualifying as a wireless operator/air gunner. Posted to 148 Squadron in the Middle East in 1941, John was soon in the fray as the front gunner of a Wellington, flying daily sorties to Benghazi in what was known as ‘the mail run’, bombing enemy ships that were offloading vital supplies to Rommel and the Afrika Korps. As much at risk from faulty engines as enemy action, John completed a tour of almost 300 hours of operational flying, including an operation in March 1942 in which his Wellington suffered an engine failure and came down in the sea. He thus became a member of the Goldfish Club. Posted home and commissioned, he spent time instructing in Scotland, surviving yet another accident in which his pilot crashed into a mountainside. Volunteering for a second tour, John joined 78 Squadron in the summer of 1944, being crewed with one of the flight commanders. He completed his tour, this time as a wireless operator, in March 1945, by which time they were operating in daylight in support of the Allied advance. He was awarded the DFC. John is one of the only surviving wartime members of the Goldfish Club, and has a fascinating record of 63 operations that covers both the ‘forgotten’ bombing war in the Middle East in 1941/42, operating from strips of sand in the barren desert, to a main force heavy bomber squadron in the snow of Yorkshire at the end of the war.

Coming Down in the Drink

Historical

Pen and Sword Aviation

Pathfinders is a new history of Bomber Command’s corps d’elite and the men who led the greatest striking force ever known. The story explores the genesis of Pathfinder Force (PFF), from its initial inception and less-than-spectacular start to its development as a precision instrument that gave the razor edge to the RAF bomber offensive. It looks at its difficult birth – Sir Arthur Harris was vehemently opposed to its creation – and the key personalities and squabbles, in particular the increasingly bitter rivalry between the mercurial PFF commander, Australian Donald Bennett, and his rival in 5 Group, Sir Ralph Cochrane, and what Bennett saw as Harris’ ultimate betrayal. The book explores how crews became Pathfinders, some with bounding enthusiasm, others more reluctantly or by chance, and how the quality and availability of crews varied throughout the war. Drawing on more than 20 years of research and interviews with the heroes of PFF, it considers their training and the methods and techniques deployed on operations including the Master Bomber system, and it examines their successes and failures, the tragedies and triumphs, and Pathfinder Force’s vital contribution to victory in Europe.

Pathfinders: The Definitive Story

Key Publishing

The Pathfinders were the corps d’elite of Bomber Command, the command that led the fight against Germany even before the fall of France. Pathfinder crews consisted of members who had flown a minimum of 45 operational sorties and while they were the best, they were made from all ranks and backgrounds. The Master Bomber was the aircraft in charge of the whole attack. They would transmit instructions over VHF radio to the main force telling them what colored markers to ignore and what to bomb.Master Bombers is a comprehensive and detailed exploration of the key figures involved in Pathfinder operations throughout World War Two.

Master Bombers: 1942-1945: The Experiences of a Pathfinder Squadron at War

Grub Street Publishing

Ted Stocker lived a charmed life. Trained at RAF Halton as one of Trenchard’s ‘Brats’, a posting to Boscombe Down saw him fly in both the prototype Stirling and Halifax just as war engulfed Europe for the second time. Qualifying as one of the RAF’s first flight engineers, he flew operations in 1941/42 with 35 and 102 Squadrons, a contemporary of Leonard Cheshire, helping with the often hair-raising task of converting pilots from two to four engines. On his return to 35, he became a pathfinder and flight engineer leader, taking part in virtually every major air battle of the war. Awarded the DFC in 1943, he was posted to 7 and then 582 Squadrons, going on to complete more than 100 bombing operations , often as a master bomber, and flying with some of the pathfinder ‘greats’, including Don Bennett himself. Although his aircraft was frequently hit, and he survived a crash landing on only his second trip, Ted was never wounded. His achievements were recognized with the Distinguished Service Order, the only known DSO issued to a flight engineer during the war or since. After the war, he flew with Bomber Harris on a tour of Brazil and later qualified as a pilot, introducing the Lockheed Neptune anti-submarine aircraft to the RAF for the first time as a flight commander with Coastal Command.

Pathfinder's War: An Extraordinary Tale of Surviving Over 100 Bomber Operations Against All Odds

Stocker DSO DFC, Flt Lt Ted

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