The Bomber Crew In Britain all healthy males between 18 and 40 had to be in either uniform or reserved occupation during the war. However, ALL aircrew were volunteers.

 

The fact that anyone over the age of 30 was known as ‘Dad’ (and those over 40 as ‘Grandad’) illustrates the fact that air crew were young men. The average age was just 20. Most of those who fought and died for their country were not old enough to vote.

 

A typical Bomber Command crew could readily consist of a spectrum of nationalities; an Australian pilot, English bomb aimer, and flight engineer, Canadian gunners and New Zealander wireless operator. A vast number of airmen from Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and other parts of the British Empire and its Dominions (such as South Africa, Rhodesia and so on) served in the RAF, RCAF, RAAF, or RNZAF. Even before the USA's involvement after Pearl Harbour (7-Dec-1941) many United States nationals also swelled the ranks, usually by the simple expedient of crossing into Canada and joining the RCAF.

 

Specific units were formed to accommodate Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders, and such units as 460 Sqdn RAAF, 428 Sqdn RCAF F, and 75 Sqdn RNZA sprang into existence. Having said that, a great number of such men also served in RAF units, the Australians soon earning a reputation for assertiveness and aggressiveness - as much on the ground as in the air!

 

Many French, Poles and Czechs joined the RAF and similar bomber units to the RCAF / RAAF / RNZAF existed. The Free French Air Force had Nos. 346 and 347 Sqdns and the Poles operated with great determination in such Squadrons as 300, 301 and 302. Many Poles and Czechs also flew on "Special Duties" flights, dropping arms and agents into occupied territory.

 

After completion of flying training, the individual airmen were posted to an Operational Training Unit, where the new intake was paraded in a hangar and told to form themselves into 5-man crews of pilot, navigator, wireless-operator, bomb aimer, and one air gunner.

 

Here they flew mainly Wellingtons and acquired team skills and did a lot of training, sometimes with an "easy" operation (dropping mines or leaflets) thrown in. After this, those destined for four-engined aircraft - which by late 1941 was almost every one of them - were sent to a Heavy Conversion Unit where the crew was joined by the flight engineer and a second air-gunner. At HCU instructors converted the crew onto the four-engined bombers, Halifaxes or Stirlings, and after a short course the crew was posted to an operational Squadron.

 

Once trained, aircrew flew operations until a tour of duty was complete - or they were regarded by officialdom as a coward - or they were killed or taken prisoner.

 

A Tour of Duty and Losses Once on an operational Squadron, a tour of duty was 30 completed operations.

 

An "op" was a successfully completed flight or sortie, where the primary or secondary target had been attacked.

 

Crews turning back early through technical problems did not count as having successfully operated.

 

The loss rate was around the 4 to 5 per cent mark, so mathematically it was impossible to survive.

 

Yet about 35 per cent of crews survived a first tour, after which they were classed as "tour expired" or "screened", trained as instructors and sent to HCUs and OTUs to train more crews.

 

After a six month rest, they came back for another tour of 20 operations. If they survived this, they could volunteer for more; but if they chose not to, they remained as instructors unless promoted to higher things.

 

During the first five operations the new crew ran ten times the risk of the more experienced men, simply because they did not know the ropes.

 

Having survived 15 ops, the odds were reckoned to be even. In many squadrons the rule was "no leave until 5 operations are complete" but normally, aircrew received one week's leave every six weeks, and would be issued with a return rail pass to a destination of his choice, and temporary ration cards.

 

Most airmen went "home" to wives or parents and it was nothing unusual for a son or husband to turn up at little or no notice with a crewmate or two along, especially if such were Canadians or Australians, sampling British home life.

 

Others teamed up with friends and went on expeditions to London or York. The latter were termed a "bash" and usually involved considerable quantities of alcohol and the companionship of the opposite gender.

 

Such was the comradeship of aircrew that many of the men, doing a second tour with a different crew to their first, would find that they had finished a tour before the rest of the crew. Most would volunteer to do a few extra so that the crew's unity was preserved; this was rarely spoken of, but illustrates the bond between such men. A smaller minority, thinking that it was foolish to push their luck, would quietly ask that they finish at the proper number of trips. There were many cases of a man doing one extra as a favour to a comrade, or a tour-expired crew stepping in to make up the numbers; and then failing to return.

 

The Risks

 

The risks faced by bomber crew were considerable. Between 1940 and 1945 47,268 airmen from RAF Bomber Command were killed and 8,403 were injured, often horribly burnt or maimed, on missions.

 

The German anti-aircraft system was extremely well organised, with the Kammhuber Line, a strong belt of 88mm guns and powerful searchlights extending along the German / Dutch border. Many aircraft came down in the Zuider Zee and are still being discovered as the land is gradually drained.

 

The Luftwaffe's night fighter force was also very highly developed, with ground radar stations directing airborne radar-equipped night fighters into the bomber stream, freelance roving fighters, and high-flying Luftwaffe aircraft dropping flares to mark the bomber stream's progress. Between November 1943 and March 1944 Luftwaffe night fighters claimed 1,000 victims.

 

Heavy bomber crews had a ten percent chance of baling out after being shot down and many were taken prisoner.

 

It is estimated that of every 100 airmen:- 56 were killed on operations or died as result of wounds 3 were injured (in varying levels of severity) on operations or active service 12 were taken prisoner of war (some injured) 2 were shot down and evaded capture 27 survived

 

Enemy action was not the only hazard that bomber crews faced. Most bombers were inadequately heated, with only one heat outlet, with the result that one lucky crew member sat in a sweat and everyone else froze. The air gunners were equipped with electrically heated oversuits, boots and gauntlets, but these were notoriously unreliable. The stunning cold at high altitudes often froze equipment solid, leaving guns unable to fire at a crucial moment, or crew members injured when they touched metal with their bare hands.