The Air War, and British Bomber Crews, in World War Two

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• 1. Flying blind
• 2. Better bombers
• 3. Technology wars
• 4. The enormous cost
• 5. Find out more
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Flying blind

Flying in a British bomber during World War Two was one of the most dangerous jobs imaginable. Some 55,000 aircrew died in raids over Europe between 1939 and 1945, the highest loss rate of any major branch of the British armed forces.

Yet there is no official campaign medal commemorating the sacrifices of these men. Their contribution to the war effort has been partly overshadowed by the controversy over the saturation bombing of German cities in 1944 and '45, in which tens of thousands of German civilians were killed.

During the war, this was not a debate that concerned most members of Bomber Command. They were preoccupied with obeying their orders, and with surviving. Early in the war bomber pilots were taught terrible lessons about their vulnerability. Missions over Europe were flown by day, and German fighters found the lumbering British aircraft easy targets.

In late 1939, 21 out of 36 bombers on one sortie failed to return. Many of the planes were flying so low that when they were hit there was no time to bale out. Daylight raids were abandoned. From then on, British bombers would fly mainly at night.

Navigation in the dark was intensely difficult, particularly if there was cloud cover over the ground. At first, crews had to rely on dead reckoning - estimating position by speed, flying time and compass. Unpredictable winds could disrupt the finest calculations. Doug Morton was a tail gunner on a raid to Italy in 1940:

'There were seven aircraft detailed for it from our flight. Three of the aircraft couldn't get over the Alps. We managed to fly through them, and we bombed the target - the Fiat works at Turin - quite successfully. But it was 10/10 cloud right down to the ground all the way back, and consequently we were hopelessly and completely lost.

We were hit by anti-aircraft, so we guessed that we were crossing the northern French coast. Then we carried on and then again we were absolutely blasted with anti-aircraft, and we carried on a bit further. We ran out of petrol. There was no lay-by handy, so we all jumped. This was about five o'clock on a very cold November morning.'

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Published: 2001-09-01