The enormous cost
'It was a brilliant night, huge moon, and we were attacked from behind and below. We couldn't see him at all, only when he opened fire. And he hit the tail turret, and two guns jammed and the other two were put out of action, so we had nothing. I just had to watch the shells ricocheting off the starboard wing, and exploding up in front of us.
And while I was looking at that side, there was a huge sort of whoomph, and I turned round and the petrol tanks on the port wing had burst into flames, so there was nothing much we could do other than leave [the plane].' (Rex Oldland)
Dropping the bombs was the most dangerous part of the mission. Planes had to fly level and straight to maximise chances of hitting the target. After the bombs fell, the pilot would have to hold position to take a flash photograph of the site. Without this photograph, the flight might not count towards the 30 required to complete a single tour of duty.
Planes on the bomb run presented a perfect target. Occasionally, planes might even be hit by bombs released from a plane above. When crews returned home they were exhausted by the intensity of the dangers they had experienced and by many hours flying in uncomfortable conditions. Some of them would have seen other planes exploding in huge fireballs, or being shot down.
They returned to an ordered life on the base where, after the Battle of Britain, there was little risk of attack. Within hours of weaving their way through flak in the freezing skies above Berlin, they could be off duty enjoying a pint, a dance or a film.
'It was a Jekyll and Hyde existence really, and it was funny to just ride around your bike among the fields, and think, well, it's not many hours since we were in another, completely different world. And probably thinking maybe just once or twice about friends who hadn't come back. It was a schizophrenic life really. You had to have two caps, one to enjoy yourself and one to get serious.' (Roy MacDonald)
Losses on each flight varied enormously during the war. The acceptable rate was set around five per cent, and the average between 1942-44 was four per cent. This arithmetic is more brutal than it sounds. Less than one crew in eight would survive fifty missions. Half of all aircrew were lost before they had even completed ten missions.
Historians have fiercely debated whether Bomber Command's contribution to the war effort was worthwhile, and whether the loss of German civilian lives can ever be justified. But whether the strategy was militarily and morally acceptable or not, the men who flew the planes and died in their thousands did not devise it.
Published: 2001-09-01
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