Through enemy skies - with wartime bomber command aircrews

These ten personal accounts of RAF Bomber Command aircrew chart the history of Britain’s bombing campaign in the Second World War. Starting with the disastrous misemployment of the force in the opening weeks of the conflict, they progress from bombing raids with each aircraft acting independently, to hundreds of heavy bombers being channelled over the release point. The accounts open with the poignant letters written by an eighteen-year-old killed on his first operation three weeks into the war. Other crew members detail their experiences as the force gained expertise, not least as the electronic aids were developed that eventually made precision marking possible. Tours are recalled too when the focus of operations had changed to tactical support of the Allied land forces. What is invariably reflected is the bewilderment felt at the post-war opprobrium visited upon Bomber Command; more especially as Churchill declared in 1940 that, without it, ‘I do not see a way through’.