European Aviation History

  The men who flew with Bomber Command were viewed by contemporaries as an elite force.  Throughout the war, they were appreciated and admired -- particularly by the opposite sex. They enjoyed status and privileges envied by their non-flying comrades. Although a remarkably diverse group, they nevertheless shared many characteristics and their image was unique and distinct from that of the "Fighter Boys." Because of the prevailing doctrine that "the bomber would always get through" and the associated conviction that a war would be won by the side that bombed the best and the heaviest, the RAF (like the Luftwaffe) emphasized bombers and bomber training throughout the interwar years. Although this doctrine nearly cost Britain the war (through neglect of the Fighter Arm until it was almost too late), it re-asserted itself almost the moment the Battle of Britain was over.  In order to hit back at Hitler, distract attention from the Eastern Front (i.e. to provide a "...

   For most of WWII, the Western Allies had no long-range fighters capable of providing protection to bombers taking the offensive against Nazi Germany. The only defense bombers had if found by enemy fighters came from their own guns. While on the whole self-defense of bombers proved inadequate, it would be wrong to dismiss air gunners as worthless.    Lancaster Tail Gunner, Imperial War Museum The defensive armaments of the RAF's bombers were without doubt inadequate. For all but the last six months of the war, bombers, even the four-engine "heavies" (the Sterling, Halifax and Lancaster), were armed only with eight relatively light .303 machine guns. (Two forward, two midships, and four in the tail.) In contrast, U.S. bombers had the .50 caliber heavy guns, although they did not have dramatically more success shooting down the Luftwaffe's fighters.   The outfitting of the bombers with .303 machine guns was not due to ignorance of the dangers to which the b...

   It took a team to fly a bomber in WWII and the wireless operator served as the vital link between the aircraft and its base, other aircraft and rescue services. Lancaster Wireless Operator, Imperial War Museum, The limitations of airborne communications systems combined with the need for radio silence to the extent possible meant that in practice pilots very rarely communicated by radio either with other aircraft or with the ground. Instead, wireless communications, which could be more easily encrypted, were used to the extent possible. As with so many other aircrew trades, wireless operators were also initially expected to man one of the guns. With the introduction of dedicated gunners later in the war, however, the wireless operator was "freed" to focus on all aspects of communication from the intercom to the wireless, but also including signalling, i.e. aldis lamp and firing flares. Due to his training, the wireless operator was often expected to be able to repair any ...

  It took a team to fly a bomber in WWII. While the pilot was the team captain and each of the other members of the crew contributed to getting an aircraft to and from the target safely, the reason they were all there was because of what the bomb aimer did.     Bomb aimer "Dickie" Newcomb, Courtesy of Jonny Cracknell and Adrian Stevens On a bomber, bombing was what it was all about. In the first world war, bombing had been done by the second man in the aircraft, the so-called "Observer" who was responsible for everything except flying -- i.e. navigation, defense and dropping the bomb(s). The term "Observer" continued in use into the early years of WWII, but with the advent of the four-engine bombers it was replaced by the more specialized terms "navigator," "air gunner" and "bomb aimer" (bombardier in U.S. jargon).  Many, if not most, bomb aimers started their careers in the RAF wanting to be pilots,  but had "washed ou...

  It took a team to fly a bomber in WWII, and one of the most skilled and most vital was the navigator. Because the RAF did not operate large, tight formations in daylight, there was no simple "follow my leader" kind of flying. Instead, each aircraft was expected to reach the target and return on its own. This meant that the success -- and survival -- of RAF bombers depended in no small part upon the skills of the navigator.   Harry Lomas, Navigator The RAF learned very early in the war that bombers, even flying in formation, could not defend themselves against fighter attacks. Yet until early 1944, there were no fighters with the range to escort bombers to targets inside Germany. In order to strike at Germany -- as the strategic air offensive must -- the RAF switched to night bombing. When flying in darkness, close formations were a hazard not a benefit, so the RAF evolved the concept of the "bomber stream." This entailed sending large numbers of bombers on roughl...

  It took a team to fly a bomber in WWII. Each man aboard had a job to do and veterans stress the degree to which they not only relied on one another but respected one another as professionals. While the pilot was the team captain, his closest assistant in controlling the aircraft was the flight engineer.   Above a flight engineer signals the ground crew to start #3 engine. IWM film material in the public domain.   In early 1942, the RAF concluded that they could not afford to have two pilots aboard an aircraft. It took too long and cost too much to train a pilot (up to two and a half years) to allow half of them to sit around idle during operations in which they might get killed. The second pilot on a bomber was effectively waiting for the first pilot to be killed or too severely injured to fly, but might die in the process himself, without ever contributing to the war effort. The position of "Second Pilot" (or co-pilot in American parlance) was therefore eliminated....