European Aviation History

  The term “Lack of Moral Fibre” was introduced into RAF vocabulary in April 1940 and was ‘designed to stigmatize aircrew who refused to fly without a medical reason.’  [1]   While it is now most commonly associated with ‘shell-shocked’ bomber crews, in fact aircrew from all commands could be and were categorized as LMF in the course of the war. Humiliating as the concept was, the myths about the treatment of LMF were more terrifying than the facts .   The RAF entered the war confident that its volunteer aircrew, all viewed as the finest human material available, would not suffer from any crisis in morale. Yet already by January 1940, attrition rates of over 50% in Bomber Command, triggered a crisis in confidence among commanders and crews. At the same time, Coastal Command morale was undermined by unreliable engines and unarmed aircraft that proved extremely vulnerable to Luftwaffe attack. On March 21, 1940 the Air Member for Personnel met with senior RAF command...

  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. But every team has a captain and in the flying world that was always the pilot.  Yet it was a curiosity of the RAF that the pilot was neither always a commissioned officer nor always the most senior officer on board. Any member of the crew, advancing independently on their own merits and in their own trade, might conceivably hold a higher rank than the pilot. Thus off the aircraft, they might "out rank" their pilot, yet when onboard they were subordinate to him. This peculiarity probably explains why RAF bomber crews tended to refer to their pilot, regardless of his rank, as simply "the skipper." The skipper/pilot of the aircraft held overall responsibility for the aircraft and its crew. He was expected to make all command decisions, e.g. whether to abort a mission due to te...