Colour documentary that follows a Lancaster crew in 1944

[Stuart Fedak]

Text removed as information is no longer current

[maple_leaf_eh]

Very impressive footage, and even a hint of humour from time to time. My backyard neighbour is a Halifax navigator.

[Ed Storey]

I don't think my 21 year-old Son is ready to fly a four-engine bomber over Germany at night.

Just kids in the documentary, and they all smoke. Hard to believe that that aged Veterans in the Legion were once those kids.

[Marc Montgomery]

Guy Gibson, was in his very early 20's not only as commander and responsible for the lives of his bomber crew, but as commander of the whole Dam Busters squadron..

I cannot help but think of myself and contemporaries at age 20-24, and as such remain in complete awe of that generation.

While 70% of Canadian bomber missions were flown in Halifax', my fathers friend was a Lanc pilot. Alas I was not quite interested enough at the time to ask more directly about his experiences, which of course as a teen, did not really comprehend...no thanks to Cdn history lesson in school.... sigh... in retrospect..if only...

great film Stuart thanks for posting.

[Keith Webb]

I have interviewed many Australians who flew in Bomber Command, all of whom I rate very highly.
Some were pilots, but I have also interviewed most other crew positions, although I have yet to find a Flight Engineer. Some who were Navigators of Bomb Aimers were scrubbed pilots, remustered into new jobs.
This often came in handy where the pilot had been injured and needed help.
Many had been shot down by flak or fighters, even one remarkable mid upper gunner who had broken his leg falling from the turret as the aircraft was flung around in it's death throes. He managed to drag himself to the exit after putting his parachute on. All the others except the tail gunner made it out, only to be murdered on the ground by Germans.
Interviewing Peter Isaacson who is still alive at the age of 92, I asked him what went through his mind as he struggled to recover his aircraft as it plummeted out of control when hit by flak. His answer? "Nothing". Peter flew the first Lancaster to Australia, Q-Queenie (not G-George which is in the AWM). He is also famous for flying it under the Sydney Harbour bridge. After one tour he transferred to Pathfinders on Lancasters.
The men I interviewed from Bomber Command flew or crewed an interesting array of aircraft including Whitley, Wellington, Halifax, Stirling and Lancaster. There was even one Navigator from 100 Group who flew in Fortresses.
Speaking of Guy Gibson of 617 Sqn, he was also responsible for forming the squadron. It was also later led by Leonard Cheshire. There was a strong contingent of Australians in 617. For those interested there is a free download of the excellent radio play here, which tells the whole 617 story. It makes excellent in-car listening and bears hearing time and again.
The colour documentary is a vivid illustration of a typical raid, even if the 1981 sound effects are decidedly dodgy at times.

[Marc Montgomery]

Thirty of the squad were Canadian. many were pilots, 14 killed in the raid. In history books, many actions are attributed to British, when Commonwealth personnel were the ones involved.
The Great Escape (anniversary March 24-25) for example was a mostly Canadian affair, with no Americans involved.

[chris vickery]

Marc, you touched upon the fact that many of these warriors were merely kids. They say the average age of a combatant in WW2 was 26 and in Vietnam it was 19.
There were many who fit the 17 to 20 year old range in WW2. I cannot even imagine trying to put todays youth into the time machine and compare them. It was indeed a different time.
I am a huge U-Boat enthusiast among my interests in things military. The youngest U-Boat Captain was only 20! Imagine going to sea with a kid in charge?

[David Dunlop]

Very interesting film. Interesting to see what and how much wireless/electronics gear was added to the aircraft as the war progressed. Also noticed the RCA AR88 Comm receiver in use at the base in one shot.

The other thing that I did not realize was how incredibly unprotected the crew of the Lancaster was in combat. Only one small armour plate to protect the pilot's head! That it even worse than the B-17 (not by much) where the ventral gunner was the luck one to be enclosed in an armoured ball turret.

Technically speaking for either aircraft, an enemy aircraft coming straight astern, with a well aimed burst of gunfire could take out the tail gunner and place a stream of lead down the full length of the fuselage with little to stop it.

They talk of the 70 odd thousand Bomber crew killed during the war. I wonder what percentage of them were killed in aircraft that actually made it home? One tends to assume they would all have died in aircraft shot down. We look at the actions of World War One where commanders sent unprotected infantry against machine guns again and again and think how terrible that was and if they had to do it again the commanders would do a better job. Move ahead to WW2, go into the air instead of fighting on the ground, and it seems the commanders didn't really get the message.

David

[Marc Montgomery]

Unfortunately there were probably many cases of planes coming home with bodies on board. Anthère thing i cant imagine. That was an amarinage generation

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally Posted by Marc Montgomery

Thirty of the squad were Canadian. many were pilots, 14 killed in the raid. In history books, many actions are attributed to British, when Commonwealth personnel were the ones involved.
The Great Escape (anniversary March 24-25) for example was a mostly Canadian affair, with no Americans involved.

Coincidence...I just got the book "The Great Escape" by Ted Barris. Inset map of Stalag Luft III shows the tunnels identified as Tom, Harry and George. Dick only ran from one hut to another hut from which Tom could be accessed. A totally Canadian operation since the American south camp abuttedt he Canadian north compound.

Apologies for the minor sidetrack, but I also watched that documentary of the Lancaster crew. I had no concept of the background planning and briefings involved.

[Marc Montgomery]

Great book, amazing just how many Cdns were involved. I interviewed Ted Barris at length last week, very nice guy