Stories

Bomber Command aircrew operated as a team, each member with a vital role to ensure they reached their target, dropped their payload and safely returned to base. But they were part of a much bigger team, a mix of both air and ground crew responsible for maintaining and servicing aircraft.

In the Ellesmere RSA is a painting by Chris Sheehan, the Shepherd. John Lay tells the remarkable story of the Denton crew, their kiwi skipper fighting to get his crippled Lancaster back to safety and his Scottish wireless operator whose “courage has seldom been equaled and never surpassed".

Shortly after D-Day a 75(NZ) Squadron returning from an operation to Villers-Bocage made an unplanned stopover in Normandy, becoming the first Allied heavy bomber to land (and later take-off) in libertaed western Europe. Chris Newey tells of the remarkable experience of the Williamson crew.

A massive network of airfields would be needed for Bomber Command to operate. From just 33 permanent stations in 1939, by the end of the war squadrons had operated from 170 airfields across England and Scotland. Construction of airfields, hangers, operations and accommodation these would be a major task.

Bomber crews became quite attached to their regular “kites”, relying on them to get them home safely each night. A wartime photo, posted online by the Air Force Museum of NZ, re-united Doug Williamson with "his" Lancaster - HK601 JN-D for “Dog”, aka “Snifter”, 75 years after jumping from her over Germany.

Apple TV's new series, Masters of the Air, is based on the US Eighth Air Force’s 100th Bomber Group, on their mission to bomb targets inside German-occupied Europe, alongside with RAF Bomber Command. there is an interesting New Zealand connection, through pilot Johnny Checketts.