Grandalf Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-cVw7Xb6Nk This may have been on PW before but it is worth another look. Incredible operation night after night. All those Lancaster bombers and now there are only a handful left and hardly any flying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluebarrels Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-cVw7Xb6Nk This may have been on PW before but it is worth another look. Incredible operation night after night. All those Lancaster bombers and now there are only a handful left and hardly any flying. Yep and how sad is that BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amateur Posted February 17, 2014 Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 What an interesting find this film is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 17, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2014 This film is of special significance to my Memsahib. Her father was Air Officer Commanding No 1 Group Bomber Command just prior to this film being made. By then he was with Bomber Harris at the HQ in Highwycombe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bucksshooter Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 amazing glimpse of the life of those brave men Being from high wycombe and seeing the high command base this film is fascinating Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88b Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Possibly the greatest generation of all time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgun Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thanks for putting this on, it's the best insight I've seen of what my dad did in the war, he was aircrew in Lancaster's tail gunner and and later Wireless operator. I cant believe how brave these men were, I don't like flying very much (scared) and to think of the hardship they went through coupled with the thought that they may not return, well it was moving and leaves me feeling inadequate, cheers anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peteri Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thanks for this, I watched this when it was on TV back in the 80's with my grandfather (who was a Lanc pilot all through the war) - brought back a lot of memories! Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thanks for this, I watched this when it was on TV back in the 80's with my grandfather (who was a Lanc pilot all through the war) - brought back a lot of memories! Pete Didn't know it had ever been on the TV. Must have missed it then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rimfire4969 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thanks for the heads up. I come not far from High Wycombe. My Grandfather was in Lancasters and Wellingtons during the war he was an flight engineer. He never really spoke much about it but he was always my hero. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woodcock11 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Very powerful stuff - I had a cousin who died five or six years ago who was an RAF bomber pilot - 3 tours on Wellingtons, ended up as a Squadron Leader with a DSO, DFC and two bars. A more lovely and modest man you could never have found. It was a privilege to have known him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imperfection Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 The actual bombers may be gone,but some of the bases they flew from are still around even if they are in a derelict state.I love having a wander round them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOLDCREST Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Thank you for putting this on...... My Dad built Lancasters at Avro and his brother my uncle was a Lancaster pilot officer. Unfortunately he was shot down and killed in the raid on Mailly camp....Aged just 23....The propellers from his Lancaster are set over the Grave site in France and look like Swiss cheese, riddled with bullet holes and flack.....................Grandma and Grandfather never really got over the loss of their youngest son..... Just one crew member escaped alive and was got safely back to Britain by the French resistance, though the village priest where the crewman was sheltered, Paid a heavy price, he was shot dead by the Germans for helping him to escape.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 18, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Goldcrest - That is terrible. Very sad. My Father-in-Law was a scout pilot in the first world war. He was a private in the Territorial Army infantry at the start, (1914) got commissioned and learnt to fly and went back to France as a pilot. By 1918 he was a Major in charge of a squadron. After the war he stayed in what had now become the RAF and by 1939 was in charge of No 1 Group of Bomber Command. In those days it was mainly Wellingtons and several Polish squadrons. Then he went to Bomber Command HQ in charge of operational planning of the raids. He did not choose the targets, that was another group of politicians and Air Force officers. He did the planning for Peenemunde (the V1/V2 factory) and, controversially, Dresden. Hundreds of the normal raids as well. (I say again he did not pick the targets)! He retired in 1946 as an Air Vice Marshal. Not bad for a weekend private. Lucky man though - He had his near misses but made it through both wars and all the nastiness in between them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex C Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Could you imagine today asking a 19 year old kid to strap himself into a plywood and bed sheet airplane, full of unstable explosives, sit there for hours on end getting shot at by much faster and more manoverable fighters, then drop said explosives and do the same in reverse. All in the Dark. I can only imagine the bravery of these young guys, and it was only a year or so ago that they got the credit they deserved with a Memorial in London. The mind boggles !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruno22rf Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 Trying to locate details of your uncle GOLDCREST-a surname would save me heaps of cross referencing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markbjones01 Posted February 18, 2014 Report Share Posted February 18, 2014 what a fantastic documentary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickS Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 If anyone knows any former aircrew from WW2, please draw their attention to Project Propeller, an annual reunion, happening at Staverton (Gloucester) this year. Transport is available from all over the country at no cost. www.projectpropeller.co.uk Nick Should have said that it also includes the ATA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wymberley Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 Nothing, apart from the aircraft, has changed: Have a read of Vulcan 607. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 19, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 (edited) Nothing, apart from the aircraft, has changed: Have a read of Vulcan 607. +1 wymberley. You only have to look at what our younger generations have done in The Falklands, Iraq and Afghanistan - amongst other places - to see that nothing has changed very much. The only difference is that the WW2 lads went on night after night after night. Then again our soldiers have stood their ground on the checkpoints in Afghanistan for weeks on end and gone back for second and third tours after watching their mates blown to pieces by IED's. Most people step up to the plate when it is needed. Edited February 19, 2014 by Grandalf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matone Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 Awesome film,hadn`t seen it before.Shows the massive organisation behind Bomber Command well. Thanks for posting,bigger thanks to those in the film and their ilk........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nimbusgb Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 amazing glimpse of the life of those brave men Being from high wycombe and seeing the high command base this film is fascinating Very few of them were men, most were, at least when they signed up, little more than boys. My father's and some of our grandfathers generation. As has been said after hostilities without exception they became gentlemen and were very reserved and unassuming about their participation in the war. Most would shrug off the label of heroes with disdain. In a similar vein, I don't know if this has been here before but this is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
del.gue Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 My fiances father and uncle were in Lancasters. Her dad was a sqdn ldr with the Pathfinders. Her uncle was a radio operator. Both survived the war. I never met her dad but her uncle only passed away last year. Apparently her dad never spoke much about his experiences until he wrote a book based on his diaries, "In The Thick Of It". I have looked at some of the diaries...scary stuff... They are a generation that should never be forgotten. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandalf Posted February 20, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 Very few of them were men, most were, at least when they signed up, little more than boys. My father's and some of our grandfathers generation. As has been said after hostilities without exception they became gentlemen and were very reserved and unassuming about their participation in the war. Most would shrug off the label of heroes with disdain. In a similar vein, I don't know if this has been here before but this is good. I received this link from a distant cousin in Canada some months ago. Very interesting - I didn't know American pilots ever flew the spitfire - but they did... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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