Aussie Lancaster Heros Remembered

ME 701, JO-F - 463 Sqn, WaddingtonA Lancaster bomber of 463 Squadron RAAF, at RAF Base Waddington, England. (This aircraft, number ME701 code JO-F, with nose art of a cow titled "Whoa Bessie" was the camera aircraft for the bombing mission which sank the German battleship "Tirpitz" in September 1944.)

WWII bomber crew salute mates
Paul Maley June 02, 2008

WAR, it is frequently remarked, is a young man's game.

Aside from the physical hardships, the perils of combat demand a mindset typically found only in young males: an unshakeable belief in one's immortality.

Nowhere was this attitude more prevalent, or wildly misplaced, than in the men of the World War II Allied Bomber Command, some of whom gathered in Canberra yesterday for the inaugural commemorative ceremony honouring their dead.

2005_S1324_07Flight Sergeant Joslyn "Len" Henderson in his rear turret on 21 November 1944.(Date taken: 21 November 1944)

Chief of the Air Force, Air Marshal Geoff Shepherd, described the attrition rate for bomber crews as "horrific".

"The life expectancy of a crew was 13 missions," he told The Australian.

"There were over 55,000 killed out of a force of 125,000 of bomber command."

The job, Air Marshal Shepherd said, required "the arrogance of youth".

Ross Pearson, 85, who worked as a wireless operator in bombing missions in Europe during 1944-45, typified the attitude of most crews. "You always thought the other fella was going to get it," he said. Of the 10,000 or so Australians who enlisted in the Empire Training Scheme, 3486 were killed in action and 546 died in training - giving crews a mortality rate of about one in three.

Rollo Kingsford Smith, 88, the nephew of Charles Kingsford Smith, flew missions in the Pacific theatre, hunting German submarines and surface ships and shepherding Australian troop transports bound for the Middle East.

Later, in 1943, he was posted to England to Bomber Command, where he commanded an Australian Lancaster squadron.

Mr Kingsford Smith said the demand for bomber crews was so great that Australian enlistees were often rushed through without proper training.

"Too often they went missing on their first trip or their second trip. That was one of the worst parts of the war for me - losing brave young Australians," he told The Australian.

Jan Corbishley's uncle Philip Morris was shot down over Dresden in March 1945.

Ms Corbishley said of the bomber's seven-man crew, six, including her uncle, managed to bale out, while one went down with the plane.

Nose Art Beer

"Two survived - the other four were pitchforked and stoned todeath by German civilians," shesaid. "Two of them survived because they were captured by German soldiers and put into POW camps."

Link: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23794678-31477,00.html

Band of Brothers

Heaps of great links:

More from www.diggerhistory.info

HISTORY OF "G" FOR GEORGEMost of the following information is from a book called"Lancaster, The Story of a Famous Bomber" by Bruce RobertsonPublished 1964 by Harleyford Publications Ltd UK
home.st.net.au/~dunn/ghistory.htm

people.aapt.net.au/~dwil/avhisc.html

ryderphoto.wordpress.com/.../

Cassell Military Classics: Before the Storm: The Story of Bomber Command 1939-42 · The Dambusters

An Airman Far Away/the Story of an Australian Dambuster · The Dambusters

Winston Churchill: British Soldier, Writer, Statesman (Signature Lives) · The Dambusters

The Quotable Winston Churchill · The Dambusters

www.winstonchurchillshop.co.uk
www.historybookshop.com
www.rafmuseum.org.uk
www.propellor1.co.uk/
www.spitcrazy.com/roberttaylorart.htm
www.defence.gov.au/.../2005/Sep/20050902.cfm