During the war, the men of Bomber Command, all
volunteers, were unanimously regarded as heroes. The public appreciated that
these extraordinary young men were daring to fly into the enemy's
heavily-defended territory and strike back at Germany for its unprovoked attacks
on Warsaw, Rotterdam and other undefended civilian centres across
Europe.
After the Allies' disastrous defeat in France during May/June
1940 and the desperate rescue of British and French troops from Dunkirk, the
British braced themselves for invasion. This was defeated both by the RAF
fighters' spectacular victory against the German Luftwaffe and the RAF bombers'
attacks on German shipping, logistics, troops and barges massing on the French
coast. Forced to abandon their invasion, the Germans then launched their night
time 'Blitz' on London, Coventry, Liverpool, Plymouth, Glasgow and many other
British cities, killing 43,000 civilians. Britain had little defence against
these night raids and would have been helpless to hit back without the RAF's
fledging bomber force.
Bomber Command gradually grew in strength and in
1942 began to strike truly heavy blows against Germany. But the risks to the
young RAF fliers also mounted and by 1943 aircrews had just a 1
in 4 chance of surviving 30 missions. However, they were successfully disrupting
German war industry, including secret weapon production. RAF raids also forced
the Germans to divert a significant part of their war effort from the Russian
front to defend their own country against air attack.
Many highly-trained RAF airmen
were scarcely 20 when they flew their aircraft into the cauldron of German
anti-aircraft fire and night-fighters. The youngest airgunners
were 18 year old teenagers.
The RAF Bomber Command Memorial will proudly
commemorate the 55,000 bomber airmen who were killed. They died in blazing,
crashing aircraft whilst fighting against the enemies of our free world. It is
nothing short of a national disgrace that Britain has so far failed to properly
recognise this brave and talented group of individuals who helped give us
lasting freedom from the horrors the Germans inflicted across Europe.