Description

Royal Air Force bomber squadrons operated from the very first day of the Second World War to within a few hours of VE Day. During the course of those five and a half long years, over a third of a million sorties were flown, but at a staggering cost, for of the 125,000 aircrew that served in the units of Bomber Command, some 55,573 were to become fatal casualties and a further 18,000 were wounded or became prisoners of war. Approximately 85% of these casualties were sustained on operations, the balance in training or other accidents. In addition there was the enormous material cost of 9,000 aircraft.

This second volume of the Bomber Command Losses series continues in the style set by the first, detailing 1,515 individual losses in the European Theatre of Operations during 1941. The losses are presented in date order, followed by the unit, aircraft type, serial and circumstances in which the loss occurred, where known.

Appendices are included which collate the overall losses by squadron and group, and those sustained by the Operational Training Units and Conversion Flights, plus unit bases, escapers and evaders, prisoners of war and internees, as well as amendments and additions to the information in Volume 1.

The meticulous research undertaken by William R. Chorley in this work will be evident to historians and enthusiasts as well as to the relatives and friends of the large number of airmen involved.

This edition is a reprint of the original volume which first appeared in 1993 and has since gone out of print. The author is very keen for his work to remain available to successive generations with an abiding interest in the sacrifices of RAF Bomber Command aircrew.