Description

During the Second World War, RAF Bomber Command flew more than a third of a million sorties, during the course of which more than 55,500 airmen were killed, 18,000 wounded and/or became prisoners of war, and some 12,330 aircraft consumed. This volume details the final 1,080 losses of Bomber Command aircraft sustained whilst engaged on operations in the final year of the war in Europe. In 1945, Bomber Command concentrated on targets of significant importance to the German war machine, notably its army in the field and its supply routes. This included flying long distance raids in support of the Soviet advance from the East. At the very end, Bomber Command carried aid to the starving citizens of Holland and participated fully in the repatriation of Allied prisoners of war.

As with the earlier volumes, the entries appear in date order, together with the unit, aircraft type, serial, crew list, and the circumstances in which the loss occurred where known. These are complemented by extensive Appendices.

This sobering record, a reprint of the 2008 edition of W R Chorley’s definitive work, is a testimony to the ultimate sacrifice made by thousands of young men, who came from all corners of the British Empire and from the occupied countries, to help in the fight to free Europe from the tyrannical grip of Hitler’s Third Reich.