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, and 18,000 wounded and/or became prisoners of war. Over one third of these casualties occurred in 1944, a year that opened with the concluding phase of the ‘Battle of Berlin’ and the costly Nürnberg raid. 1944 also saw a change in policy and a move away from area bombing to the more tactical targets such as rail centres as a prelude to, and a follow-up from, the invasion of the European mainland by the Allied forces. Bomber Command also contributed to the attacks on the V1 launching sites.

This volume details 3,527 individual aircraft losses in the European Theatre of Operations. 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 William 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.