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4000lb cookie. Photo: Max Johnson |
The Air War
was lonely and dangerous for all bomber crews in the Allied Forces,
they would fly from their bases in England and rendezvous over
the North Sea hundreds of bombers at a time, then head across
the sea over Denmark, as all targets to be bombed in Germany,
the Ruhr, and Berlin took this flight path to avoid the thousands
of anti-aircraft guns and enemy fighters that guarded the city. |
The navigator
would take about six minutes to plot the course to target
as they flew to heights of 39,000 feet. Crews put on oxygen
masks at the required altitude. If for some unexpected reason
the oxygen failed the crew would blackout in 60 seconds…in
20 minutes they would all be dead!!!
Bomber
crews froze in the confines of the aircraft as temperatures
plummeted to –40° to –50° below zero,
some suffering frostbite despite the sheepskin flying suits
and boots. The crew’s last meal would have been prior
to take off not eating for many hours until they if lucky
returned back home. They had to contend with the continual
fear of being shot down as they flew into enemy air space
expecting at any moment a fighter attack, as well as the
fearful, frightening barrage of 88mm anti-aircraft guns,
so fearsome was the barrage that if hit, it would destroy
the plane and crew in seconds nothing could be done to combat
it…they had to fly through it… and hope they
wouldn’t be hit.
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Pathfinder
Squadrons would fly in first, dropping Yellow flares which
would indicate to the bombers high above the “approach
to target” visual marker signal. Then fly on to the
target and illuminate the final target by dropping Red
marker flares. The first wave of bombers coming in on their
bomb
run would be at a height of 19,000ft and drop Green marker
flares on top of the Red ones, known as "spot-fires" these
would give out an incredible incandescent glow visible
for miles, and would pin-point the exact target for
all the other
following
bombers. |
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Exactly
the same time as the bombs hit the target and exploded, a
high-powered photo-flash would be triggered
in the planes fuselage
causing the inboard camera to take photos of the raid, these
would be necessary for Bomber Command to examine and confirm
that the bombs were on target.The photograph would also count
in the crews records of operations carried out, when reaching
30
operations
the crews would have a well earned rest, and their tour of
duty finished for a while. However, if the camera did not function
and no photos came out, it would mean that the crew would not
be accredited the mission therefore they would have… to
go again!!!
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