None but the Brave
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None but the Brave None but the Brave provides a fresh look at the Allied bombing but campaign against the European Axis powers during the Second None the Brave World War. This bombing of the Third Reich and its allies was THE ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF RAF BOMBER COMMAND part of Britain’s overall war strategy to take the offensive to TO ALLIED VICTORY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR the enemy. In doing so, it created a ‘second front’ that bled off resources from the enemy’s campaign against the Soviets, and it required massive amounts of manpower and materiel to be diverted from the primary war efforts to both confront the threat and to address the damage sustained. It dealt telling blows to the Axis economic and industrial infrastructure, forcing the decentralization of its war industries. Finally, it helped pave the way, through destruction of enemy air defence assets, oil resources, and transportation networks, for a successful invasion of Germany through northwest Europe. The book is also a celebration of the aircrew experience and the essential resolve and fortitude that was demonstrated by these campaigners throughout the conflict, in the face of frequently daunting perils and odds against survival. Bashow David L. Bashow but None the Brave but None the Brave THE ESSENTIAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF RAF BOMBER COMMAND TO ALLIED VICTORY DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR BY DAVID L. BASHOW Copyright © 2009 Her Majesty the Queen, in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of National Defence. Canadian Defence Academy Press PO Box 17000 Stn Forces Kingston, Ontario K7K 7B4 Produced for the Canadian Defence Academy Press by 17 Wing Winnipeg Publishing Office. WPO30415 Cover painting: "Bomb Aimer, Battle of the Ruhr 1944 by Carl Schaefer," CWM 11786. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Bashow, David L., 1946- None but the brave : the essential contributions of RAF Bomber Command to Allied victory during the Second World War / by David L. Bashow. Produced for the Canadian Defence Academy Press by 17 Wing Winnipeg Publishing Office. Issued by: Canadian Defence Academy. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-100-11551-1 (bound) -- ISBN 978-1-100-11552-8 (pbk.) Cat. no.: D2-240/1-2009E (bound) -- Cat. no.: D2-240/2-2009E (pbk.) 1. Great Britain. Royal Air Force Bomber Command--History--World War, 1939-1945. 2. World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, British. 3. Bombing, Aerial--Germany--History. I. Canadian Defence Academy II. Canada. Canadian Armed Forces. Wing, 17 III. Title. IV. Title: Essential contributions of RAF Bomber Command to Allied victory during the Second World War. D786 B37 2009 940.54'4941 C2009-980101-9 Printed in Canada. 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Acknowledgements s is the case with many of life’s undertakings, None but the Brave has been Aa cooperative effort from the outset. The book is, in great part, a vastly shortened version of my earlier book, No Prouder Place ~ Canadians and the Bomber Command Experience 1939-1945. However, while the earlier work placed the emphasis upon Canada’s contribution within the broader Bomber Command effort, this time out, the narrative is much more generic, and it also includes acknowledgement of the synergistic American contribution to the bomber offensive. Over the course of the past several years since No Prouder Place was first released, Canada witnessed a heated debate with respect to the efficacy and the morality of the campaign. None but the Brave presents an op- portunity to build upon my original conclusions, particularly with respect to the evolution of Allied bombing policy and the myriad results obtained by the bomber offensive itself. It will also address some new aspects of this massive effort that surfaced during the course of the debate. Readers need to understand that None but the Brave is, first and foremost, a tribute to the aircrew veterans of this vastly misunderstood bomber offensive. And as was the case in No Prouder Place, for those veterans who took the time and made the effort to share their wartime experiences, I extend my profound thanks and gratitude. I am particularly honoured that Bob Dale agreed to write the foreword to this book, since he is not only one of my personal heroes, but, over the course of the aforementioned debate, we also became friends. In his foreword, Bob modestly neglects to mention that, as a Bomber Command navigator, he won both a Dis- tinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and a Distinguished Service Order (DSO) while completing a very rare three full operational tours of combat. After an initial tour in Wellingtons during the very dark early days of the bombing campaign, he later specialized in Mosquito operations, completing extremely hazardous duties with the Meteorological Flight, flying unarmed all over Germany and gathering weather data for Bomber Command’s daily and nightly efforts. In this role, Bob’s experience made him fundamentally irreplaceable. As another Canadian Bomber Command stalwart, Terry Goodwin, recalled: “When Dale completed his 50 trips [of his second operational tour – DB], the CO just called him in, told him he was indispensible, and kept him for another 50 trips.”1 Bob’s DFC citation, gazetted on 13 March 1942, noted that, “…his ability as a navigator is outstanding and combined with great determination to achieve success, he has inspired the utmost confidence in his crew.”2 The later award of the DSO on 24 October 1944 cited his “…coolness and determination to complete his assignments successfully, which has won great praise.”3 To all the participants of the bomber offensive, this book is respectfully dedi- cated. David L. Bashow Kingston, Ontario April 2009 NOTES 1. H. Terry Goodwin, “Hugh Hay, DSO, DFC – Top Navigator?” in Airforce, Vol. 24, No. 1, Spring 2000, pp.36-39. 2. <http://www.airforce.ca/wwii/ALPHA-DA.html>, p.14. 3. Ibid. Table of Contents Foreword .................................................................................................. vii Introduction ............................................................................................. ix Chapter One ...............................................................................................1 The Evolution of a Hurricane Chapter Two ............................................................................................ 61 A Time for Fortitude – The Human Element Chapter Three ........................................................................................ 121 The Balance Sheet – The Costs and the Gains of the Bomber Offensive About the Author .................................................................................. 167 Glossary and Abbreviations ................................................................ 169 Index ....................................................................................................... 173 NONE BUT THE BRAVE | V Foreword enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force [RCAF] at the age of eighteen when I war was declared in the autumn of 1939, was trained as a navigator under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, and was on my way overseas by December 1940. After operational training, I was posted to 150 Squadron of the Royal Air Force [RAF]. This squadron had been flying FaireyBattles in France, had lost all their aircraft in the fierce fighting there, and their surviving personnel had been evacuated through the Dunkirk beaches in June 1940. After a rest period, the squadron was re-equipped with Vickers Wellington 1Cs, and the unit was fully operational when I joined them in February 1941. I arrived in England at a time when the ‘Blitz’ on London and many of the smaller cities was at its peak, and I witnessed at first hand the terror of these raids and the losses and hardship endured by the British people. My first tour of operations was carried out during a period when Bomber Com- mand suffered some of its heaviest loss rates. Crews had to contend with intense and accurate anti-aircraft fire in the target area, as well as German night fighters at all times while over enemy territory. Lengthy sorties had to be carried out without the benefit of sophisticated and accurate navigational aids, which did not start to become available until the middle of 1942. I completed my first operational tour in January 1942, and, after a period of specialist training and staff jobs, I trained on de HavillandMosquitos and joined 8 Group [Pathfinder Force] in January 1944. I was part of the Special Duty Flight of seven crews, who carried out a variety of operations, including pre-raid weather reconnaissance and post-raid photo- graphic sorties, as well as many interesting missions of a tactical nature. The demands made upon our group were incredible, particularly during the weeks leading up to D-Day, and I completed my second and third tours of op- erations by the end of 1944. NONE BUT THE BRAVE | VII FOREWORD Credit: DND PL43473 ▶ A 426 (RCAF) Squadron Halifax III on its hardstand at Linton. Note the Nissen hut in the foreground. During my operational career, I was personally convinced that Bomber Command was going to have a significant impact upon the outcome of the war. People seem to forget that after the 1940 defeat of the Allies in France and the subsequent withdrawal through Dunkirk, the only way we could strike back at the Germans was through the air. In reality, Bomber Command established a second front that helped pave the way for the eventual invasion through Normandy. In recent years, the morality of the Bomber Command offensive seems to have