Aircrew of No. 466 Squadron RAAF being driven to their Halifax bomber for an operation against Berlin, RAF Leconfield, Yorkshire, England, 20 January 1943. Aircraft were parked at 'dispersals' sometimes well over a kilometre from the rooms where crew donned their flying gear and were often boarded after dark. The crew were taken out to the aircraft in vehicles, often driven by women of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). By this stage they would have all their essential good luck charms with them—St Christopher medals, lucky coins, bits of wattle brought from Australia. One crew insisted that their pilot, having begun his operational flying with them in unpolished boots, leave them that way for good luck on each subsequent operation. [AWM UK0952]
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