Australians and RAF Bomber Command in World War II

Rise of Bomber Command

Most Australians who flew from British bases served in Bomber Command.

Australians and others in the British Empire made significant contributions to Bomber Command. Sir Arthur Harris, Marshal of the RAF, noted in his 1948 memoirs, Bomber Offensive:

In January, 1943, 37 per cent of the pilots in Bomber Command belonged to the Dominion and Colonial Air Forces, and of these 60 per cent were Canadian, 40 per cent coming from other parts of the Empire – mainly from the Australian and New Zealand air forces.

Bomber Command was a strategic bombing unit formed in 1936. Its wartime operations began to increase from 1941, reaching a peak after the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944.

No. 460 Squadron RAAF, formed at Molesworth in the UK on 15 November 1941, was the first Australian squadron to join Bomber Command. 460 was one of the Article XV squadrons developed under the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The squadron initially flew Vickers Wellington bombers, before these were replaced by the newer Avro Lancaster heavy bomber.

Nos. 463 and 467 Squadrons RAAF also flew Lancasters. The Lancaster went on to become the iconic symbol of Bomber Command.

Flying with Bomber Command was very dangerous. No. 460 Squadron flew the most bombing raids of any Australian Bomber Command squadron, and it also suffered the most casualties. It lost 181 aircraft on operations. Of 1,018 aircrew killed in action from the squadron, 589 were Australian.

In late 1943 and early 1944, during the peak of the bombing offensive against Germany, the bomber crews suffered a loss rate of nearly 5% on each bombing raid. There was little chance of surviving an operational tour of 30 raids. Approximately 1,500 RAAF aircrew parachuted from their aircraft over enemy territory and spent the remainder of the war in prison camps.

Allied bombing strategy and technology

During the years between the end of World War I in 1918 and the start of World War II in 1939, many air forces, including the RAF, developed ideas about the use of strategic bombing. Some believed that using bombers to attack targets deep within enemy territory would end wars quickly. They also believed it would be difficult to defend against such attacks.

In 1932, then British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin reflected this view when he noted that:

(the) bomber will always get through.

Bombing technology

Britain launched its strategic air offensive against Germany almost as soon as war broke out. However, between 1939 and 1942, critical problems with bomber aircraft included:

• capacity
• endurance
• navigation
• targeting.

The war led to some cutting-edge technological developments.

RAF Bomber Command pioneered innovative technology, such as H2S radar, which was the first airborne ground-scanning radar system. This allowed pilots to identify targets on the ground at a much greater range than they could with previous technology, such as radio navigation. They could also identify targets through cloud or in darkness.

The RAF also developed tactics that helped improve bombing accuracy.

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Bombing of civilians

Early in 1942, the RAF introduced what was known as the 'Area Bombing Directive'. Rather than just targeting specific industrial sites and districts, RAF bombers would now target civilian areas, such as towns and cities, to reduce German morale.

Under the international laws governing warfare at the time, notably the 1907 Hague Convention, there was no rule against bombardment of defended civilian areas, only undefended ones. The Hague Convention had been written at a time before widespread aerial bombardment, and was referring primarily to bombardment from land or sea.

This loophole was one that both sides exploited to devastating effect, such as:

• The Blitz, a German bombing campaign that targeted cities across the UK in 1940 and 1941
• the Allied firebombing of Dresden in 1945.

After the war, the Geneva Conventions, which were first adopted in 1949 and amended in the following decades, developed greater international legal protections for civilians caught in warfare.

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Strategic bombing

Throughout World War II, bombing remained essential to Allied strategy against Germany. This became more noticeable when the US entered the war in 1941 and deployed the US Army Air Force to the UK.

Flying from the UK, RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force undertook round-the-clock bombing of Germany. RAF Bomber Command bombed by night. The US forces attacked by daylight. In February 1943, these attacks became linked by the Casablanca directive, which set out the priorities for the strategic bombing of Germany by the 2 air forces based in Britain – RAF Bomber Command and the US Eighth Air Force:

1. Your Primary object will be the progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial, and economic system, and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened.

2. Within that General concept, your primary objectives, subject to the exigencies of weather and tactical feasibility, will for the present be in the following order of priority:
(a) German submarine construction yards.
(b) The German aircraft industry.
(c) Transportation.
(d) Oil plants.
(e) Other targets in enemy war industry.

The above order of priority may be varied from time to time according to developments in the strategical situation. Moreover, other objectives of great importance either from the political or military point of view must be attacked.

[Memorandum C.C.S. 166/1/D by the Combined Chiefs of Staff, 21 January 1943]

These 'other objectives' included German U-boat bases along the Biscay coast, and Berlin, to reduce German morale and help Russian forces that were advancing from the east.

In June 1943, the Pointblank directive was issued. This authorised the start of Operation Pointblank, which was the main part of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive. The strategic bombing campaign aimed to destroy, in order of priority:

• German Air Force (Luftwaffe) targets
• V-weapon (German long-range artillery) installations
• Petroleum, oil and lubrication plants
• Railway yards and other transportation targets.

As well as attacking targets in Germany and Italy, aircrews in Bomber Command:

• targeted other places, such as Norway
• supported the Allied invasion of Normandy, Operation Overlord
• occasionally supported ground operations from the Battle of Normandy to the end of the war in Europe.

Serving as aircrew

In 1939, the UK Government negotiated with the British Dominions – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Newfoundland, South Africa and the Irish Free State – to develop the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS). The scheme aimed to create a pool of trained aircrew to serve in the RAF or attached Dominion units. The training was undertaken in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). In Canada, the scheme was called the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan.

Several of the Dominion air forces, including the RAAF, wanted to be able to maintain their own identities in the EATS. The Australian, New Zealand and Canadian squadrons raised under the EATS became known as Article XV squadrons, after the article of the 1939 Air Training Agreement that allowed these countries to form their own national squadrons.

Squadrons that were predominantly Australian aircrew were designated as RAAF squadrons, and 17 of these were eventually formed: 12 in Britain and 5 in the Middle East.

Many Australians also served in RAF squadrons, as did British and other Dominion personnel in RAAF squadrons.

A quarter of Bomber Command aircrew came from the Dominions.

Aircrew roles in Bomber Command varied depending on the type of aircraft. Roles also changed between the earlier and later years of the war, with the introduction of heavy bombers such as the Avro Lancaster in 1941.

The Lancaster, Halifax and Stirling heavy bombers all had a crew of 7:

• pilot – flew the aircraft
• flight engineer – assisted the pilot with mechanical aspects such as monitoring the engines and fuel
• navigator – operated radar navigation aides and instructed the pilot on route and airspeed
• bomb aimer – manned the nose-mounted gun turret, and during the bombing run instructed the pilot on course corrections for bomb accuracy
• wireless operator – sent and received wireless signals during the flight, and assisted the navigator with triangulation if necessary
• mid-upper gunner – manned the gun mounted in the dorsal turret on top of the aircraft
• rear gunner – manned the rear-facing gun turret at the back of the aircraft.

Serving as ground crew

Many Australians also served as ground crew, maintaining the aircraft to ensure they were ready for operations.

Ground crew jobs included:

• armourer (bombs)
• armourer (guns)
• aero-engine mechanic
• airframe mechanic
• instrument mechanic
• fabric worker
• electrician
• wireless operator
• metal worker
• welder.

Although serving on the ground was safer than serving in the air, it still had its dangers. Some 530 ground crew were killed during the war, from causes such as accidents while loading bombs, fuel or ammunition, while assisting at aircraft accidents or during enemy air raids on Bomber Command airfields.

Casualties of war

A typical tour in Bomber Command was 30 operational flights, not exceeding 200 flying hours. Completing this could take anywhere from 4 months to a year. Crews would then be given a 6-month 'break' as instructors in training units – itself a risky job, flying with inexperienced crews – before commencing a second tour. Over 8,000 men were killed in accidents during training or non-operational flying.

Flying in general was a dangerous business. In World War II:

• 51% of aircrew were killed on operations
• 12% were killed or wounded in non-operational accidents
• 13% became prisoners of war (POWs) or evaders
• only 24% survived the war without injury.

Bomber Command was one of the most dangerous types of flying in the Allied forces. The life expectancy of a Bomber Command new recruit was just 2 weeks.

Of the 120,000 Allied airmen who served in Bomber Command, 55,573 (46%) were killed, including around 3,500 Australians. Another 6% were seriously wounded, and 8% became POWs. Only 41% survived physically unscathed. But for those airmen who were flying from the beginning of the war, the survival rate dropped to just 10%.

RAAF squadrons in Bomber Command

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Eight RAAF Article XV squadrons served with Bomber Command. These were:

• No. 455 Squadron – torpedo bomber/anti-shipping/anti-submarine warfare, flying Handley Page Hampdens and Bristol Beaufighters
• No. 458 Squadron – medium bomber, flying Vickers Wellingtons
• No. 460 Squadron – heavy bomber, flying Avro Lancasters
• No. 462 Squadron – heavy bomber, flying Handley Page Halifaxes
• No. 463 Squadron – heavy bomber, flying Avro Lancasters
• No. 464 Squadron – light/medium bomber, flying Lockheed Venturas and de Havilland Mosquitoes
• No. 466 Squadron – medium/heavy bomber, flying Vickers Wellingtons and Handley Page Halifaxes
• No. 467 Squadron – heavy bomber, flying Avro Lancasters.

Many of these RAAF squadrons also contained personnel from Britain and other Commonwealth countries.

No. 460 Squadron flew the most missions of the Bomber Command RAAF squadrons, and also had the highest losses. Of the 3,486 Australians killed in Bomber Command, 1,019 came from No. 460 Squadron.

The first operation against Germany by a RAAF Article XV bomber squadron took place on 29 August 1941. An aircraft of No. 455 Squadron RAAF took part in a raid against Frankfurt.

On 20 October 1941, 10 Vickers Wellingtons from No. 458 Squadron RAAF took part in a raid against the docks at Antwerp.

Between these first operations and the end of the war in 1945, RAAF Article XV squadrons took part in many of the major operations of Bomber Command in its campaign against Germany. These included the:

• first 1000-bomber raid against Cologne in late May 1942
• No. 617 Squadron RAF 'Dambusters' operation against the Möhne, Edersee and Sorpe dams in May 1943
• Battle of the Ruhr in mid-1943
• bombing of Peenemünde in August 1943
• Battle of Berlin in late 1943
• bombing of Dresden in 1945.

The air raid on the island of Peenemünde targeted German scientists and rocket-testing sites. It was one of the most important individual Bomber Command operations of the war.

Bomber Command squadrons also provided significant support to the 1944 Allied invasion of occupied Europe, which became known as D-Day. From April 1944, Bomber Command aircraft conducted pre-invasion raids against railways to prevent Axis reinforcements moving to Normandy by rail, as well as armaments factories and other strategic targets. The night before D-Day, on 5–6 June, Bomber Command flew 1,112 sorties in support of the invasion force. These included attacking enemy artillery batteries, as well as diversionary tactics such as dropping dummy parachutes over areas outside the invasion zone to simulate airborne landings. Read about Australians involved in D-Day operations in Europe.

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RAF Second Tactical Air Force

The Second Tactical Air Force (2TAF) was formed on 1 June 1943, taking units from both Bomber Command and Fighter Command. It was preparing to support the Allied armies' invasion of occupied France in 1944.

No. 464 Squadron RAAF, flying the de Havilland Mosquito, was transferred from Bomber Command to the new air force. Based at RAF Sculthorpe in Norfolk, the squadron carried out night intruder and daylight raids on targets in western France and Belgium.

Poetic reflection on Bomber Command

Flying Officer Ken Sillcock was a wireless operator in Lancaster bombers with No. 460 Squadron RAAF. After first serving with the AIF in the Middle East, he returned to Australia, joined the RAAF and ended up in Bomber Command, based at RAF Binbrook in the UK.

Years after Sillcock's return from the war, and prompted by a question from his son about 'the olden days', he wrote a poem describing his experiences flying in the Lancaster bomber E2, or 'Easy Two'. Crews called the Easy Two 'the Jinx Kite' because so many E2 aircraft were lost in combat that it was said to be jinxed or cursed. When one E2 failed to return, the E2 designator passed to a new aircraft and crew.

“Grandpa, what kind of aircraft did you use
Back in the olden days?”
“Lancasters, lad, I’ll show you one some day.”
He made me think
Back to events, it seemed, of yesterday.

My first impression of the squadron was
A battle order on the notice board
And, next to it, the Melbourne Cup sweep draw.
I wondered which would give the better odds!
Then I saw Dalton, whom I’d known before,
Leaning on crutches, hurt on his first trip
By an incendiary from a plane above.

“Our fighters were not much opposed of late
Over the Ruhr.” The briefing room was hushed.
“Dortmund today, our deepest daylight strike.”
But they forgot to add “as fighter bait”.
Our next was Merseburg, late at night.
I thought “Why did I leave that useful army job
Killing mosquitoes in malarial zones?”
I’d known the threat of instant death before
In skidding cars on Gippsland’s soggy hills,
And, below decks, at sea, silent and tense,
Waiting the foe’s explosive messenger;
But this was not a passing episode too brief
For fear. Death stalked us eight long hours.
Seeking our slightest lapse from vigilance,
Just as I’d seen him wait in Lebanon
At the big house to which the wounded came.
The day we got an aircraft of our own,
“Yours is the jinx kite, Easy Two,” we heard.
“If you got G for George you’d have more hope;
“The last George, which got back from 90 trips,
“Flew to Australia just a month ago.
“But Easy Two — we lose them all the time!”
The pessimists were right, for, all too soon
E2 was lost, but with another crew.

From the depth of winter to the equinox
We flew in fifteen raids in Easy Two,
Our second of that name.
The squadron lost
Ten crews on those same flights: seventy men
Who had been with us in the briefing room.
We had our moments. Jim gave “Starboard go!”
We rolled, nose down, rolled port and down again.
Then steeply up, still rolling. Radio gear
Before me vanished till we levelled out
And blood returned to my depleted brain.
We did another ‘corkscrew’, to ensure
The fighter Jim had spotted to our rear
Would go in search of a less wary prey.

Over Cologne, by day, another craft
Direct above us, opened the big doors.
His load, released, would intersect our path.
We held our course into the aiming point
A little longer. Then I said, “Okay,”
He’s moved to starboard.” But I wondered then
What might have happened on a cloudy night.
The night our navigation aids went wrong
I found Polaris, from the astrodome,
On our port bow; a suicidal course
To fly at night alone above the Ruhr.
As we turned west to make our late way home
I pictured all the other crews at Base
After interrogation, at their meal,
Saying, “E2 has bought it once again.”
Adding our epitaph, “They weren’t bad blokes.”
Crews were not callous, though. It seemed to me
That the dark veil that blacks our future out
Had been dissolved. We lived right on the brink
Between two worlds. Lost crews were near us still
As we awaited the next lottery draw
To find who’d be on this side, who on that.

Returned from leave, we learned that Easy Two
Was lost again; used by another crew
On their first operation. We received
Our third E2, used it on three more trips
Before our tour of duty was complete.

Then a new danger loomed: I would be sent
To fly instructor with those novice crews
Of whom dread tales were told. When lost in cloud,
Instead of climbing for a radio fix
They would go down to seek a clearer view
And find Mount Snowdon in their path — too late.
I’d feel much safer flying in Easy Two
Raiding oil plants or mining in Kiel Bay
With my six trusted mates, and with the care
That Lofty and his ground staff gave that kite
As if they had to fly in it themselves.
But in three weeks that new-found danger passed
When peace in Europe left us still unscathed.

And now I stand beneath the sturdy wing
Of G for George. On the museum walls
Are names of many who were briefed with us,
“Lest we forget!”
Should not we also say, "Lest they forget”?
Might they have clearer sight
In the dimensions they now occupy?
Perceptions hidden from us, as we grope
In the dense cloud of man’s distrust of man?

Could they transmit to us a course to steer
Or lift our eyes to a great guiding star
Of shining wisdom? We have hands and minds
The only assets we could ever need
To build that better world of which we dreamed,
And to pass down to disenchanted youth
Our vision of what can be brought about.

The time is short. We who are left grow old
But, with good briefing, we could do the job
Just as we could when time was short before.

[Ken Sillcock, 'The Jinx Kite', in Two Journeys Into Peril: The Wartime Letters of Ken and Ron Sillcock, 1940–1945', Melbourne: Clouds of Magellan Press, 2009]

The Lancaster 'G for George' now resides in Anzac Hall at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.

Bomber Command memorial services are held every June in Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide and Ipswich. An active Bomber Command Association and various squadron associations are carried on by the few remaining veterans and veterans' families.

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