The second of Britain's four-engined bombers to enter frontline service during World War II (1939-1945), Handley Page's Halifax has forever lived in the shadow of Avro's superb Lancaster. However, it was a Halifax which became the first RAF 'heavy' to drop bombs on Germany when No 35 Sqn raided Hamburg on the night of 12/13 March 1941. Between 1941-45, the Halifax completed some 75,532 sorties [compared with the Lancaster's 156,000] with Bomber Command alone, not to mention its sterling work as both a glider tug and paratroop carrier with the Airborne Forces, maritime patrol mount with Coastal Command and covert intruder with the SOE.
Here at last is the exciting, detailed story of the U.S. Eighth Air Force's only Radar Countermeasure squadron that flew from England duing World War II. This book tells of the men of the elite 36th Bomb Squadron and the special operations they flew in modified B-24s to jam the German radar which controlled the fighter and flak batteries. Here too is the story of the men behind the scenes who sought to develop an extension of modern air warfare into the electronic arena and keep ahead of German scientists in the "War in the Ether." This chronological account gathered from secret records, personal diaries, and interviews with the "Old Crows" describes the night missions with the Royal Air Force and the daylight missions with the Eighth. The first jamming mission on the morning of D-Day "contributed materially to the success of the landings on the beachhead." Later missions during the Battle of the Bulge involved trickery, ingenious deception, spoofs, and tank communications jamming. This squadron flew on bad weather days, when the rest of the Eighth Air Force stood down, and paid its price in blood. Before the war in Europe ended the 36th Bomb Squadron screened Eighth Air Force radio transmissions to stop the enemy from learning important mission details. Here now is the story of how this secret squadron saved many Allied lives during World War II. Included are over 330 rare photographs and illustrations never before published.
This is the story of one of the RAF's oldest and most distinguished heavy bomber squadrons in WW2, although an outline history of the unit since it was formed in WW1 and its post-war history are included. It was the first operational Stirling Squadron, the RAF's first four engine heavy bomber, and flew the first long-distance raids into the heart of Nazi Germany. This new aircraft was a break-through in terms of range and bomb load but it was also an aircraft that suffered from many teething problems. Long-distance navigation was also a black art before the introduction of radio navigation systems and the squadron suffered many fatalities in those early wartime years. Having gained expertise in their task the unit was the first to be equipped with the H2S navigational aid and eventually became one of the original elite Pathfinder squadrons. When the Lancaster came into service the Squadron re-equipped and joined 8 Group and had the dubious reputation of suffering the third greatest loss of aircraft in Bomber Command. It did however participate in more Lancaster raids than any other 8 Group squadron.
A World War II aviator tells his story of evading the enemy in occupied territory after being shot down, and what happened to the rest of his crew. On the night of April 22, 1944, Tom Wingham was the bomb aimer in the crew of a 76 Squadron Halifax shot down while on the way to bomb Düsseldorf. Coming to in a tangle of parachute and harness straps, he realized the precariousness of his situation and so, dazed and aching with a painful concussion and navigating by the stars alone, he quickly set off on his long and difficult journey home through occupied territory, constantly depending on the kindness of others who risked their lives to help keep him hidden. He made his way from Holland, at the hands of “The Escape” and was then passed via “L’Armée Secrète,” a London-run organization operating in the east of Belgium, but fell right into the path of the Gestapo. In a deadly game of hide and seek, he evaded his captors long enough to witness the retreat of German soldiers as he stayed at the house of Madame Schoofs, which became a temporary German HQ. In the 1980s, Tom Wingham assisted a Dutch air historian with some research and this prompted him to look into the details of his own crash. What he uncovered not only shed more light on his own story but also those of his fellow crew members. He plotted approximately where each person landed that fateful night—and slowly their incredible stories emerged.
The RCAF, with a total strength of 4061 officers and men on 1 September 1939, grew by the end of the war to a strength of more than 263,000 men and women. This important and well-illustrated new history shows how they contributed to the resolution of the most significant conflict of our time.
A World War II veteran details wartime life in Yorkshire and his postwar efforts to build a museum and restore a Halifax bomber. Between 1935 and 1945, Yorkshire became home to 41 military airfields, the majority located in the Vale of York. The area was often referred to as a land-based aircraft carrier. At 16, Ian Robinson began working for the Handley Page aircraft manufacturer at their repair depot at Clifton, York. There, Halifax bombers used by 4 Group RAF and 6 Group Royal Canadian Air Force were repaired and test flown. During the Second World War, about 30 squadrons operated from these Yorkshire airfields, and the Book of Remembrance in York Minster records more than 18,000 names of those killed flying from these Yorkshire bases. Postwar, Ian felt aggrieved that little was left commemorating these sacrifices and that little was left of the Halifax bomber. Then in 1983, a small group of aviation enthusiasts got together to create a commemorative museum at Elvington, and Ian joined them. He became a pivotal player in forming the Yorkshire Air Museum and Allied Air Forces Memorial. Yet Ian felt the museum was incomplete without a Halifax. So, starting with a derelict fuselage which was being used as a hen-coop on the Isle of Lewis, he set about gathering all the hundreds of bits needed to reassemble the aircraft. This is Ian’s account of those 13 extraordinary years before the Friday the 13th was rolled out on Friday, September 13, 1996.
First published in 1993, this accomplished history of Royal Air Force Bomber Command 4 Group has been unavailable for many years. The group will be forever associated with Yorkshire, where it was based for 11 years from 1937 to 1948. The core of the book focuses on the tremendous efforts made by the squadrons allocated to 4 Group during World War II. Backed by hard-working and loyal ground crew, night after night, many hundreds of brave young men flew off into the unknown in Whitleys, Wellingtons and Halifaxes to bring retribution to the Third Reich. Aircraft from 4 Group were the first to fly over Berlin, much to the embarrassment of Goering. They were also the first to bomb Italy. The casualty rate was horrific, especially in the early years of the war when a bomber crew rarely completed a full tour of 30 operations. Interest in the men, machines and operation of RAF Bomber Command has always been considerable.
