WW2 night bombing raids
Discussion
Max Hastings, Bomber Command.
Campbell Muirhead, Diary of a bomb aimer.
Guy Gibson, Enemy Coast Ahead.
Will Iredale, Pathfinders.
Patrick Bishop, Bomber Boys.
Leo McInstry, Lancaster.
^Off the top of my head.
My grandfather was Bomber Command.
433 RCAF. Halifax III’s from Skipton on Swale.
There are lots of books but the above are enjoyable reads that will paint the picture.
If I think of any others I’ll let you know.
Campbell Muirhead, Diary of a bomb aimer.
Guy Gibson, Enemy Coast Ahead.
Will Iredale, Pathfinders.
Patrick Bishop, Bomber Boys.
Leo McInstry, Lancaster.
^Off the top of my head.
My grandfather was Bomber Command.
433 RCAF. Halifax III’s from Skipton on Swale.
There are lots of books but the above are enjoyable reads that will paint the picture.
If I think of any others I’ll let you know.
Great book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9781861059468&i=s...
There is also this recording with raids on Berlin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA&t=3s
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=9781861059468&i=s...
There is also this recording with raids on Berlin.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA&t=3s
How much space do you have on your bookshelves?
Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Johnen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer, Mel Rolfe.
Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Johnen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer, Mel Rolfe.
Edited by Krupp88 on Tuesday 30th November 09:50
Krupp88 said:
How much space do you have on your bookshelves?
Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Jonen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer.
Some good books in that list. I'd add 1000 Must Fall by Murray Peden of the RCAF-best of the bunch IMHO.Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Jonen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer.
Piginapoke said:
Some good books in that list. I'd add 1000 Must Fall by Murray Peden of the RCAF-best of the bunch IMHO.
:thumbsup: I missed that one, its rather unjustly residing in a hidden corner of the bookshelf.I also missed out suggestions for all of Martin Middlebrooks books, The Battle of Hamburg, The Peenemunde Raid, The Berlins Raids and The Nuremburg Raid.
Krupp88 said:
How much space do you have on your bookshelves?
Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Johnen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer, Mel Rolfe.
Good selection - looking at your username I'd guess you have a longstanding interest in the bomber War Written as fiction however the authors served as aircrew in bomber command -
Maximum Effort by James Campbell.
They Hosed Them Out - John Bede.
There are two versions, the later one has some of the gaps filled in (ie what units, personalities etc were being referred to)
Fiction but well known - Bomber by Len Deighton, the BBC R4 adaptation is well worth listening to.
Non -fiction autobiographical:
Ghosts of Targets Past - Philip Grey
Lancaster Target - Jack Currie
Terror By Night - Michael Renaut.
Then from the other side:
Enemy In the Dark - Peter Sponden
Duel Under The Stars - Wilhelm Johnen.
There are loads of compilation books around, look for Martin Bowmen, Chaz Bowyer, Mel Rolfe.
Edited by Krupp88 on Tuesday 30th November 09:50
Not much I can add to that, although the complete recordings of Len Deighton's 'Bomber' are available on Youtube, part 1 here and absolutely brilliant it is:
https://youtu.be/F6U0e5DUdNQ
I collect second world war pilot logbooks (I'm a former military pilot myself
) and have one to a Luftwaffe Nachtjager who was killed trying to shoot down a balloon on pretty much his first operational mission. I never knew about this until I started researching the logbook (Flugbuch in German) that we sent large balloons with incendiaries over to Germany hoping to start forest fires, short-circuit powerlines etc:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outward
Anyway this chap sadly flew into trees (at night) trying to shootdown one of these balloons. Op Outward was a very successful British operation that hardly anyone knows about...
Siko said:
Good selection - looking at your username I'd guess you have a longstanding interest in the bomber War
Not much I can add to that, although the complete recordings of Len Deighton's 'Bomber' are available on Youtube, part 1 here and absolutely brilliant it is:
https://youtu.be/F6U0e5DUdNQ
I collect second world war pilot logbooks (I'm a former military pilot myself) and have one to a Luftwaffe Nachtjager who was killed trying to shoot down a balloon on pretty much his first operational mission. I never knew about this until I started researching the logbook (Flugbuch in German) that we sent large balloons with incendiaries over to Germany hoping to start forest fires, short-circuit powerlines etc:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outward
Anyway this chap sadly flew into trees (at night) trying to shootdown one of these balloons. Op Outward was a very successful British operation that hardly anyone knows about...
That subject has been my main interest for over 25 years, there are so many facets to that part of the war that its almost impossible to exhaust them, from the technical side (I like to understand how things worked, from aircraft systems to how a flak fuze operated) to the very human stories on both sides in the air and on the ground.Not much I can add to that, although the complete recordings of Len Deighton's 'Bomber' are available on Youtube, part 1 here and absolutely brilliant it is:
https://youtu.be/F6U0e5DUdNQ
I collect second world war pilot logbooks (I'm a former military pilot myself
) and have one to a Luftwaffe Nachtjager who was killed trying to shoot down a balloon on pretty much his first operational mission. I never knew about this until I started researching the logbook (Flugbuch in German) that we sent large balloons with incendiaries over to Germany hoping to start forest fires, short-circuit powerlines etc:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Outward
Anyway this chap sadly flew into trees (at night) trying to shootdown one of these balloons. Op Outward was a very successful British operation that hardly anyone knows about...
I have a particular interest in the development of British incendiary weapons, one day I would like to write a book about it as setting a city aflame was no easy task and huge effort/research (including using fire protection engineers in a reverse role) went into trying to get it right in terms of weapons, tactics and targeting.
I had only heard of the balloons in passing but again its fascinating, the payloads look similar to the idea of 'razzle' which were cellulose disks dropped from aircraft over forests, when they dried out they were supposed to ignite, however they seemed to be more risk to the trousers of those who picked them up and put them in their pockets.
I would love to collect log books, the pricing puts me off somewhat but they are amazing as primary sources and open up so much research (as you have found with your Luftwaffe one!).
Krupp88 said:
That subject has been my main interest for over 25 years, there are so many facets to that part of the war that its almost impossible to exhaust them, from the technical side (I like to understand how things worked, from aircraft systems to how a flak fuze operated) to the very human stories on both sides in the air and on the ground.
I have a particular interest in the development of British incendiary weapons, one day I would like to write a book about it as setting a city aflame was no easy task and huge effort/research (including using fire protection engineers in a reverse role) went into trying to get it right in terms of weapons, tactics and targeting.
I had only heard of the balloons in passing but again its fascinating, the payloads look similar to the idea of 'razzle' which were cellulose disks dropped from aircraft over forests, when they dried out they were supposed to ignite, however they seemed to be more risk to the trousers of those who picked them up and put them in their pockets.
I would love to collect log books, the pricing puts me off somewhat but they are amazing as primary sources and open up so much research (as you have found with your Luftwaffe one!).
Yeah I must admit to being fascinated by the Bomber war aswell - I remember reading Peter Hinchcliffe's "The Other Battle" donkey's years ago and it just ignited some fascination that is still burning brightly. You should write your book - I would buy it I'm sure I have a particular interest in the development of British incendiary weapons, one day I would like to write a book about it as setting a city aflame was no easy task and huge effort/research (including using fire protection engineers in a reverse role) went into trying to get it right in terms of weapons, tactics and targeting.
I had only heard of the balloons in passing but again its fascinating, the payloads look similar to the idea of 'razzle' which were cellulose disks dropped from aircraft over forests, when they dried out they were supposed to ignite, however they seemed to be more risk to the trousers of those who picked them up and put them in their pockets.
I would love to collect log books, the pricing puts me off somewhat but they are amazing as primary sources and open up so much research (as you have found with your Luftwaffe one!).
The logbooks are endlessly fascinating to me and I have about 30 or so (mainly Luftwaffe) and researching them is my geeky little hobby. You can buy them cheaply - or you could - and my Nachtjager one was only £200 (it ends before he starts recording his only operational mission, so worth a lot less than one with heaps of mission in etc), although an 8 kill BF109 ace's set of two logbooks cost me well over £1k. Most of mine were in the region £2-400 accrued over many years and probably worth a fair bit more now, although I'd only sell them if I really had to. My neighbour was telling me about being bombed out of his house in Birmingham during the Blitz of late 1940...as happens I had a logbook to one of the crews who attacked Birmingham that night and he was amazed when I showed him the entry for the attack on his City.
Siko said:
The logbooks are endlessly fascinating to me and I have about 30 or so (mainly Luftwaffe) and researching them is my geeky little hobby. You can buy them cheaply - or you could - and my Nachtjager one was only £200 (it ends before he starts recording his only operational mission, so worth a lot less than one with heaps of mission in etc), although an 8 kill BF109 ace's set of two logbooks cost me well over £1k. Most of mine were in the region £2-400 accrued over many years and probably worth a fair bit more now, although I'd only sell them if I really had to. My neighbour was telling me about being bombed out of his house in Birmingham during the Blitz of late 1940...as happens I had a logbook to one of the crews who attacked Birmingham that night and he was amazed when I showed him the entry for the attack on his City.
That's an amazing story!On the same theme I was offered a Flak soldiers soldbuch at the weekend at a antiques fair, again you can cross ref the entries in these with claims/losses with other sources, it was £190, part of me is regretting saying no, however I collect WW2 aircraft parts and had a bit of a splurge recently (inc. the turbosupercharger from a B17, part of a Jumo 004 and the 20mm hispano cannon from a Mosquito intruder) so cant have everything!
I'm sure you have heard of them but the Nachtjagd Combat Archive series by Wingleader/Redkite is well worth the investment and would be great for comparing against your collection.
Krupp88 said:
That's an amazing story!
On the same theme I was offered a Flak soldiers soldbuch at the weekend at a antiques fair, again you can cross ref the entries in these with claims/losses with other sources, it was £190, part of me is regretting saying no, however I collect WW2 aircraft parts and had a bit of a splurge recently (inc. the turbosupercharger from a B17, part of a Jumo 004 and the 20mm hispano cannon from a Mosquito intruder) so cant have everything!
I'm sure you have heard of them but the Nachtjagd Combat Archive series by Wingleader/Redkite is well worth the investment and would be great for comparing against your collection.
Soldbuchs are a fascinating place to start researching - I think that was a very reasonable price to be fair and sounds really interesting! Lots of fake Third Reich stuff out there but it tends to be the really valuable stuff like anything SS/Fallschirmjager/Panzer/Grenadier etc related, I think logbooks and Flak Soldbuchs are relatively unlikely to be targeted by the faker brigade (look up "Champagne rune SS helmet" on youtube if you want to see how bad it is). The aircraft parts business looks really interesting and I am toying with the idea of making a desk clock out of an old aircraft clock, they don't look too expensive and I have a friend who is a watchmaker. I have the Nachtjagd archive for my chap and sadly he is not listed, I had an email conversation with the author, Theo Boiten and he said he did not realise it was an actual combat loss so had not included it in his book. I have various German records and his casualty card which state it was a Feindflug (operational mission) against floating balloons so no doubt he was trying to shoot them down!On the same theme I was offered a Flak soldiers soldbuch at the weekend at a antiques fair, again you can cross ref the entries in these with claims/losses with other sources, it was £190, part of me is regretting saying no, however I collect WW2 aircraft parts and had a bit of a splurge recently (inc. the turbosupercharger from a B17, part of a Jumo 004 and the 20mm hispano cannon from a Mosquito intruder) so cant have everything!
I'm sure you have heard of them but the Nachtjagd Combat Archive series by Wingleader/Redkite is well worth the investment and would be great for comparing against your collection.
I'll recommend 'Tail Gunner' by R C Rivaz. A contemporaneous account of bomber crew operations by an airman who ultimately didn't survive the war. It's moving how he refers to people by initial only 'D...' when they meet a terrible end. An attempt to spare the feelings of those who had lost a loved one and wouldn't want to see the details in print.
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