I gave up on "The Myth of the Blitz" as it was way too dry and academic for my taste and started reading a paperback called "Men of Air" - The Doomed Youth of Bomber Command by Kevin Wilson.
From the back cover of the book:
The Winter of 1944 was the most dangerous time to be a combat airman in RAF Bomber Command. The chances of surviving a tour were as low as one in five, and morale had hit rock bottom.
When we first arrived the intelligence officer told us "Your expectation of life is six weeks. Go back to your huts and make out your wills"
Men of Air is the extraordinary story of ordinary young men copping with the constant pressure of flying, loss of colleagues, and the threat of death or capture.
The stories of the famous events and developments of this period - the Great Escape, D-Day, the defeat of the V1 menace, the Dambusters' low level target marking - show how, through shear guts and determination, these courageous crewmen finally turned the tide against the Germans.
My Father flew with Bomber Command during this period and up to the end of the war but I had no idea how lucky he was to survive (no doubt he did). I was in the mistaken belief that bombing would have been more dangerous in the earlier part of the war. By 1944, I thought Bombing Operations would have been safer because of the greater number of bombers involved and the increase in technology. But of course the Germans also had better technology with airborne radar and improved tactics to intercept the bombers and also better intelligence on where the bombers would attack etc.
The book is full of first hand accounts from both sides, including civilians, and I recommend the book to anyone with an interest in this, perhaps the greatest battle, of WWII.
I don't want the Courtney saga to end. It's been another great adventure, from the Cape to the Dark Interior to Oman...and a great lead in to "Assegai" with intros to the Nguni people (Zulu
