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Monday, 21 April 2014

New main force RAF Bomber Command Film?

'The Dam Busters' is undoubtedly a great film, except perhaps for the water plume special effects. I saw in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago that the proposed re-make of the film is no nearer completion – which is perhaps no bad thing.

I have the utmost respect for all those involved in Operation Chastise, and the 1955 movie, however, 55,573 Bomber Command aircrew lost their lives during the Second World War – surely it is time for a film depicting 'main force' RAF Bomber Command operations. A British answer to the movie 'Memphis Belle' is long overdue (I am aware that David Puttnam originally intended the tale to be a Royal Air Force story).

Forgive the pun, but a new Bomber Command film need not set out to be a blockbuster – what more potential for drama, tension or emotion could there be than in the exploits of the likes of Norman Lyford, Frank Law, Cy Barton, Frank Wadge and countless others - devotion to duty and acts of selfless courage were nightly occurrences.

Why hasn't this film been made? Something to do with the elephant in the room – the ethics of the aerial bombing of cities perhaps?

Those of you with a copy of 'Does Life Hold Any More in Store' will know my view of the proposition that bombing was not only wrong, but could be deemed a war crime. This may be the philosophical view, but in the context of the progression of the Second World War - in my humble opinion and as Jim Ives would probably have said - drivel!

Having been on the receiving end of the 'Blitz', having trained-up air-crews, manufactured aircraft and ordnance and with no other practicable way of attacking Germany and its war industries the RAF's aerial bombing of cities was – a 'no brainer'.

The Second World War became 'Total War', where civilians became engaged in the 'war effort'. I do not accept that the aim of bombing was to kill people. I believe that the intention was to destroy industries, to de-house workers, to divert resources away from battle-fronts, to disrupt the lives of the German working population – to damage the enemy in any way possible.

Lord Cherwell asserted early in 1942 - 'Investigation seems to show that having one’s house demolished is most damaging to morale. People seem to mind it more than having their friends or even relatives killed’.

There were certain to be civilian deaths - collateral casualties, as were suffered in Britain.

Germany had a comprehensive radar-based air-raid warning network, night-fighters, searchlights, flak batteries, air-raid shelters and the same opportunity as Britain had exercised to evacuate vulnerable civilians.

Surely, seventy years after the events it is possible to accept that the aerial bombing of cities and towns was an aspect of 'total war' – it was perpetrated by both sides.

So – how about this new film then? No doubt that it could be stimulating on visual, cerebral and emotional levels - not to celebrate the bombing of cities – but to acknowledge that aerial bombing was a feature of the Second World War, and to examine the courage of our bomber crews (and Germany's night-fighter pilots for that matter).

An honest depiction of bombing operations would lead to a better understanding of what RAF Bomber Command crews were tasked to do, as 'Das Boot' did for German submariners –  portray wartime servicemen fighting the enemy, the enemy's defences, the elements, luck and fate.

Sunday, 13 April 2014

Lancaster at War 3, mystery crew page 62

I hope that neither the publishers, nor the authors Mike Garbett and Brian Goulding will object to me reproducing a photo from their wonderful collection 'Lancaster at War 3'. Page 62 has two photographs – one depicting Guy Gibson's most famous dog, the other – an unknown crew from RAF Kelstern with their puppy mascot.

I have it on very good authority that the 625 Squadron crew is that of W/O Ron Lake. Geoff Yates, B/A in Jim Ives's, and for the rest of his first tour, Donald Blackmore's crew shared a hut with them. Geoff struck up a rapport with Lake's B/A 'Harpo' Greene and flew in his stead on a couple of occasions.

Ex P/O Yates (then a F/Sgt) remembered Ron Lake as a steady, cool headed pilot. W/O Lake went on to complete his tour of operations at Kelstern and survived the war.

Unfortunately I never pinned down who was who in the photo and sadly Geoff is no longer with us to identify them.

Lake's regular crew form his early days on the squadron seems to have been:-

Sgt R C Lake

Sgt L V Huntingdon (f/e)

Sgt H Greene (b/a)

F/Sgt W H Maver (nav)

Sgt W W Mills (w/op, a/g)

Sgt J Ramsay (a/g)

Sgt A R Masters (a/g)

Presumably one of them was behind the camera. Is there a glimpse of a crown above the figure on the left's chevron's, if so, and taking into account his dress, could this be navigator F/Sgt Maver? W/O Lake is next to him.

A/W/O Ronald Charles Lake was elevated to P/O status wef 5th March 1944, the award of his DFC was gazetted on 19th September 1944.

Unfortunately nothing is known about the dog.