The Royal Air Force and the Dominion Air Forces
Our post of 27 April 2019 contained a Press photograph of Harris using a stereopticon. It was only when we came to do a further post on the subject that we realised the link between the Press photograph and an article in The Illustrated London News. Read the Full Article: Harris’s Office, Bomber […]
In February 2019 we featured Captain Bryan de Grineau’s drawing of Lancaster gunners ‘Hotting-up‘ which was published in The Illustrated London News in December 1943. Now here is another fascinating Bryan de Grineau drawing, also from The Illustrated London News, of the underground room at Bomber Command which housed the Photographic […]
Following on from the two last posts on the critical role of photography in the Air War, here is a wartime press photograph of the head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, studying reconnaissance photographs using: a variation of the old-fashioned stereopticon which used to be kept […]
More from the fascinating 1957 book Evidence in Camera. Wing Commander Peter Stewart was chosen to command a new Assistant Directorate of Photographic Intelligence in the summer of 1941. At this time reconnaissance photographs were showing how badly Bomber Command was failing in hitting its targets, and the photographic evidence […]
Last Sunday, I went to Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye, for a talk about the radar aid H2S and the tragic crash which killed its inventor, Alan Blumlein (see H2S AND THE BLUMLEIN CRASH). H2S was critical to Pathfinder navigational accuracy. One of the interesting facts mentioned in the talk was that […]
A vivid reminder of the terrible dangers of flying on bombing operations, where wounding from machine gun fire, flak fragments or burns from fires on board were an ever-present hazard. Crashes in Britain were also a major hazard. Aircrew were taught emergency First Aid treatment. Advice was given on the […]
Like the Le Creusot raid of 17 October, the Milan raid of 24 October was flown in daylight. It is not entirely certain on which of the two operations this photograph and three other related photographs were taken, but the fact that the aircraft were flying in formation seems to […]
Surviving photographs of RAF funerals are very rare. Although many were taken officially during the war, so that relatives living abroad could see that their loved ones had been buried with honour, it seems that such photographs were too sad to keep. Norman McIntyre (fourth from left) with two of […]
The Le Creusot operation in daylight on 17 October 1942 was one of the most daring of several Bomber Command raids flown that year which were perhaps as much concerned with PR and morale as with military strategy. See: Le Creusot Raid of 17 October 1942 One of those flying on […]
During the war, the exploits of Bomber Command were celebrated in all the mass media, including newspapers, newsreel, and radio. Two of the most notable operations were the Augsburg raid of April 1942 (in which Ernest Deverill flew), and the Dams Raid of May 1943, led by Guy Gibson. Some […]
Photographs of RAF Station Sick Quarters (SSQs) in wartime are extremely rare. These three photographs show the characteristics of an SSQ in a Nissen hut, such as were found on bases like RAF Bourn and RAF Gransden Lodge which had been built in wartime. Above: The Red Cross symbols on […]
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