This book has been 14 years in the making; it contains many personal stories, letters and photographs from the Archive, and has been written by our Chairperson, Jennie Mack Gray. It is on sale in our new Shop from which… Read More ›
WAR BACKGROUND
The background to the RAF, Bomber Command and the Pathfinders’ war
Wartime Opposition to Bombing
During the war, public opinion in Britain and the Dominions was firmly on the side of Bomber Command. However, there was also some determined criticism of Bomber Command’s campaigns, not least by George Bell, Bishop of Chichester, who argued the… Read More ›
RAF Bombers Deliver More than Bombs …
Bomber aircraft did not just drop bombs, they also dropped counter-propaganda such as the miniature Dutch newspaper De Wervelwind:
Der Feind, The Fiend
This public information poster was printed in Berlin in 1940. The designer was Sander-Herwig. (Information from The Wolfsonian Digital Catalog, Accession number: XX1990.2765) Note the RAF roundel on the wing of the aircraft, and the bomb in the skeleton’s hand…. Read More ›
The RAF and the Channel Dash
On 11 February 1942, the prestigious German battleships the Scharnhorst, the Gneisenau and the Prinz Eugen broke out of the westerly French port of Brest and sailed east, up the English Channel, in a break for the security of the German-controlled… Read More ›
O Valiant Hearts
The epitaphs on many aircrew graves came from the hymn “O Valiant Hearts”. This remarkable and deeply poignant hymn is connected with the death of the outstanding pilot Ernest Deverill, seen here with his wife Joyce on their wedding day.
Bonzo Joined the RAF …
Here is a delightful photograph and story in another of the RAF’s brilliant PR campaigns. BONZO JOINED THE RAF IN ITALY
Photography in the Air War: 2
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… Read More ›
Photography in the Air War: 1
Following on from the two last posts on the critical role of photography in the Air War, I came across this wartime press photograph of the head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, studying reconnaissance photographs using:… Read More ›
EVIDENCE IN CAMERA
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… Read More ›
Bruneval Raid, 27/28 February 1942
I always love it when all sorts of research threads link up unexpectedly. Last Sunday, I went to Goodrich, near Ross-on-Wye, for a talk about a radar aid called H2S and the tragic crash which killed its inventor, Alan Blumlein…. Read More ›
Carrier Pigeons in the Air War
This beautiful old Air Ministry publicity photograph shows a member of aircrew on a Coastal Command Sunderland Flying Boat releasing a carrier pigeon. It was taken in 1942. There is a great deal more on the role which carrier pigeons… Read More ›