Pat Cunningham - Fighter! Fighter! Corkscrew Port!

This book is a tribute to the Second World War aircrews of the Royal Air Force who, for much of that conflict, were Britains only direct means of striking back at the enemy. And yet until a short time before the outbreak of war the RAFs concept of aircrew was hazy to say the least, indeed, the term itself did not gain currency until 1939. Fortunately, in 1934 perceptive elements in the government authorized a massive expansion of the RAF. However, as an unlooked-for outcome this also showed up serious shortcomings.

Paramount among these was the lack of a cohesive policy for the crewing of aircraft, and particularly of the heavy bombers which, even then, were long past the drawing-board stage. Essentially, the system regarded only pilots as full-time fliers. The others, observers and air gunners, were invariably found among volunteer tradesmen whose technical qualifications were rather wastefully misemployed when they were called from the workshops to fly.

There was also the woeful state of navigation, illustrated by the fact that in a two-year period 478 RAF bombers made forced-landings because their pilots had lost their way. And that was over Britain, when venturing aloft at night, over a fully-lit land!

Steps taken to rectify matters included sending all observers on ten-week navigation courses. Even so, just two months before the outbreak of war the Commander in Chief of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshal Ludlow-Hewitt, was obliged to report to the Air Council that his command was incapable of operating in anything but fair weather.

In the interim air gunners and observers had been established as full-time fliers and, nominally, at least, made sergeants, although this would take time to implement. Even so, the gunners were expected to double as wireless operators, and the observers as bomb aimers. Clearly, to fully crew the anticipated heavy bombers would be an enormous undertaking calling for the economic husbanding of resources.

The requirements decided upon for these yet-to-be-found fliers were not particularly flattering. The medically suitable aspirant volunteer, while not exceptional, was to be more than keen to learn. A mechanical background would be advantageous and he should have a good general education with a fair working knowledge of maths and the application of simple formulae. It was to be left to the Initial Training Wing (ITW) to bring out the dormant spirit of aggression and to maintain personal initiative while encouraging the crew spirit.

Meanwhile, the creation of instant sergeants did not sit happily with the non-fliers in a Service where promotion had been historically slow. But the new planners were also stuck with another historical precedent, that of commissioned and non-commissioned fliers that had been foisted upon the Service since the earliest days. In 1914 Trenchard the revered Father of the RAF had seen no need to commission pilots, reasoning that they commanded nobody and that the trained military observer they carried would regulate the sortie. The Royal Naval Air Service, however, offered commissions to its pilots, so that, suddenly facing a dearth of recruits, the Royal Flying Corps had to follow suit.

As the Second World War loomed then, the attributes of aspirant aircrew had been established. But where were these not exceptional volunteers to be found?

Happily, the climate was right. Race-awareness of four years of Flanders mud and blood had raised the sights of many to the knightly conflict fought by the air aces of that Great War. In addition, the aerial record breakers were rarely out of the headlines. And always there was the allure of Flight, mankinds primeval dream. Finally, after war actually broke out, German blitzes and the desire to strike back became a spur for so many more that, in the event, recruiting aircrew was always to be a matter of feast rather than famine.

Where flying training was concerned, however, the British weather presented enormous problems to continuity. These, though, were alleviated through schemes by which such training could be done in the fair-weather skies of not only Commonwealth countries but of the still-neutral United States. Notwithstanding, it would still take nearly two years to bring many aircrew to an operationally-ready state.