Hey all, I was watching a televised play called "Brylcreem Boys" about an RAF "erk" who gets sent to hospital with frostbite. He gets put into a ward with a Lanc crew, who are all traumatised by bombing operations. One night, they set up a Lanc bomber using chairs and such and fly an imaginary op to Nuremburg. Now I know that they are just dramatizing it, but how badly traumatised could aircrew get? And did they get sent to hospital for recovery, or were they classed by the air force as LMF? P.S. I don't think they had any Aussie flight engineers, or did they?
Trauma was a serious issue. Now called PTSD, it was then referred to battle stress etc. The Squadron and Station Medical Officers were constantly on the look out for aircrew who showed signs like fatigue, irritability, recklessness etc, as they were often indicators of stress/trauma. If they spotted someone, they would often try to get the airman rested for a period, either sent on leave or in more seriious cases, sent for recuperation under medical supervision. Don't forget that the stress of flying mission after mission, hours on end, not knowing whether they would survive, and having little to fight back with, especially against AA, put a lot of strain on airmen. And if they were attacked and they lost a crew member, then that could have a devastating affect. LMF was seen as a different issue - the signs maybe similar but the MOs would be diligent in ascertaining what the reason was. If an airman constantly claimed to be sick before a mission, or a regular returning at the start of a mission claiming to have aircraft problems that cannot be found to exist by the ground crew etc would raise concerns. As for Australian flight engineers, Australians filled all the roles in Bomber Command - pilots, engineers, navigators, air gunners......one's nationality did not preclude you from a particular role.
In the cases/stories I've read regarding PTSD, sometimes the crew member/s in question would be helped get through some trips by their mates or they would have an emotional discussion with their skipper who, more often than not was probably the same age or maybe a little older...sometimes younger! Through this, the crew might know there were problems and expect the inevitable but at other times, the crew member in question was simply not seen again. I've come across circumstances, with regard to LMF, where a crew member has announced he is no longer flying anymore (without consultation of crew or MO) and that's that. Again, he is quietly taken off ops and usually not heard from again as he is posted out of harm's way (harm to himself and others). On the nationality front, the only time you'll come across certain nationalities not being a something or other is when there weren't many from that country serving to begin with! The RAF, particularly Bomber Command, was a great melting pot as you know. I wonder if there was a bomber crew where each position was held by a different nationality? Easy to imagine a crew of Canadian, Kiwi, Aussie and Brit but...assuming you don't say English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish of course (ooh, I'm going to get in trouble for that one).
Well, in my story, "S for Sugar", the pilot is a Kiwi, the engineer is Irish, the navigator's Canadian, the bomb aimer is American, the wireless operator is English and their gunners are Australian twins.
This is before they're in PFF? Down the track, depending on what technology you give them and what they do, you can have another crew member working another box of tricks! I'm a bit rusty on my box of tricks knowledge at present but Kyt'll be able to help as he's been reading in that area recently. I think if they're Master Bomber, they'd have an extra bod.
Yeah, 685 is in Main Force with Halifax Mk. II's, then they get sent to PFF and I might say that they get an experienced Scottish bloke as "Nav 2".
If you are going to develop the Nav character you will need to read up on H2S radar, as this was an intregal part of the Pathfinders arsenal.
Thanks Kyt, I thought I smelt rotten eggs and saw a suspicious bulge...! Was getting all my "aids" confused so didn't go further to spread the confusion. All clear now. I agree. In another thread I suggested getting to know the Lanc as well, if you haven't already. Also, the pilot, being a Kiwi, would have gone through EATS so you could add some excellent background info on his time in Canada and the trip across the Pond. Well, most of the colonial crew would have done EATS of course. The bomb aimer or nav could have started flying but not been too good or had an accident that prevented further "command" flying etc so re-mustered.
The technological parts are where any piece of fiction on the Pathfinders could fail. So one needs to know the ins and outs quite well. One doesn't need to include all the technical details in the story, but one does need to be aware of its limitations etc. As Andy has said, get to know one's subject, man and machine, and one should then be able to develop the story nicely
You say the bomb aimer is American, but he would be serving in one of the Commonwealth Air Forces. if you call him a American then people are going to assume that he is USAAF! Also, it is worth pointingout that Americans who volunteered for serice with other countries, lost their passport and citizenship as the constitution stripped them of these, as it did not allow anyone to take a oath of loyalty to the King. Also, I am not sure but I doubt if the RAF would have allowed two brothers to serve on the same crew, on different Squadrons, yes, but not crews.
Hmmm, I remember reading in "Night After Night" by Max Lambert that the Todd twins, both Canadian, served on the same bomber crew, refusing to be split up. Oh, I'll make the bomb aimer English then. Wentworth sounds English in my opnion.
Name: TOD, RICHARD DOUGLAS Initials: R D Nationality: Canadian Rank: Warrant Officer Class II (Wireless Air Gunner) Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Unit Text: 75 (R.N.Z.A.F.) Sqdn Age: 23 Date of Death: 23/06/1943 Service No: R/91741 Additional information: Son of Alexander and Mary Edith Tod, of St. Vital, Manitoba, Canada. His twin brother Robert Ernest also died on service. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 250. Cemetery: MEDEMBLIK GENERAL CEMETERY Name: TOD, ROBERT ERNEST Initials: R E Nationality: Canadian Rank: Warrant Officer Class II (Wireless Air Gunner) Regiment/Service: Royal Canadian Air Force Unit Text: 75 (R.N.Z.A.F.) Sqdn Age: 23 Date of Death: 23/06/1943 Service No: R/91742 Awards: D F M Additional information: Son of Alexander and Mary Edith Tod, of St. Vital, Manitoba, Canada. His twin brother Richard Douglas also died on service. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: Grave 249. Cemetery: MEDEMBLIK GENERAL CEMETERY This is from one of our member's, Steve_O, website, but unfortunately, I cannot open it at the moment. So i hope he doesn't mind me quoting from it: www.basher82.nl/Data/medemblik/todRichard.htm
By the time of the Pathfinders, the majority of the Americans who'd joined up before the entry of the US into the war had transferred to the USAAF. However, there was still a sizeable number left. As for the oath, the possibility of the loss of US citizenship was a major concern, as a reult a new oath, not to the King and country, but to the Air Force authorities was introduced. I cannot remember the exact wording at the moment, but it was along the lines of obeying all orders given by the appropriate authorities until the end of their service.
I've changed him around Kyt. Mick Wentworth is now going to be English. And thanks for the info on the Tod brothers. I might use a little bit of that information for the Grey twins; Tommy and Freddie, mid-upper and rear gunner on "S" Sugar.
You could make them from a country town where they learned to shoot rabbits and foxes - hence their natural abilities in a turret. Since their surnames are Grey, you could have some fun saying they grew up on a farm on the outskirts of Orange (in New South Wales)... However, given that a lot of Australian gunners were trained in South Australia (in the back of Battles with Vickers guns), you could make them farm lads from the peninsula to the west of Adelaide.
Wouldn't have a clue. I'm the wrong person to ask there! Spidgeman might know given he has done some hunting in the past. I suppose they could have shared a .303 that a shady uncle who had served in WWI gave them...or the equivalent German rifle from that time that said uncle (or father) managed to souvenir.
