Dambuster Documentary.

[Tomliner]

Simon I agree about the editing but as you know it happens often. How many times have you seen incorrect locomotives used or a film in which passengers board one type of aircraft only to alight from a different type at the end of the same flight?
Like others here I’ve read many books both fact and fiction about bomber command, but the thing that still amazes me is that all those brave men were volunteers. I assume that USAAF crews were also volunteers.
Looking back from today it seems that those whose nerves could take the stress no longer were harshly treated by being labeled lmf but I suppose the effect on other crew members had to be consudered. They were special men without doubt.EricT

[simondix]

About harsh treatment of 'LMF' sufferers. I think even their colleagues thought they were harshly treated in the main.

[Nigel H-J]

About harsh treatment of 'LMF' sufferers. I think even their colleagues thought they were harshly treated in the main.

There was another ruling that Harris gave to his aircrews and that was if one member of aircrew caught VD then regardless of how many missions he had already completed be it 2 or 28 missions he would have to do another 30 missions regardless.

Why was that?

Nigel.

[Swanoir]

I’m catching up and about halfway through episode 2. I agree with a lot of the criticisms but I like to look at the bigger picture and appreciate the fact that people are still commissioning aviation themed documentaries at all. In the era of reality TV and vacuous ‘documentaries’ about how filthy people’s houses are, I embrace any kind of programming that I consider more ‘grown up’ and especially if it reflects my interests!
So yes, some of the editing is sloppy and Dan Snow’s presenting style may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’d still rather have a three part documentary that honours the crews of bomber command than nothing

[Swanoir]

I’m catching up and about halfway through episode 2. I agree with a lot of the criticisms but I like to look at the bigger picture and appreciate the fact that people are still commissioning aviation themed documentaries at all. In the era of reality TV and vacuous ‘documentaries’ about how filthy people’s houses are, I embrace any kind of programming that I consider more ‘grown up’ and especially if it reflects my interests!
So yes, some of the editing is sloppy and Dan Snow’s presenting style may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I’d still rather have a three part documentary that honours the crews of bomber command than nothing

[PeteP]

There was another ruling that Harris gave to his aircrews and that was if one member of aircrew caught VD then regardless of how many missions he had already completed be it 2 or 28 missions he would have to do another 30 missions regardless.

Why was that?

I think Patrick Bishop in his book Air Force Blue: The RAF in World War Two – Spearhead of Victory answers your question Nigel. He writes:

"On 9 January 1943, without consulting the Air Ministry, he [Harris] wrote to his group commanders pointing out that the incidence of VD among aircrews was 35 per thousand per annum, ‘four times that of all other RAF personnel in the Command’. He went on:

The consequences of this are far too serious for it to be regarded with tolerance as the natural result of war. At best, it shows criminal carelessness, but I am strongly inclined to believe that this is not the whole truth and that a substantial amount of deliberate malingering is involved … Every member of a crew who contracts Venereal Disease incapacitates not merely himself but breaks up his entire crew and I will not have the efficiency of the Command to carry on the war impaired by individual irresponsibility in this way. Still less do I propose to allow anyone who may hope to do so to gain advantage from deliberately exposing himself to infection.

He concluded with a terrible warning to anyone henceforth unlucky enough to fall victim to the ‘clap’:

In future … it will be the rule that anyone contracting Venereal Disease, irrespective of the stage he has reached in his operational tour, will be required to start afresh and complete his 30 sorties, as soon as he is in a fit state of health so to do."

Bishop goes on to say, "In 1943 the chances of surviving a standard tour of thirty operations was about one in five.To condemn a man who was nearing the end of his tour to start all over again for the crime of ‘copping a dose’ would be seen by many as amounting to a writ of execution. [...] If Harris’s draconian solution was ever applied – and there is no evidence I can find, documentary or anecdotal, either way – then it made no difference. The VD rate among bomber crews continued to climb in 1943, reaching a peak in August."

Pete

[Nigel H-J]

To condemn a man who was nearing the end of his tour to start all over again for the crime of ‘copping a dose’ would be seen by many as amounting to a writ of execution. [...] If Harris’s draconian solution was ever applied – and there is no evidence I can find, documentary or anecdotal, either way – then it made no difference.

Very many thanks for the in-depth answer to my question Peter, from your reply I think it was probable that all station commanders would have made sure that their airmen misdemeanours were kept under wraps!!

Regards
Nigel.

[cstorey]

I read Harris's edict in a different way : when he said that he would not allow a malingerer to obtain an advantage, it implies that what he meant was that you would not permanently be stood down from ops, but would be required to complete the tour irrespective of the stage already reached. The word " afresh" is , however, somewhat equivocal