Classic British Flight Sim

Might be able to use my one free pensioner train trip to see this:
http://www.shrine.org.au/Exhibitions/Te ... er-Command

They interviewed three surviving aircrew on the news last night; one said that he had contacted the German guard who locked him up as a POW, and received a 90th birthday card from him.
Another said that he was terrified on every mission, and couldn't stop shaking.
The third said it was exciting fun, and he had no fear, or any prick of conscience when his aeroplane dropped bombs (he added maybe it was because he was Jewish).
I've recently been reading an old article about the US bombers based at Bassingbourne. I reckon I'd have been with the second chap above!

That's impressive Mike

ATB
DaveB

Hi Mike. That looks like a very worthwhile visit and a good use of your free train ticket. If you go, will you take a virtual me sitting on your shoulder as I'd love to go with you.

I've looked at the photos on the website you've linked to and they are of RAAF 460 squadron. You'll possibly remember that my own website deals with it's sister squadron, RAAF 467 squadron, and the life and death of my father's cousin who was seconded to it in it's early days in 1943 with a mixed British and Australian crew. I've included some of his letters to his parents describing how he feels during some of the raids. Reading between the lines, you can imagine that the majority of the crews felt the same fear that you and I would feel. To my mind, feeling that sort of fear night after night and still doing the job is far braver than not feeling fear in the first place.

I've called the website A Statistic of War because the statistics created by Bomber Command's raids during the war are absolutely shocking and the ones published on your link are no less so.

Of 10,000 Australian airmen in Bomber Command, nearly 3,500 were killed equating to 20% of all Australian combat deaths during WWII.

If you do go, please will you take a note of the address of my website to pass on to any surviving veterans or families that you meet and pass it on to them. I've only managed to trace one other crew member's family from Teddy's crew and although I've found some online information about the pilot, who was from Perth, I can't find any trace of the other Australian crew members. Who knows, you might just bump into somebody who is looking for information about members of 467 squadron RAAF and my site will point them in the right direction.

http://www.speedbird747.com/teddy

Have a great day out, if you make it.

Ian

G'day Ian,
As the genie said: "Your wish is my command."
It will be an honour to have you on my shoulder, Mate.
I'll keep you posted.

Ian,
Not knowing quite when I'll make it to the big smoke, I wrote to the Shrine, and received this reply today:


Dear Mike,

Thank you for your email and the information from the link provided.

I will pass this information along to the relevant people and hopefully we can make his information accessible to our visitors.

Please send my sincerest sympathies and wishes to Ian.


Regards,

Kelly McConnell
Visitor Services Administration Officer
Shrine of Remembrance
Melbourne Victoria

Thanks for doing that, Mike. I hadn't thought of contacting them directly

But coming from someone within the Country makes it more relevant and personal. With a lot of people visiting there and probably looking for more information about the RAAF involvement in Bomber Command I think the site about Teddy and 467 squadron adds a useful background or research resource. And there's always the hope that somebody will find something personal there as well.

So thanks very much indeed, Mike, and I hope you get your day out there soon.

Ian