While the RAF has operated bombers since its foundation in 1918, Bomber Command as a distinct organization existed only from 1936 to 1968, and the present work, written by a former airman with several other books to his credit, aims to provide an account of its structure and operations, its aircraft and their crews throughout the period. This is done in five sections of different lengths. First comes a general history of the aims of Bomber Command and the strategies by which it attempted to carry them out; the next and largest section is a detailed account of its principal operations, enlivened by the reminiscences of surviving airmen and extracts from the citations to those who received the highest awards for bravery (often posthumously). After that are found brief histories of each of the eight groups of Bomber Command, listing their squadrons, airfields and types of aircraft over the years, and summarising the most important operations they took part in. Bomber training units are the subject of a subsequent, and much shorter, section. Finally, comes a description of the various types of aircraft (and one missile) employed by Bomber Command, showing which squadrons used each type over what period, and setting out their characteristics and the kind of operations for which they were designed. This section is, however, rather short on the kind of specific details of dimensions, performance, and so on, which are available in many other works.
The appendices include a list of all operational bomber squadrons; maps showing the location of bomber airfields; Bomber Command's order of battle at various periods of the Second world war; and tables showing, for that war, the tonnage of bombs dropped in each period, the accuracy (or inaccuracy) with which they fell, the destruction caused, and the losses to Bomber Command itself. There is an index (not as analytical as it might be) and numerous illustrations, but no list of abbreviations. Nor is there a bibliography.
Not unnaturally, the main focus of the book is on the Second World War, and the author does not flinch from describing the controversy surrounding the role of Bomber Command in the conflict. Given the calculation that in 1940 only one in three bombers came within five miles of its target (though the figure was improved on later) it was not surprising that a policy of bombing housing areas in Germany was adopted – but not publicly avowed. Air Chief Marshall Harris believed that this campaign, by itself, would “cost Germany the War”. He was wrong in that prediction, but correct in his estimate of the enormous losses likely to be suffered by his own aircrew; at the height of the campaign, a squadron could expect that over a period of four months, a number of men equal to 100 per cent of its strength would be killed or captured.
After the War, Bomber Command was seldom called upon for active service: fortunately so as its chief role became that of nuclear deterrence. When this role was taken over by the Royal Navy (an event not specifically mentioned in the text) Bomber Command declined to a point where it was too small to be maintained as a separate command. This book provides a reliable account of one of Britain's most important military organizations, and can be commended to readers and libraries with interests in that field.
