Bomber Barons

by Chaz Bowyer

At the end of the Second World War over 55,000 air crew of Bomber Command had lost their lives, amounting to 70% of the total RAF casualties. Yet in contrast to Fighter Command, few bomber pilots were household names to the general public. However, within the ranks of the RAF itself, certain men stood out, gaining high reputations for their courage and leadership, a respect achieved regardless often of the decorations they had won or the number of sorties flown. These were the Bomber Barons.

Bomber Barons shows the development of Bomber Command from comparatively un-organized, non-cohesive raids of the early part of the war to the highly-trained and deadly offensive weapon it became under Sir Arthur Harris, from 1942, AOC-in-C of Bomber Command, the greatest baron of them all.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Chaz Bowyer (1927-2008) was an aviation historian and author. He joined the RAF, aged 16, in 1942 and left it in 1969. Then he turned his hand to his life-long passion for aviation and started writing.

Reviews

[Alistair Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was first published in 1983 but remains an interesting and moving insight into the role and sacrifice of Bomber Command during WW2. The book focusses on the stories of a number of pilots and crew, a couple well known like Guy Gibson and Leonard Cheshire but others less remembered. There are accounts of immense bravery and survival , young men going out night after night , seeing friends killed, aircraft shot to pieces then volunteering for more. There are a good number of photos. I would recommend this to anyone but in particular those who talk of the destruction of German cities as a war crime should read these accounts then reflect.

[Ian Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting biographical details for some of the less well known senior pilots.