A couple of years ago now I met online a woman who, as a girl, had known my Uncle during his Bomber Command training days at Bruntingthorpe. This was late ‘42 to early ‘43. She was 10 then, daughter in a family that befriended a group (3) of trainee airmen who had become close mates. They all went operational in May ‘43, two lost their lives almost immediatley and my Uncle completed 12 ops before his demise over Peenemunde in August. They had literally vanished from the sight of this family who had wondered about their fates for decades.

During our correspondence, I mentioned in passing that I had (have) the utmost respect for all involved in the CBO, saying that I view Luftwaffe and RAF/USAAF crew on equal terms … young men doing their bit for their country. I said something about the Nachjagd crerws seeing their cities burn and doing their bit to shoot down the “terror fleigers”.

Well! Talk about a raw nerve. I didn’t know that she and her family had been “bombed out” of Coventry before relocating to Bruntingthorpe. I got a very straight reply: “we wanted to bomb them all to hell”.

OK, roger that. D