#Lancaster bomber crew stories series#

#Lancaster bomber crew stories series#

This first volume in the series British Civil Aircraft Losses covers the early days of aviation in the UK, between 1786 and the outbreak of the Great War in 1914.

With the details of 137 serious or otherwise significant British air accidents, and over 200 contemporary images, this book is believed to be the most comprehensive work ever published covering thisĪspect of aviation history and shows how early investigations led to improvements in air safety we can recognise today. Wings is the first volume in a series detailingĮvery recorded civil air accident in Britain, its investigation and the lessons learnt. The machines were flown by brave andĭetermined pilots who pushed the boundaries of the fledgling science of aeronautics, with an inevitable price exacted.Īs the toll mounted, another science was developed, that of air accident investigation. Tragically, the first fatal accident took place only a couple of years later, when 22-year-old Ralph Heron fell from an ascendingīy the outbreak of the Great War in 1914, balloons had largely become eclipsed by powered aeroplanes, more complex and capable of greater speeds and altitude. When James Tytler took to the skies above Edinburgh in a balloon. Manned aviation started in Britain in 1784, You had to form your crew and that was to be it'.If God meant men to fly, He would have given them wings.’ We didn’t have time to actually evaluate an individual. 'Well, we were thrown in a bunch, bunch of wireless operators over there, bunch of navigators over there and some gunners over there, so you were told to try and make it as self-compatible as you could to form your crew – fairly hit and miss in that sense. Here’s how Bill described the process of ‘crewing up’: A small preview of the book:īill took the responsibility of selecting his crew extremely seriously, despite the rather haphazard method that was the accepted practice, as he was well aware that a mistake could have disastrous consequences for them all. I highly recommend this new book to anyone who loves the allure of fabled World War II aircraft and stories about the men who flew them. Vic is a thoroughly excellent researcher and writer.

Ware (New Zealand Bomber Command Association archives) A readers review: A review by Peggy Stewart: Vic Jay is a stellar writer who has just released this compelling book about his father's service for the RAF in the very bomber you see on the front cover - the legendary Lancaster Bomber. The picture is reproduced in Chapter 16 of 'The Mallon Crew', courtesy of E. This is the Mallon crew on their final war operation, photographed from another No(75) Squadron Lancaster, on the 24th April 1945. It connected me with the families of all but one of my dad’s crew, gave me the opportunity to talk to a man of ninety four, who had flown with my dad, and even uncovered a photograph of the crew flying to their last target. Almost as fascinating as the stories themselves is the way in which a modest research project evolved into this extraordinary narrative. They all survived the war, but were stricken by more tragedies than it is possible to imagine, and their lives would never be the same again.

The book tells how Bill and my dad, born within a year of each other but over 11,000 miles apart, lived parallel lives until December 1944, when they ‘crewed up’ with five other young men, three from New Zealand and two, like my dad, from England. I was not prepared for the discoveries I was about to make. 75 (New Zealand) Squadron, and, when he died at the age of just fifty five, I had nothing to help me but a handful of photographs, his log book and the name of his Kiwi pilot, Bill Mallon. He was a Lancaster bomber flight engineer with No. ‘The Mallon Crew’ tells a series of heart-breaking stories that have been unearthed by four years’ research into my dad’s service in the Air Force.