 |
 |
Hour after hour, the radio operator listened to static in his earphones, and the pilot and co-pilot struggled to hold the aircraft close -
but not too close - to the other aircraft in the formation. Endlessly the gunners scanned the skies for Luftwaffe fighters, trying to remain
awake and alert. More than anything else, a mission was hard, complicated work, - and not just for the aircrews. For a routine raid, many
tens of thousands of people, headquarters personnel, operations officers, mechanics,
armorers and other specialized personnel, toiled hundreds
of thousands of man hours to put several hundred bombers over a German target for about five minutes.
The bomber would be fueled and loaded with bombs and supplies while
the aircrew were shown the mission map in the briefing room. In careful
detail, the officers described the weather outlook, the target, the
proper approach to it, the kind of flak and fighter opposition to
expect.
   
|
|
|
|
|
