George Sobering was a Lancaster bomber pilot in World War II. He served with the 115 Squadron in 3 Group, RAF Bomber Command, stationed at Witchford Nr. Ely, in East Anglia. He was posted to the squadron in early September, 1944, and completed a tour of 30 operations with his first crew by December 5th. Immediately after, he was assigned to fly with a second crew who had just lost their skipper after 20 operations.

Sobering's first tour was fairly straightforward. The RAF Bomber Command had assumed the night bombing role at the outset of the war, while the U.S. 8th Air Force took over the strategic daytime bombing. These operations had crews flying in extremely close formations at high altitudes, carrying large payloads and armament.

After the invasion of Europe in June 1944, there was a need for daylight bombing support for the advancing armies. This need was accomplished by small groups of the individually navigated night heavy bombers of the RAF. These were precise raids unlike the RAF's U.S. counterparts who specialized in "Carpet Bombing" attacks. Hence Sobering's crew was involved in a number of these daylight raids. While enemy fighter activity was light, the anti-aircraft defense, as well as the Wehrmacht "88's" anti-tank artillery, which were used against air attacks, was very active and accurate. These bombings were carried out at relatively low levels, from 5000 ft down to 1200 ft, compared to bombing at night at 20,000 ft. At 1200 ft their own exploding bombs were a hazard to the trailing bombers. One of Sobering's youthful exploits involved turning back and attacking a German ack-ack post, that had the audacity to try to shoot him down. Bringing his Lancaster down at a very low level attack run, the bomber crew opened fire with its small machine guns. On returning over this post to check the results, it was evident that this gun-post was very effectively silenced.