Miraculously, although in the most vulnerable part of the aircraft, Leslie had escaped with no more than a sprained ankle and a scratch on his nose.
Within a few moments some Luftwaffe soldiers from a nearby anti-aircraft site arrived on the scene. In a state of shock, Lesliecalled to them in the only words of German that he knew: ‘
Deinicht mein ganzes herz
!’ …‘You are my heart’s delight!’ The Germans laughed and treated the three survivors with consideration. The lives of both John Graham and Ginger Hughes were saved by skilled surgery carried out in Lübeck hospital. Leslie Biddlecombe became a prisoner of war for nearly four years.
The Bomber Command War Diaries mention the reactions of some German military veterans from the First World War who witnessed that raid on Kiel. They said that the flak barrage was so intense, it reminded them of the Western Front offensives of 1914–1918.
It is certain that young men who volunteered for flying duties during that period and were assigned to bombers suffered from inadequate and hurried training that fell far short of proper preparation for their onerous tasks. Newly qualified pilots were used, certainly when flying in Hampdens, in a capacity for which they were only minimally prepared – that is as navigators, while in Whitleys or Wellingtons, where the second pilot took over the controls from time to time, they were still wastefully underemployed.
It was illogical for pilots to be paired in aircraft that could only carry a small bomb load. In the later stages of the bomber offensive a single unmodified Lancaster, flown by one pilot and a crew of six, could carry up to 18,000 lbs of bombs. In order to lift that same load it would have required twelve Hampdens with combined crews totalling forty-eight airmen,
twenty-four of them qualified pilots
. In current terminology – hardly cost-effective!
True comparison between the earlier days of Bomber Command’s operations and those that followed later in the war is barely possible anyway. A given weight of bombs dropped in 1944 did infinitely more damage than a comparable weight dropped in 1941. In the beginning RAF bombs were of such inferior construction that the explosive element accounted for little more than a quarter of their weight, the difference being made up of heavy metal casing. The Amatol explosive, used by the British since World War One, was not nearly so effective as that employed by the Germans, who, in any case, packed twice as much explosive into their bombs.
The crowning irony was that aircrew were expected to throw away their lives while fighting, not only with inefficient weapons, but with ones that were often defective. A large percentage of those early bombs failed to explode on impact.
Added to this, as we have seen, was the frequent failure of crews to find their targets through lack of navigation aids. Even if the target was found, the chances of hitting it were reduced because of antiquated bomb-sights. Is it fair to assume, then, that the campaign in those early days was a pitiful waste of time? Nothing could be further from the truth. Without the fortitude and bravery of men such as Flight Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Leslie Biddlecombe, the massive bombing offensive of the future could never have come about. It was the pioneering spirit of these early volunteers that laid the foundations for what was to come – an onslaught on the enemy such as the world had never seen. They showed the world that, in spite of Göring’s boast to the contrary, British bombers could range, night after night, far and wide over German territory.
Britain then stood alone, her cities bombed by the Luftwaffe, her home army impotent, her ships at the mercy of U-boats. Only Bomber Command carried the war to Germany. This was done as well as it could be done at the time. The exploits of the young bomber crews gave heart to the British people. Their deeds brought comfort to a nation under siege.
Within a few moments some Luftwaffe soldiers from a nearby anti-aircraft site arrived on the scene. In a state of shock, Lesliecalled to them in the only words of German that he knew: ‘
Deinicht mein ganzes herz
!’ …‘You are my heart’s delight!’ The Germans laughed and treated the three survivors with consideration. The lives of both John Graham and Ginger Hughes were saved by skilled surgery carried out in Lübeck hospital. Leslie Biddlecombe became a prisoner of war for nearly four years.
The Bomber Command War Diaries mention the reactions of some German military veterans from the First World War who witnessed that raid on Kiel. They said that the flak barrage was so intense, it reminded them of the Western Front offensives of 1914–1918.
It is certain that young men who volunteered for flying duties during that period and were assigned to bombers suffered from inadequate and hurried training that fell far short of proper preparation for their onerous tasks. Newly qualified pilots were used, certainly when flying in Hampdens, in a capacity for which they were only minimally prepared – that is as navigators, while in Whitleys or Wellingtons, where the second pilot took over the controls from time to time, they were still wastefully underemployed.
It was illogical for pilots to be paired in aircraft that could only carry a small bomb load. In the later stages of the bomber offensive a single unmodified Lancaster, flown by one pilot and a crew of six, could carry up to 18,000 lbs of bombs. In order to lift that same load it would have required twelve Hampdens with combined crews totalling forty-eight airmen,
twenty-four of them qualified pilots
. In current terminology – hardly cost-effective!
True comparison between the earlier days of Bomber Command’s operations and those that followed later in the war is barely possible anyway. A given weight of bombs dropped in 1944 did infinitely more damage than a comparable weight dropped in 1941. In the beginning RAF bombs were of such inferior construction that the explosive element accounted for little more than a quarter of their weight, the difference being made up of heavy metal casing. The Amatol explosive, used by the British since World War One, was not nearly so effective as that employed by the Germans, who, in any case, packed twice as much explosive into their bombs.
The crowning irony was that aircrew were expected to throw away their lives while fighting, not only with inefficient weapons, but with ones that were often defective. A large percentage of those early bombs failed to explode on impact.
Added to this, as we have seen, was the frequent failure of crews to find their targets through lack of navigation aids. Even if the target was found, the chances of hitting it were reduced because of antiquated bomb-sights. Is it fair to assume, then, that the campaign in those early days was a pitiful waste of time? Nothing could be further from the truth. Without the fortitude and bravery of men such as Flight Sergeant (later Warrant Officer) Leslie Biddlecombe, the massive bombing offensive of the future could never have come about. It was the pioneering spirit of these early volunteers that laid the foundations for what was to come – an onslaught on the enemy such as the world had never seen. They showed the world that, in spite of Göring’s boast to the contrary, British bombers could range, night after night, far and wide over German territory.
Britain then stood alone, her cities bombed by the Luftwaffe, her home army impotent, her ships at the mercy of U-boats. Only Bomber Command carried the war to Germany. This was done as well as it could be done at the time. The exploits of the young bomber crews gave heart to the British people. Their deeds brought comfort to a nation under siege.
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