Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    Black Night for Bomber Command: The Tragedy of 16 December 1943
    Unavailable
    Black Night for Bomber Command: The Tragedy of 16 December 1943
    Unavailable
    Black Night for Bomber Command: The Tragedy of 16 December 1943
    Ebook402 pages4 hours

    Black Night for Bomber Command: The Tragedy of 16 December 1943

    By Richard Knott

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    “I am not pressing you to fight the weather as well as the Germans, never forget that.” So wrote Winston Churchill to Arthur Harris, the Commander-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command, after the terrible events of 16 December 1943. In the murky dusk almost five hundred heavy bombers, almost entirely Lancasters, set out for Berlin from their bases in eastern England, from north Yorkshire to southern Cambridgeshire. They lifted off at around 4 pm to bomb the target four hours later and were expected to return at midnight. 328 aircrew lost their lives that night – they were the victims of the weather, not the Germans. This book relates the tragic circumstances of individual crews as they struggled to find their home bases in low cloud and fog. It also includes stories from the local people who remember hearing a low-flying aircraft and all too often the frightful explosion as it struck unexpected high ground or even trees. Some rescue attempts were successful, but for most aircrew it was death in a blazing wreck. Many of the crash sites have been explored by the author as he tried to imagine exactly how each aircraft came to grief. It contains many photos of aircraft as they were and the remaining impact areas that remain to this day.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPen and Sword
    Release dateJul 1, 2007
    ISBN9781781594421
    Unavailable
    Black Night for Bomber Command: The Tragedy of 16 December 1943
    Author

    Richard Knott

    RICHARD KNOTT is a historian and English teacher. He has written several books on the Second World War and articles for the Independent and The Times Educational Supplement. He has long been fascinated by how our view of warfare is shaped by art.

    Read more from Richard Knott

    Related to Black Night for Bomber Command

    Related ebooks

    Wars & Military For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Letters

      Feb 23, 2023

      What a glorious start to 2023, with a long-awaited essay on a tome, beloved of so many children of the 1970s [FT427:28-35]. Billy Rough’s feature captured precisely the love we all have for Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain – arguably the finest

      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jan 25, 2024

      Letters
      13 min read

    • Article

      Your Letters

      Oct 9, 2020

      Your Letters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Your Letters

      Aug 7, 2020

      Your Letters
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jul 9, 2020

      Letters
      4 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Sep 1, 2021

      If any question why we died, Tell them, because our fathers lied. —Rudyard Kipling, “Epitaphs of the War,” The Years Between, 1919 She consulted me, a glance, and said: “I think not anything off the wagon. It arrives too quickly. Let’s have somethi

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un's Notes

      Nov 15, 2023

      At the October Oldie Literary Lunch, we were lucky enough to host Sir Don McCullin, the world's greatest war photographer. Don was talking about his new book, Journeys Across Roman Asia Minor, published with a commentary by Barnaby Rogerson. He says

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Jan 19, 2023

      While I agree with Fern Riddell that we shouldn’t treat audiences of historical dramas as stupid (The Conversation, Christmas), most people in any audience are not as well-versed in the subject as the programme-makers. Period dramas such as The Crown

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Aug 13, 2020

      Write to: The Editor, The Field, Pinehurst II, Pinehurst Road, Farnborough Business Park, Farnborough, Hampshire GU14 7BF. Email: field.secretary@futurenet.com LETTERS MAY BE EDITED FOR CLARITY OR SPACE Dr Hannah Clark’s article was excellent [Huntin

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Old Un’s Notes

      Jun 30, 2021

      * Have Oldie-readers who wear glasses ever thought where specs come from? The answer lies in a new book, Through the Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles, by Travis Elborough. Elborough, himself bespectacled, traces the history of spec

      6 min read

    • Article

      A Kind Of Loving

      Mar 25, 2021

      A Kind Of Loving
      12 min read

    • Article

      Dear Paul

      Sep 11, 2020

      Dear Paul
      6 min read

    • Article

      A Warning To The Fortean

      Jul 14, 2022

      A Warning To The Fortean
      9 min read

    • Article

      Hurrah For The Wavy Navy

      Mar 9, 2022

      Hurrah For The Wavy Navy
      5 min read

    • Article

      An Ardent And Capable Defender

      Jan 2, 2020

      An Ardent And Capable Defender
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Mar 24, 2022

      CONTACT US BY POST: PO BOX 1200, WHITSTABLE CT1 9RH, OR E-MAIL SIEVEKING@FORTEANTIMES.COM PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS The very interesting report on ‘Man Of Russia’ and his outlandish claims about giant trees [FT415:9] got me thinking

      14 min read

    • Article

      Paddy's Last Lines

      Apr 3, 2024

      Eighty years ago, on 26th April 1944, the writer Patrick Leigh Fermor (1915-2011) led the daring raid to kidnap General Kreipe, the officer leading the German forces in occupied Crete. I am afraid that, nearly 70 years later, I think it was me what d

      3 min read

    • Article

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER

      May 14, 2020

      Q&A YOU ASK, WE ANSWER
      8 min read

    • Article

      History

      Apr 3, 2024

      Viking, 464pp, £20 In this follow-up to his 2021 bestseller Empireland, wrote Andrew Marr in the Times, Sanghera ‘tries to understand why the modern British display such amnesia about their forebears’ vast, world-changing project.’ Although the book

      11 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Sep 10, 2020

      A possible case of identity theft (Noel Rooney, “The Man Who Would Be Q”, FT395:42-44) involves reclusive American chess genius, madman, and Fortean Times namesake Bobby Fischer (1943-2008), who certainly haunted a generation of chess players. Around

      18 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Nov 4, 2021

      CONTACT US BY POST: PO BOX 1200, WHITSTABLE CT1 9RH, OR E-MAIL SIEVEKING@FORTEANTIMES.COM PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS The correspondence about the Whispering Corner in Lytchett Maltravers, Dorset [FT410:73] brings to mind the experienc

      6 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Oct 6, 2022

      The following report is from the Nuxalk people of British Columbia, formerly known as the Bella Coola: “An unpleasant habit of ghosts is the throwing of stones at the living. This is done partly from a love of mischief, and partly to remind their rel

      10 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Dec 28, 2022

      I was intrigued by the short story in the November issue's Anniversaries section regarding the peaceful transfer of power from Henry III to his son Edward I –the first such occasion in English history. I wanted to know more about why this particular

      4 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      Dec 15, 2022

      Letters
      6 min read

    Reviews for Black Night for Bomber Command

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words