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Formed in January 1944, when the Battle of Berlin was at its height, No. 640 Squadron lost 50 aircraft on operations during its brief existence and 329 of its aircrew became casualties of war. This complete operational history describes every raid undertaken by this Yorkshire-based bomber squadron before it was disbanded in May 1945 and highlights the fact that flying with RAF Bomber Command remained a dangerous activity right up to the end of the Second World War. 80 men who flew with 640 Squadron have provided recollections of wartime days on the squadron. Many of the accounts included here are highly dramatic, told by men who ‘looked over the edge’ and lived to tell the tale—though, sadly, this was not always true of the friends who flew with them. Other accounts are more mundane—if such a description was ever appropriate to flying a four-engine bomber over hostile territory and against an enemy singularly intent on your destruction.
It is this ‘mix’ that gives the reader a flavour of bomber operations during the last years of World War Two while also providing an insight into the dangers that brave men regularly faced on our behalf. Any man who flew on operations with this squadron will find his name and his crew mentioned here. The appendices include details of all crews and the operations they flew. These details, used in conjunction with the journal, allow readers to trace the operational record of any individual who flew with the squadron, if that is their wish.
Author: Bill Norman
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 303
Publisher: Bill Norman
Year: 2005