Audio From the Past [E01] - WW2 - Avro Lancaster Crew Radio

Audio From the Past [E01] - WW2 - Avro Lancaster Crew Radio

In 1943, the Royal Air Force began a night bombing campaign against Germany, the like of which had never been seen before. Over the next twelve months, tens of thousands of aircrews flew across the North Sea to drop their bombs on german cities. They were opposed by the full force of the Luftwaffe, but also by a nightmare of flak, treacherously icy conditions and constant mechanical malfunctions. Most of these crews never finished their tour of operations, but were either shot down and killed, or taken prisoner by an increasingly hostile enemy.

Transcript available here:

Artwork by Piotr Forkasiewicz

[leonh]

Very sad to know that many of them never returned home.
I've adopted the grave of an 20 year old sergeant, who lost his live just a week after his birthday.
His plane, a Handley Page, was shot down here in the south west of Holland.
From the seven crewmembers, all of them died, two are still missing in action.
His family never knew what happened, they knew he died, but that was it, untill i got in contact with a cousin of the sergeant.
On the 24th of december, there will be a candle burning on his grave, together with 139 other candles, on the other graves on the cemetery were this sergeant is buried. There will be a light on their graves during Christmas time.
Here in Holland we will always remember these brave heroes.
Lest we forget!

[darkknight]

Their level of calmness is astounding.

[nickviner]

My late next door neighbour did 37 missions as a rear gunner in a lancaster he was 88 years old when he died. What a wonderful gentleman he was..

[alanbobbymcguire]

I’m a 58 year old Scotsman. And my heart is bursting with pride that these were the chaps who went before us. May God bless them.

[buckrowe]

What really gets me about this is I’m a 21 year old college student taking his first flying lessons. A lot of these boys in the Lancasters weren’t much older than I am. Hell, a lot of pilots in this damn war were younger than I am, and they were flying Spitfires, Mustangs, Lancasters, Fortresses, etc:. I’m so lucky to be able to attend class and fly a Cessna in the States because of these brave men. Thank you, gentlemen.

[stevedjurovich]

"Watch Your height"...."I'm watching everything." Their calmness and radio discipline under fire is amazing. Almost casually reporting they'd been hit and leaking oil. Balls of Steel.

[rednovember]

"They're firing at us now". "Are they"? "Yup."

[EllJQ]

"Theyre shooting at us now"
"Are they?"
"Yeah"
"Okay"
"Weve been hit unfortunately"
"Okay"
"Hello Skipper, oils leaking out of the front turret its nothing to worry about"
"Okay"
"Okay?"
"Okay over the lake now"
"146 Okay"
They are all Legends Okay.

[garethbattersby]

I love how the speed and politeness of the communication sounds like theyre a group of lads trying to find a good parking spot more than flying over enemies taking fire and being a second from death.

Makes you proud to be British

[shaunw]

Whenever I'm feeling down, I listen to this in awe. Real men in control of the situation . They were no doubt scared as anyone would be, but they make it sound like just another day at the office. Truly inspiring and a kick up the arse .

[morrismckinnon]

"I think we've been hit, personally" He sounded so chill I have the vision of him sipping a cuppa tea after he said that! xD

[colinheaton]

The German night fighter pilots I interviewed (also interviewed RAF Bomber Command pilots and crews) had nothing but admiration for the bomber crews. Wolfgang Falck said "There were no braver men in my opinion, knowing what they had to face, and still they flew their missions."

[matthewgee]

"There's a few searchlights ahead of us - yes about a hundred, never seen anything like this before". Jesus, brave brave men.

[ckes]

I hear this and it makes me feel humbled. I get up every day and mostly moan about going to work and the price of everything going up etc. But what the bloody hell have I got to moan about. This clip has put me to shame. I am not fit to shine these men’s shoes. I salute and thank them with every fibre of my being

[JaredFong]

"Jerry behind us! Shoot him down." *machine gun blasts "Did you get im? Yep i got im. Weeee! Yaaay! Bloody good shooting!"

[UnknownPersononGoogle]

01:09 always makes me smile when he mentions how many search lights and the person who responds does a little scoff and says “Too many I reckon.” They were the best of us.

[alexmattin]

This gives me goosebumps. My father was a Lancaster pilot on 101 squadron towards the end of the war and flew 15 of these sorties. He never talked about it unless you asked him. RIP Reg Mattin, always my hero

[resnonverba]

Brought tears to my eyes. I find their unflappable bravery and 'get on with it' attitude to be both inspiring and humbling. Thank you chaps, one and all.

[cameronlaing]

Any other country: oh shit we've been hit!!!! Oh no
Britain: I think we've been hit personally. Yes we have oil leaking out nothing to worry about.

[OrlandoDibiskitt]

I treated a terminally ill gentleman once. We got talking and he had been the tail gunner in a Lancaster. This guy was in terrible pain and knew he was dying. He remained brave gentlemanly, and pleasant at all times.
In the very next cubicle was a drug overdose patient carrying on something horrible... swearing at staff and destroying hospital property. Couldn't help but notice the generational distance.
Cudos to the elderly gentleman... he was a total star and a hero!