Bomber S Moon

Under a Bomber's Moon

They were the best of enemies – dedicated, skilled and deadly. In the night skies above wartime Germany an RAF navigator-air bomber from New Zealand and a Luftwaffe pilot seek out their targets, testing the gap between success and their own destruction as they cross each other's paths. The odds are heavily against either of them making it through the war, but as this sobering realisation displaces their initial exuberant sense of adventure, both come to see in their youthful sacrifice the survival of all they hold dear. UNDER A BOMBER'S MOON reaches across the divide of years, of geography, of nationality, to tell their story largely in their own words – describing both the breathtaking clashes in the air and the camaraderie, humour, patriotism and personal tragedies that became their war. Stephen Harris began his journey of discovery because he wanted to know the truth of his great-uncle Colwyn Jones's fate. With Col's vividly written letters and diary as a starting-point, he set out to discover what really happened on the night Col's extraordinary luck ran out. Little did he know that his quest would lead him to a meeting with a former Luftwaffe pilot who was pitted against his great-uncle in the skies over Germany. Otto-Heinrich Fries proved to be both engaging and articulate, eventually allowing Harris to tell his story in this book. The result is a unique and personal account of two highly successful airmen from opposing sides.

Bomber's Moon

Men of the Bombers

This is a selection of ten remarkable true accounts of unusual incidents and happenings to Bomber Command aircrew during World War Two. It covers operations of varying natures, such as one of the first leaflet dropping raids during the 'Phoney War' when the elderly Whitley bomber proved to be a nightmare on long flights and when the crews suffered more from lack of oxygen and heating than from enemy action. The fascinating story of a famous MP who used his influence to become a tail gunner at the age of 55 and who lost his life trying to stop German Panzers before Dunkirk proves remarkable reading and a famous name in cricket, Bill Edrich, recounts his days flying low-level daylight raids in Bristol Blenheims during 1941. Then there is a young New Zealander, Jimmy Ward, who climbed out onto a Wellington bomber's wing at considerable altitude to extinguish an engine fire and how despite his own modesty he was awarded a VC. Other stories tell of amazing escapes from burning aircraft, the heroism of aircrew who sacrificed their own lives so that others may survive and how a mid-upper gunner took the controls of a Mitchell B-25 to pilot her safely home.