All language subtitles for The.Lancaster.At.War.2009.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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- 1941.

Nazi Germany dominates continental Europe.

It is vital to destroy the military power

of the Nazi dictatorship

and the industrial
strength that sustains it.

- We needed an aircraft that
was going to be able to go

basically behind enemy lines
and destroy their supply lines.

- There was only one way

to strike directly at the brutal regime.

- Bomber Command took over and started

taking the fight to the enemy.

And it was the hard way.

- One aircraft
has come to represent

the courage and
determination of all who flew

and fought in a deadly,
relentless aerial battle.

- As an aircraft it was ahead of its time.

It was more of a person than an aircraft.

- It was a powerful machine.

- Its aggressive capability

would play a major role in
the defeat of Nazi Germany.

Its specialized missions would

become part of aviation history.

This is the story of the outstanding

heavy bomber of World
War II, the Lancaster,

told by the men who flew her.

As they have done many
times before in the long

and deadly war against Nazi Germany,

aircrew of Bomber Command
gather for the briefings

that will detail their
targets for the night.

- We went into the briefing room,

and there was always a huge map of Europe

at the end with tapes on
it where the target was.

- I decided I didn't want to be called up,

because that would mean the army,

and I wasn't really a
suitable physical man to go

into the army, so I volunteered
to go into air crew.

- I tried to be a pilot,
and I was told there was

a waiting list of one year,
why not be an air observer.

In other words, to become a navigator.

- Most guys wanted to
be pilots in those days.

Most of our fathers discuss,
because he went through

World War I as a driver,
and he did want me to fly.

- I went to Rhodesia to train as a pilot,

and then I got a dose of malaria.

And I was scrubbed off the course.

So I went down to South Africa
to train as a bomb aimer.

- By the time, 1943, the
losses of gunners were so high

that they said no, you can't
become a wireless operator,

you'll have to be a gunner.

And so I became a gunner.

- After a number of
training places in England,

I was taught to fly in the United States

in the Army Air Corps there.

- We had to learn the RAF
way after we got back.

- For air crew, the price paid

in the fight for freedom is
a grimly personal statistic.

- My own squadron numerically
was wiped out twice

during the period I operated.

- Because none of us really
expected to finish a tour,

especially when you're
getting towards the end,

you felt now, am I going
to finish it or not?

- It takes a
particular kind of courage

to climb aboard an aircraft,
fully aware of the growing

losses amongst aircraft and crews,

the slim chance of surviving.

- We met a crew and they were all excited,

they were gonna do their first operation.

And we said oh, good luck to
them, and that was the last

anybody ever heard of them,
they just disappeared.

- The word last comes in many,
many times in preparation,

because you've written
your last letter, possibly.

You had possibly your last meal,

and you've had your last cigarette.

- And yet night after night,

airmen, every one of them a volunteer,

will make the long flight
through hostile skies

determined to smash the Nazi war effort.

- This was something we
had to achieve to wipe out

as much of the enemy's industry

and occupy as many people
defending Germany as was possible.

- In the counter-attack
against Nazi aggression,

the Avro Lancaster and the men who fly her

will become the mainstay of
Britain's Bomber Command.

It will fly the greatest
number of sorties, and deliver

a greater tonnage of bombs
than any other aircraft.

Bomber Command entered the
war equipped with twin engine

aircraft that are no match
for the enemy they would face.

Hitler's armies, aided by the Luftwaffe,

sweep across the low
countries and into France.

The men and machines of
Bomber Command join the fight

to disrupt the advance.

It becomes a losing battle.

- The Blenheims during
the day were sitting ducks

to the single engine fighters.

The Blenheims on the battles of course,

they were the main casualties
in the Battle of France.

Where they will be shot down, well,

complete squadrons were
shot down sometimes.

- Faced with the
demands of modern warfare,

these aircraft, with basic
equipment and limited range,

are completely inadequate for
the task demanded of them.

- On the 17th of May, 1940,

12 planes were sent to
a place called Gembloux.

How many aircraft of those
12 do you think we lost?

The lot.

All 12.

- Hard lessons are
being learned, at great cost.

- We are sitting ducks.

Fairey Battle squadrons,
Handley Page Hampden squadrons,

Whitley squadrons, and Blenheim squadrons

in 1940 were almost decimated.

- At Dunkirk, British forces

are evacuated from France.

Britain and her commonwealth stand alone.

Only Bomber Command can carry the fight

back to the Nazi homeland.

- Where we were backed
against a wall, and going to

take back, and going to
push Hitler off his couch.

- Lacking
equipment and instruments

capable of precision
navigation and targeting,

only one in three aircraft succeeds

in getting within five
miles of its target.

50% of bombs fall in open countryside.

- A map read isn't all
that easy, you know.

Particularly if you're traveling
at about 180 miles an hour.

That's three miles a minute,
and if you're 20 seconds

in thinking, scratching your backside,

you know you've gone a long way off track.

- 169 aircraft
set off to raid Berlin.

Fewer than half reached the target.

Very few bombs actually
fall upon the Nazi capital.

Nine are killed and 32
injured on the ground.

120 air crew die on this operation.

And Britain itself has come
under savage aerial attack.

- They started bombing out open cities.

Not only London, Coventry, Plymouth,

Manchester, and various others.

- In the course of the war

over 43,000 civilians
are killed and many more

seriously injured in German
bombing raids on Britain.

The ruthless nature of the
Nazi war machine generates

a loathing of the Fuhrer
and all he stands for.

- What do you think about us going over

to Berlin and doing the same to them?

- I should think so, too.

Bit worse than this, I hope,
with a wicked bugger back east.

- Bomb 'em tenfold.

I'm sorry for the women
and children of Berlin,

but what about the women and
children of this country?

- Well, if I was
a man I'd go over there

and I'd give them the same
as what they gave us here.

- There became
an urgent need for aircraft

powerful enough to cross the
inhospitable skies of occupied

Europe, and strike hard at
the heart of the Third Reich.

A new generation of warplane is developed.

The four engine heavy bomber.

They are the Sterling, the
Halifax, and the aircraft that

will be described as the
finest bomber of World War II,

the Avro Lancaster.

- We
shall not fail or falter.

We shall not weaken or tire.

Give us the tools and
we will finish the job.

- The Avro Lancaster
will become part of Bomber

Command's effort to destroy
the Nazi industrial might.

It will play the major
role in this operation.

But its origins lay in another,
far less successful design.

Three years before the outbreak of war,

Roy Chadwick, Avro's chief
designer, responds to an air

ministry specification for
a twin engine medium bomber,

powered by two Rolls
Royce Vulture engines.

The first prototype of this
aircraft, the Avro Manchester,

flies on the 25th of July, 1939.

Problems are immediately obvious.

The Vulture engines lack power,

and there are handling
problems while in flight.

However, when war breaks
out six weeks later,

the Manchester bomber
is rushed into service.

But the Vulture engines are
prone to bearing failures

and overheating, causing fires.

In spite of modifications,
the Manchester continues

to suffer numerous problems

affecting its performance and reliability.

- The Manchester was greatly
underpowered and quite useless.

- At Avro, Chadwick
and his team of designers

are already planning to
develop the Manchester

into a potent four engine bomber

with a highly successful
Rolls Royce Merlin engine

replacing the unreliable Vulture.

- Roy Chadwick added another
four foot, 6-1/2 inches

on each wing span that
made it a four engine job,

and that was absolutely ideal.

- Here the propellor
is being introduced to the

airplane of which in the future
it will be an integral part.

- Known as
the Merlin Manchester,

or Manchester Mark III
for security reasons,

it is named unofficially the
Lancaster by its design team.

The Manchester's wing span of 90 feet

is extended to accommodate
the extra engines.

This increase in the
wing area also improves

the new aircraft's takeoff performance.

The flying prototypes of the new aircraft

are an immediate success.

- As an aircraft
it was ahead of its time.

- Technologically it was
a fantastic aircraft,

and also she had a sort of
character of her own, you know.

- And the name that would

become legend is now official.

The Lancaster Mark I is
ordered into full production.

- She was a beauty.

There's no doubt about it.

Roy Chadwick designed a
really tip top aircraft there.

- It wasn't designed for comfort.

Basically it's a metal
tube with a main spar

to support the wings and the engines,

and then it has miles of
cables, electronic equipment.

- The Lancaster will acquire

the Manchester's most singular feature.

A spacious and unobstructed bomb bay.

- A typical bomb load would
be either 15 1,000 pounders,

or a cookie and cans,
which was a 4,000 pounder

and 12 cans of incendiaries.

- Americans couldn't carry the bomb load

that the Lancaster could.

- As 1941 draws to a close,

the Avro Lancaster enters
operational service.

And Bomber Command gains a new commander.

The single-minded, uncompromising

air chief marshal Arthur Harris.

- The Nazis entered this war
under the rather childish

delusion that they were
going to bomb everybody else.

They serve the wind, and now

they are going to reap the whirlwind.

- In the aerial
battle to defeat Nazi Germany,

the gloves are about to come off.

The gathering strength of Bomber Command

will be used to wreck the
centers of German war production,

shattering the confidence
of munitions workers,

forcing them to abandon their factories.

- The
civil population of Germany

have however an easy way to
escape from these severities.

Abandon their work, and
go out into the field,

and watch their home fires
burning from a distance.

- The Lancaster makes

its first operational sortie.

It is an unremarkable debut
for such a remarkable aircraft.

As four Lancasters from 44 squadron

take part in a night operation,

sowing anti-shipping mines
off the German coast.

The first operational bombing mission

for the Avro Lancaster
comes seven days later.

Two Lancasters join the
force of 124 other aircraft

in a night raid on the
German city of Essen.

Four aircraft are lost during the raid.

On the ground, very little damage is done

to a city that is home to many
major munitions factories.

Increasing numbers of
Lancasters are now joining

the squadrons of Bomber Command.

And pilots converting from
more familiar aircraft

are quick to appreciate the
Lancaster's flying qualities.

- The Lanc was such a different aircraft.

It was much lighter, much
more positive in its reaction

to control, and it handled
quite, quite beautifully.

- A force
of 12 Lancasters embark

on a daring daylight
raid deep into Germany.

Accurate navigation and
precision bombing are essential.

It is a round trip of 1,250 miles

to the Bavarian city of Augsburg.

Flying at low level, they are
confronted by enemy fighters

and a hail of anti-aircraft fire

as they battle their way to the town.

The factory producing diesel engines

for the German U-boat fleet.

In spite of losses, eight
Lancasters make it through

the barrage to deliver their
bombs precisely on target.

Of the 12 Lancasters
taking part in the raid,

only five badly damaged aircraft return.

49 air crew are missing.

Squadron leader John Mettleton,
who five weeks earlier

had lead the first operational
flight made by Lancasters,

wins the Victoria Cross for
his part in the operation

and becomes a national celebrity,

touring factories in Britain,
addressing the workers.

- Well I do thank you very much indeed.

It is rather most important
that we do blast these Germans.

And so.

But the more you give
us, the more we'll do.

- Production
of submarine engines

at the Augsburg factory is halted.

But the plant is back in
operation within several weeks.

Such losses for so little
result were unacceptable.

If Bomber Command is to remain in the war,

it has no other alternative
but to fight by night.

- There was no other way we could do it.

People thought, well why
didn't you bomb in daylight?

Completely useless, we'd all be shot down.

Why didn't you do precision bombing?

Completely useless, we
hadn't got the equipment

to do precision bombing at nighttime.

- If you had 15 bombs,

and you release them at
half a second intervals,

it would take 7.5 seconds from

the first bomb to the last bomb.

- Bombs away.

There goes the cookie.

- So how far would a
Lanc fly in 7.5 seconds?

Quite a distance between the
first bomb and the last bomb,

so that's why quite a number of bombs

actually missed their target.

- The industrial
Ruhr district produces

80% of Germany's coal
supplies and 75% of her steel.

This network of war
industries is clustered

in and around Germany's major cities.

German defenses are concentrated
around these centers,

creating a barrier of
shells, high explosives,

and night fighters guided
by probing searchlights

and the electronic gaze of radar.

- Searchlights could be a problem,

and they had what was known
as a master searchlight,

which was a blue
searchlight which suddenly

latched onto you and was radar controlled,

and you couldn't budge it.

- The airmen of
Bomber Command would confront

the increasing strength of these defenses.

As Air Marshal Harris
intensifies the aerial

bombardment of the Third Reich.

- Cologne, Lubeck, Wesel, those
are only just the beginning.

But for the Nazis, the
writing is on the wall.

- 73 Lancasters take part

in the largest raid of the war to date.

A total of 1,047 aircraft
strike at the city of Cologne.

- That's not on your mind.

Your mind is on the job you're paid to do.

- 41 aircraft are lost.

In Cologne, production is
halted at 36 major factories.

70 others have their
output reduced by half.

Within a month production
is back to normal

in the damaged city.

Arthur Harris intends
Bomber Command to become

a war-winning weapon of devastating power.

He resolves to strike harder

and repeatedly at the enemy's resources.

- In your hands
lie the means of destroying

a major part of the resources by which

the enemy's war effort is maintained.

Let him have it right on the chin.

- Hitler's
dream of total victory

has not been realized.

He demands a huge expansion and output

from the German war industry.

Bomber Command is about to be tested

in the shadows of night
and the fires of war.

The head of Britain's bomber
force is a staunch advocate

of his command's ability
to shorten the war.

- There are a lot of people who say

that bombing can never win a war.

Well, my answer to that is that
it has never been tried yet,

and we shall see.

- Bomber Command
air crew are aware of the

crucial role they play in
crippling the German war effort,

and the high cost involved.

- On one side, you wanted
to go and get this extra

flight behind you towards your 30.

On the other hand you,

you didn't want to go because
you were bloody scared

and you knew the circumstances
and the possibilities.

- The moment you entered the briefing room

and you look at the board,
which is gonna be unveiled

and revealed as ribbon,
you straight away goes to

the point where the ribbon
starts to come down,

and so you know that that
point is where the target is.

Every crew member had
a job to do of its own.

And every crew member relied on the other,

whether it was a pilot or the gunner,

they knew that if you
didn't do your job right

their lives would be at risk.

- Everybody is important to each other,

or to everybody else.

It is teamwork that counts.

- You live or die by the support
of the rest of your mates.

- The Avro Lancaster
carries crew of seven.

Young airmen whose average age was 22.

- The old man of the
crew was a mid upper gunner,

and he was 29, which we
all thought was rather old.

- All right chaps.

- The rest of us were in our early 20's.

And of course some were younger
than that, on other crews.

- The bomb
aimer's position is in

the Plexiglass blister at
the nose of the aircraft.

Behind and below the
pilot and flight engineer

are the radio operator and navigator.

- I was behind my screen
doing calculations,

and I was so occupied that
I really was in a position

to almost shut out what
was going on outside.

- And if you're running late,
you'd try and speed up a bit.

So the navigator worked out
all those sorts of problems.

My flight engineer hated
having to increase the revs

to speed up, it mucked
up his fuel consumption.

And he prided himself on
getting 1.1 miles to the gallon

out of a Lanc .

- The wireless
operator's position

is close to the Lancaster's cabin heater,

and while the temperature at
20,000 feet in the night sky

could drop to minus 40
degrees, his position

by the heater is a dubious advantage.

- The utility was only
about two inches from me.

And of course it was
burning me like buggery.

So down there was the open gangway,

and of course nothing to obstruct anything

except cold air coming
in from various holes

all over the place, so
you've got cold air,

freezing air blowing down there.

You've got a burn going on down there,

so the wireless operator, you're
sitting something like this

because you've been
burned like over there,

and it's frozen there.

- Far back in the fuselage,

separated from the rest of the crew

are the mid upper and the
rear gunner positions.

Of the two, the rear gunner
is the most isolated.

He crouches behind four
Browning machine guns,

exposed to the elements
as well as the gunfire

of stalking night fighters.

- You're at the very,
very end of the aircraft.

You're suspended, if you like, in mid air.

- It is hard
to imagine the reality

of the rear gunner's situation
in a space so cramped

he is unable to wear his parachute.

Faced with the prospect of
being trapped in a disabled

turret, unable to escape as
his crippled aircraft plunges

from the sky, it is the most
vulnerable of vocations.

- That's what the enemy aircraft

would try and get rid of first.

So it was, the word we used in
those days was pretty dicey.

Pretty dicey.

- Once the targets
of the night have been

decided by Bomber Command headquarters,

they are passed to the squadrons.

The air fields become a hive of activity

as they prepare for another operation

in the unrelenting relentless battle.

The aircraft are fueled and bombed up,

final meals eaten, parachutes are issued.

- And the WAF girl who
would issue the parachute

always had the standard joke,

bring it back if it
doesn't work, you know.

- You always had the feel
that the ground crew,

it was their aircraft and they
were only lending it to us

to go and do a job.

- We couldn't take off without them.

We couldn't fly without them.

They were the boys who
were 100% necessary.

- Not enough praise was
given to ground crew.

They were, they were absolutely A one.

- With aircraft
waiting, fueled, and armed,

there's a moment before
the crews climb aboard.

For some, this is the
moment of greatest anxiety.

- You had had your briefing,

you know what you're going
to do, and we assembled

outside our aircraft
waiting for the time to go.

And then the nerves are tight,
and we didn't want to talk,

and we all hated it.

It was a very unhappy time,
'til we got on the aircraft.

- With the sun
sinking over their bases,

the crews board the aircraft.

Engines burst into life.

- Waiting for the
green light to take off,

and you whip the inner
engines to the gate,

and the aircraft are still
on the chocks, on the brakes,

and screaming, pulling, pulling again.

- As you're opening the throttles,

the flight engineer has
got his hand behind them

helping you to push them fully open.

- And you really got to
get the throttles fully open,

and it's a very heavy aircraft
to lift off the ground.

- There's an awful lot
of power in the four engines,

but there wasn't much problem
controlling all those.

- And the roar of
the planes is something

I just can't explain over here.

It's absolutely fantastic, the power,

and racing along the runway,

fighting against the force of gravity,

straining, straining,
straining, and you're wondering

whether you'll ever get off
at the end of the runway,

and then before the end of
the runway, ,

and you'd be up like a lift going up.

- What do you got in front of you?

- What's your high?

I'm watching everything.

- Okay.

- Good luck to them all.

To the team that has done its job,

to the team that is again on the job.

- Hundreds
of aircraft rendezvous

at assembly points high above
the coastline of East Anglia,

where pilots set a
course for their targets

as shadows close in around them.

They fly towards a formidable
air defense system.

Almost a million men serve in
Germany's air defense network.

Another million and a half are engaged

in air raid precautions and damage repair.

There are over 150,000 anti-aircraft guns

defending Germany's cities and industries.

To overcome the fury
of the enemy defenses,

new tactics have been introduced.

Formations of bombers no longer make

their separate ways to the target.

All aircraft now fly on the same heading,

with only height and split-second
timing separating them.

- The bomber stream was
probably a mile wide,

half a mile deep.

- You're probably 700 or 800 bombers

all heading for the same place.

- The idea was for us all to

keep together as well as possible.

And in the stream, I mean it was a start.

Hitting other people's slip
streams, started merging about.

- It is hoped
the enemy defenses will be

overwhelmed by this
concentrated mass of aircraft.

It is a dangerous tactic.

- And it was an air traffic
control officer nightmare,

the whole thing.

- Both the bomb aimer
and the wireless operator

yelled at me that there was an aircraft

approaching us on the port side.

And I just caught a glimpse of
it, it was another Lancaster.

I heave back on my control
column and climbed,

and he must have pushed
forward on his and dived.

We were so close that I could
see his instrument panel,

like glow, as he went underneath us,

and the rear gunner said he shook hands

with the other rear
gunner as they went past.

- The Nazi
warlords, stunned by the weight

of the attacks on their cities,
reorganized their defenses.

Night fighters are no longer directed

onto individual targets
by ground controllers.

Instead, they wait over the target cities

for the bomber stream to come to them.

They dive down into their own
anti-aircraft fire to pick

off bombers, now silhouetted
against the fires below.

Lancasters and their bombing
men fly straight and level,

and make easy targets.

- We suddenly saw another
Lancaster burst into flames,

and I can remember to
this day, Leo the skipper

shouting at us, concentrate,
it could be us next.

- In this savage
battle, losses are mounting.

11,300 air crew have been killed

during the first three years of the war.

More than 12,000 will die
in the fourth year alone.

The cloak of darkness that
should shield the bombers

is no longer working.

The battle in the
shadows is about to reach

a new and savage ferocity.

The commanders of the
Allied bombing squadrons

have been tasked with the
destruction and dislocation

of the German military,
industrial, and economic system.

Aircraft are now equipped
with a variety of electronic

devices developed to baffle
and confuse the enemy defenses.

One of them is surprisingly simple.

Window is the code name
given to thousands of strips

of aluminum foil cut to an exact length.

Held from the aircraft and
fluttering slowly to the ground,

this metallic cloud reflects radar

and swamps the air defense screens.

- Their screens just went
blank, covered with mush.

- To begin with, it was
amazingly effective,

but the more it was used,
the less effective it became.

- As each new
development is countered

by the enemy, the pilots
and crews still have to

fly into the same cauldron
of fire and flame.

- You could see the target
some time before you arrived.

And you think well, just
hope you get through.

- They used to say that they chucked up

everything except the kitchen sink.

- Searchlights
pierce the night sky,

seeking targets for
the guns to finish off.

- And I immediately got
coned by search lights.

Now coning is an experience
and it's not to be forgotten.

I had to throw the aircraft
around in all sorts

of different ways to
try and get out of it,

and all the time they were shooting at me.

- So we opened up full
speed, put the nose down,

and we got nearly up to 400 miles an hour,

which was far in excess of what

the Lancaster should normally do.

- All too often,
the desperate attempts

to evade the deadly beam failed.

As the Lancasters reached the target,

evasion becomes impossible.

The aircraft has to
fly straight and level.

- All you concentrate on,
I must get it plumb in

those marshaling yards, I must
get it smack on that factory.

This is what you aim for.

- Okay, steady.

Pull up a little bit.

- The whole crew was
saying, for god's sake,

drop the bomb, let's get out of here.

- Two, three.

- And then you'd
hear the two magic words.

- Bombs away.

- But even then,
there could be no relaxing

of desperate vigilance.

- That's just when we know,

that's when the fear kicks in,

'cause you're not expecting it.

- If you didn't see him, it was curtains,

because with his firepower
you were just blown away.

- Keep your eyes open, mid upper.

- You could imagine a direct
hit on a bombed up Lancaster.

- When the fighters
are spotted, the sturdy

Lancaster is capable of
surprising maneuverability.

- A German night fighter
came head on to us.

The flight engineer warned,
sorry, the skipper, sorry,

almost at the same time.

And your shout call tripled.

- You descend at a high
speed, and then you heave back

and swing the aircraft
right over the other way,

and climb out as you can go,

and everything's going flat out.

- You lose complete orientation.

The G force is so tremendous

that you're pinned to your turret.

- Many damaged aircraft

will never make it back to their bases.

Pilots will nurse their
injured machines over the miles

to fail moments from home.

- All around us saw horrible
things were happening.

Two of our aircraft at
about 700 feet collided

over the end of the air
field, just off the air field.

And wiped out most of the crew.

and another aircraft flew into the ground.

- 19 Lancasters of 617 squadron

carry out Operation Chastise,

the attack on the dams of the Ruhr valley.

Specially modified Lancasters
carry the bouncing bombs

developed by Barnes Wallis.

Huge 9,250 pound mines
packed with high explosive

designed to rotate, skip
across the surface of the water

in front of the dams, and settle hard

against their walls before exploding.

Using VHF radio, Guy Gibson,
the leader of the raid,

maintains direct contact
with all his aircraft,

guiding them to the target,
correcting their bomb runs.

It is the first use of the
master bomber technique.

It is a technique that will be adopted by

a new target finding and fixing force.

Fitted with the latest
navigational equipment

and trained intensively
in precision bombing,

the pathfinder force will be
the first over the target,

marking the precise aiming points.

- When they got to the target
they put down their markers,

which we could see, and we
would bomb their markers.

- D-day.

The Allied armies land
on Normandy beaches.

The main bombing effort is
now focused on devastating

the defenses facing the
advancing Allied armies.

Lancasters are the only
aircraft capable of carrying

the huge, 21 foot long,
12,000 pound Tallboy bomb,

and the even more massive
Grand Slam 22,000 pound bomb,

both created by Barnes Wallis.

Reinforced block houses,
submarine pens, viaducts,

railway tunnels, launch sites
of the V-1 and V-2 rockets,

even the German battleship
Tirpitz sheltering

in a Norwegian fjord, all
are targets for Lancasters

modified to carry the
huge earthquake bombs.

They bomb with precision,

hitting their targets hard and accurately.

Operation Thunderclap.

796 Lancasters formed
the main strike force

targeting the German city of Dresden,

classified as a major rail
and communications center.

To the air crew of Bomber Command,

it is another long and dangerous mission.

- it was just a case of,
there was a job to be done,

and you do it to the best of your ability,

and you hope that,

that every little bit that
you do shortens the war

that little extra bit, that little bit.

- War is war, inevitably people
are going to get killed, the

same as they got killed in
London, Coventry, anywhere else.

- It was a raid that will cause

a controversy that endures today.

The intensity of the bombing
and conditions on the ground

combine to create a fire storm.

- It was just Dante's inferno

for the people on the ground.

- The bombing of
Dresden will focus attention

on the civilian casualties
caused by Allied bombing.

There will be claims and counter claims

as to the importance of
Dresden as a military target.

Sir Arthur Harris will be held

responsible for ordering the raid.

It will taint his reputation
for years to come.

But the reasons for this particular raid

are varied and controversial.

- I personally went to see
Butch Harris after the war,

and I spoke to him, he told me, said that

he personally did not
want to bomb Dresden.

He said it was too far for too little.

- The war continues
as Hitler clings to power.

With callous disregard for
the suffering of his people

he declares if the war is lost,
the nation will also perish.

Their fate is inevitable.

There is no necessity to
take into consideration

the basis on which the
people will need to continue.

With 55 squadrons now
equipped with the Lancaster,

it has become the principle
aircraft of Bomber Command.

They continue to pound targets
in Germany as the Allies

fight their way into the
heart of the Third Reich.

In sudden contrast to their
usual role, Lancasters are given

a humanitarian mission, Operation Manna.

- A couple of months
before the war finished,

and there we were faced with
something totally different

from our normal job.

The Dutch, particularly in the western

part of Holland, were starving.

- A week before we'd been
bombing Bremen at 18,000 feet.

And here we were now on a mercy flight,

pushing all these different types of food,

powdered eggs, chocolates,
all sorts of things,

pushing 'em out the bomb bay.

- 31 Lancaster
squadrons take part

in Operation Manna, flying over
3,000 sorties in nine days.

- There was a big white cross in a field,

that was our drop-in zone.

But as you flew across the town,

thousands and thousands
of people in the streets

and the fields, hanging out the windows,

on top of the roofs, and
they were all waving at you.

- I shall never forget
the sight in my life.

They had gone up to every roof, every top,

and they had got pillow slips

and white blankets, and so on,

and they spelled out on
the rooftop, god bless you.

There were tears in our
eyes, I can tell you that.

- And the last trip we did,
we just got across the sea

at noontime, and we heard
on the RT Mr. Churchill

announcing the official end of the war.

- Signed the act
of unconditional surrender

of all German land, sea,
and air forces in Europe.

Long live the cause of freedom.

- The European war is over.

Lancasters assist in the homecoming

of Allied prisoners of war.

- There was Operation Exodus,
which was a repatriation job.

- These
British prisoners of war,

some of whom have been in
enemy hands for five years,

are on their way home by air.

- Seeing those guys
faces thinking they were

gonna be home for their first Christmas.

- Of a total
of 7,377 Lancasters built,

some three and a half thousand
are lost on operations.

- We gave our services for
the peace of this country.

- It is an
aircraft that will be forever

associated with the men of Bomber Command.

- Well, every time an
aircraft didn't come back,

that was seven people.

- We played a
part in bringing the war

to a swifter end.

- Of the
125,000 aircrew who served

in Bomber Command during the war,

73,000 became casualties.

55,573 of them killed
performing their duty.

It was the highest loss rate of any of

the British armed forces
in the second world war.

- The Lancaster fought a war for,

oh, 1942 right through to 1945

as the main aggressive
side of our war effort.

- Their controversial
commander would pay tribute

to the men who flew and
fought in the battle.

There is no parallel in
warfare to such courage

and determination in the face of danger

over so prolonged a period.

Such devotion must never be forgotten.

- Hip hip.

- Hurray!

Hurray!

Hurray!