RAF Aircrew at War

Abstract

Studies undertaken by the Royal Air Force over the course of the Second World War revealed significant differences in psychological casualty rates among aircrew. The flyers most likely to mentally collapse before the end of their operational tour, it was concluded, were those who lacked the temperament and background needed to cope with the demands of aerial combat. Breeding and class were often used as key determinants. This book presents an alternative model for varying psychological casualty rates among wartime flyers based on comparative analysis of the different forms and levels of sensory stress to which they were exposed on operations. What pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, observers, flight engineers, wireless operators, and air gunners saw, heard, touched, smelled, and tasted in the aerial combat arena generated both emotional and physical reactions which influenced their capacity to cope psychologically over time. This is a full-length exploration of the British and Commonwealth wartime aircrew combat experience via all five senses, the overall purpose being to explain why certain flyers undertaking different tasks across various commands in different theatres were more or less likely to find themselves unable to continue operational flying for psychological rather than purely physical reasons.