Of every 100 operational airmen in World War Two, 9 were killed flying in England and 3 severely injured in crashes, so non-operational casualties were significant in numbers, over 15,000. Operational casualties were of course chillingly grim – over 56,000 airmen died in the Second World War, over half those involved. George Culling was a nineteen-year-old Lancaster navigator whose own experiences often involved battling tricky and dangerous conditions. Fascinated by the ever-present dangers for airmen even well away from combat, he has collated tales from comrades and combined them with his own to preserve some of the unexpected, inconvenient, dangerous, and often downright bizarre experiences that frequently typified daily life for airmen in the Second World War.

Of every 100 operational airmen in the Second World War, nearly seven were killed flying in England and more than three severely injured in crashes. With a total of 12,398, the number of non-operational casualties was significant. Operational casualties were of course chillingly grim - over 56,000 airmen died in the war. George Culling was a 19-year-old Lancaster navigator whose own experiences often involved battling tricky and dangerous conditions. Fascinated by the ever-present dangers for airmen even well away from combat, he has collated tales from comrades and combined them with his own to preserve some of the unexpected, inconvenient, dangerous, and often downright bizarre experiences that frequently typified daily life for airmen in the Second World War.

A young Lancaster crew's battles over the skies of Germany in a series of highly-dangerous operations. Every event described in this fictional account actually occurred, often many times. Ploughing through skies pockmarked with the smoke of exploding shells from anti-aircraft guns, and coned by dozens of searchlights, they also faced the bullets and canon shells of night fighters. A different kind of danger, but sometimes no less deadly, often took place in appalling weather conditions. Caught, for instance, in a massive cumulonimbus cloud their aircraft might be battered by hailstones while being tossed up and down hundreds of feet in vicious convection currents, with ice forming up to six inches thick on the wings, and threatening its ability to remain airborne. Returning aircraft might be forced to 'ditch' over the North Sea and spend hours in a rubber dinghy in rough seas, waiting to be rescued. For the Air/Sea Rescue aircraft whose pilots flew out to find them, the task was often immensely difficult as they would often be trying to spot little more than a tiny object in a vast sea, constantly drifting and sometimes almost invisible in mist or fog. As the Second World War draws to a close, the book describes not only the rationale of each operation, but also the changing military situation, and the Home Front of rationing, bombing (including 'doodlebugs' and V2 rockets), the blackout, and the tremendous efforts of both men and women civilians making their crucially important contributions to winning the War.