Crew: The Story of the Men Who Flew RAAF Lancaster J for Jig

by Mike Colman

Overview

On the evening of 24 February 1944, RAAF Lancaster bomber J for Jig took off from an airfield in Lincolnshire. On board was a crew of seven young men-five Australians, two Scots-whose mission was to bomb factories in Schweinfurt, Germany. But J for Jig never reached its target. It was shot down in the night skies over France.

This book is about the seven lives on that aircraft-who they were, what they did, whom they loved, and whom they left behind. Some were to die that night, and others were to survive, withstanding incredible hardships and adventures as prisoners and evaders in a war that was far from over.

Crew brilliantly recreates J for Jig's final mission but, more than that, in telling seven individuals' stories Mike Colman has captured the achievements, loss and the enduring legacy of the generation that fought in the Second World War.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781742379111
Publisher:	Allen & Unwin
Publication date:	06/01/2018
Pages:	336
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Mike Colman is a highly respected journalist on the Courier Mail and Sunday Mail.

Table of Contents

1 Four Headstones 1

2 The Pilot 5

3 The Navigator 27

4 The Bomb Aimer 35

5 The Wireless Operator 45

6 The Mid-Upper Gunner 57

7 The Rear Gunner 69

8 The Flight Engineer 83

9 Reaping the Whirlwind 94

10 Taking Flight 101

11 Strike and Return 109

12 Destination Berlin 121

13 Part of the Family 134

14 24 February 1944 149

15 Villers-Sous-Prény 166

16 Evasion 186

17 Barbed Wire and Bobsleighs 207

18 Homeward Bound 235

19 Final Mission 263

Epilogue: Cliff's Tree 303

Acknowledgements 313

Bibliography 317

Index 319