The "Bomber Boys" of World War Two: True Tales of Heroes | History WWII Documentary (Episode 1)

[Music] long [Music] time right on your [Music] [Music] it is the young who have always fought the old men's Wars they are the can and fod the Frontline troops the gis and tomies Marines and bomber boys at its best war is fear cloaked in Courage at its worst it is the devil's [Music] Harvest across the decades The Sound and Fury of adol Hitler still hearts the Third Reich built the most powerful military the world had ever seen and taught mankind a new and terrifying word Blitz [Music] Creek September 1939 War comes to a world that does not want it the second world war was the most violent conflict in human history and many of its bloody battles were fought in the air by men barely out of their teens us guys were just happened to be that age and this is the way it it was it happens it has happened thousands of times the ones that are of age have to carry it out we pass them each day without remark the bomber boys have now grown old but once they were Freedom's sons snared in an evil and dangerous time a debt is owed to this last great generation which can never be repaid but at least it should not be [Music] forgotten Remembrance Day 11:00 a.m. and the skateboard park is full what year did World War II start oh crap I think I missed that class okay who did Canada fight in World War II CL got to know this the Russians or something like that Hitler or something like that do you know uh much about what Canada did during that period uh we fought we um I think we used some of our vehicles my great-grandfather's in World War II what did he do I don't know I know the half-remembered grandfathers were the same age as these skater boys when they went to war I remember the first mission as being just Plum plain scared bloody hell we're just going to go through there a God damn wall of Fire there was lots of flack lots of search lights weather was bad it was just not a good trip later in this film seven average young men will set aside their skateboards and pick up a rifle Sergeant Williams Sergeant get Baker flight out of those vehicles and lined up over here name L John I don't want your first name sweetheart last name hello from around on the world this group of 21st century candidates will come to an original second world war base to undergo military training follow me they will experience life as it was for Air Force recruits in the early 1940s the darkest days of the war what we'll do better tomorrow it's been rough I'm going in hell and if you can't hold that up then how you supposed to fire it get it up and these young men will measure themselves against the courage and the character of their grandfathers those old men who fought that most bloody of all wars help this program will follow the Journey of these seven young men we will also take a second Journey with an original group of bomber boys to their base in England to the graveyards of Belgium and into the cockpit of the aircraft they knew so well the [Music] Lancaster day one in 19 42 these seven volunteers are about to do what Their grandads once did find their courage and train for war BR English get in there up there the recruits are called Baker flight and although they have little military experience each one of these young men stands in tall family Shadows Matthew English is the grandson of a Lancaster pilot Joe English Chris gotfried from Olive Branch Mississippi he the grandson of Joe's Navigator Harvey gotfried Martin Harper of England is the grandson of their flight engineer Jack Daniel Crow is from Australia his granddad was a navigator on a Halifax Robin Hillman descends from Pilot William Campbell who was killed just days before the end of the war yes o z n r h v DC Sid Stevenson's Granddad FW 55 operations and was awarded the distinguished flying cross and John low is a grandson of a war hero John Fraser who flew with the famed 617 Squadron the Dam Busters there now you're starting to look more like an Airman set of some Shaggy Highland sheep all of these young men grew up listening to War Stories and wondering could they do the same you know you sort of sit back and think you know bloody hell they were hard times and they had no option but to do it you know and and they done it and I'm dead proud dead proud can't imagine like especially me I look really young from my age and I I couldn't like like if there's people looking as young as me going to war just like if I was looking the me in the face I just it's shocking it's really shocking just it's we're we're kids basically going off to serve for Our Country Joe English is Matthew's grandfather Joe is 19 the same age as Matthew is now when he went to war Joe learned to fly a Lancaster before he could drive a [Music] car Joe has brought meth you to this reunion of bomber boys to meet old friends tell new stories and celebrate his incredible luck in having grown [Music] old Joe was a skipper of Lancaster H for how the lucky H in 625 Squadron one group six members of Joe's crew of seven are still alive which is rare as they're only a handful of surviving Lancaster Crews [Music] anywhere Berlin nberg Munich Joe and his crew flew a complete tour of 30 combat operations against a formidable [Music] enemy early in the war Allied bombers were no match for LT Fafa Fighters for each 100 air crew in bomber command only 24 survived their tour we had a few bad trips you know on scary trips a lot of night Fighters were around we knew they were because they were knocking people down here and there and above us and we had to be very careful about not getting a plane right up above us so they'd drop bombs through our wings and that sort but uh it just went on like that on and on Harvey gotfried was Joe's navigator at 26 he was the old man of the crew well I tried hard I tried hard you bet I tell you what I knew that if anything happened it's not going to be my fault I'm going to do my job I'm going to do my job and it's not going to be my fault if something happens Ernie cro was their bomb aimer a tough kid from an orphanage Ernie was determined to fly they said you're qualified except we can't accept you I said why not he said you only weigh 117 lb and he said you really want to get in the Air Force I said well I got to get in the Air Force and he said well he said go on down the street there and uh go on into the restaurant and get a sandwich and drink about five or six glasses of water and come back and we'll see if we can weigh you I only I come back and I had gained a pound Burke Thomas who grew up on a tumble weed wrench covered their backs from the mid uper gun turet our Gunner leader used to tell us frequently to never never talk over a close call forget it because there's going to be another one the next night so just if you have a close call don't hash it over so on and we didn't 60 years after surviving the war together this remarkable group of men has also grown old together but sadly in the course of making this documentary one member of the crew will pass away okay well you going to need it in the mirror of Time Life in those days seems Innocent but a head lay unimaginable Horrors which would test even the strongest of those who fought who fought in order that we could live our lives but could we live theirs ATT Matthew and the 21st century recruits are about to find out stand a one 3 years ago in Ottawa Canada these men brought forth a plan that was to prove a decisive factor in winning the war the idea send young men from all parts of the Empire to Canada for Air Force training and from Britain from New Zealand from Australia from The Plains and farms and cities of Canada young men flocked to join the rcaf Canada became the Empire's reservoir for trained Airmen air crew training was designed to create teams not Heroes most recruits dreamed of becoming Pilots but only about one in three achieved their goal the rest went into other combat roles in the Air Force or became ground crew but no matter where he ended up every recruit began at the same place beneath the merciless gaze of the drill sergeant simple directions people these are very very simple directions remember what I said this is day one first impressions are made on this day make a good one move and this one Corporal he really rimmed us out and he saids where do you think you are home or some other dirty old rotten hole and that became a saying around our outfit where do you think you are and uh and this is the way it was for all during basic training it was like that but you get so it doesn't bother you you have 2 minutes from the time that I leave the room when I come back in you'll be standing in those shorts your jeans and your socks will be on the shelf behind you you'll be in nothing but what you're wearing now the boxer shorts bare feet 100 yes Sergeant Williams Martin Harper plays keyboard in a rock band he doesn't know what it'll do for the rest of his life but one thing's for sure he'd rather be anywhere but here totally didn't expect it to be like like it is I kind of expected it to be I don't know a lot easier a lot a lot less like 1942 cuz it's for 1942 here and [Music] H they arrived by the tens of thousands young men came to Canada from around the world to the camps of the British Commonwealth air training plan the [Music] BCP Owen favell was a flight instructor at one of these camps in 1944 he shot this rare film which has never before been broadcast every day was a new adventure it was a new accomplishment everything you did was something either you hadn't been done done before you had only just been shown it was upbeat and um I suppose most of us were doing what we really wanted to do early in the war the Allies needed air crew and needed them fast every recruit got a chance to fly sometimes with tragic results almost a thousand recruits mostly teenage boys from a dozen countries were killed in training you got they were boys like Chris gried pull them up more P the pants more I didn't know anything and nobody else knew anything we're all just running around and we kept getting yelled at right in our face it was just constant yelling right in our face as hell drive your body get this thing sorted out right now reason why 60 years ago Chris's Granddad Harvey also struggled with his uniform and I got that uniform on and I was real concerned about the fit and so on such like uh the uh my shoes uh I had a pair of shoes that were uh I think a size are so too big and I had to wait a couple of days before they could get me a pair of shoes that really fit and such but uh that all worked out real well and I I felt pretty good about wearing the uniform what are you direct an individual to do something they do it immediately as a group as a group you wait for the Executioner term move boots on move Matthew English has spent his first morning missing his hair I don't know if you'll be able to see uneven haircut we got some long ass strands in here I'm sorry I'm I'm sorry Barber that was the quickest haircut I ever had in my entire life but uh yeah the haircut was uh not the best I'm not going to lie uh I miss having a bit of length in the hair I was planning on growing my hair on again the bed has a racing stripe on it that stripe has to be directly down the center of the bed few of these boys have ever been shown how to properly make a bed and hospital corners a complete mystery like many things from their 21st century lives this will soon change so so like you lay it completely on and then you put it this shet down first that desk over here is going to be a sample and you're going to lay it out exactly how that is why in the world are you staring at me why are you looking at the floor sorry s don't apologize just don't do it again all right you have your models you have your kit you know what you got to do move just trying to get everything light and um just answer things correctly failing at the moment I think but there's room for improvement definitely I'm trying to get used to it I don't see how my grandfather did this cuz I think it's pretty crazy I really do the human person adapts quickly I found and we did we adapted to it and and what they called us and what they did it didn't bother us there's no lingering animosity whatsoever you make sure you bring all those instruments that I told you to bring with you to your next flass Do Not Bow your head go to the area move one more some things in the military never change the food is bad the pay worse and the drill Square worst of all drill was came very easy for me but some of us some of them had a real hard time in fact one poor guy I feel sorry for him yet he just couldn't March he didn't know his left foot from his right foot and and uh I think it bothered all of us but uh he passed Daniel Crow is from Australia at 26 he's the oldest member of Baker flight we know that after 3 and a half weeks or so we're going to see our wives and girlfriends and family again and we're not going to we're not going to die by being shot down in a Lancaster We're going to fly back on a 747 or whatever and be welcomed home with open arms you know with people who look exactly the same and have only had three weeks of their lives without us ra yes two 2 eyes your head doesn't move [Music] eyes at 17 Sid Stevenson is the youngest recruit he's a prairie farm boy who sings in the village choir I miss home and plus I'm missing the Harvest at my place right now so being here that is so that's too bad um yeah I miss my family yeah better get the bed ATT stand that a bring your leg up bring your leg up everybody left leg up now up up there is always someone that was out of Step or uh out of sorts or out of line or some such thing you know and uh there was a lot of hollering going on and uh but uh as long as they weren't hollering at me I felt pretty good you might think of this as drill and something you just got to get over but no this is a step of calibration if you can't pass this part you may as well just leave this is an instrument that we need to operate equipment that kill people for the bomber boys of Baker flight this is their first day on the drill Square during their granddad's War recruits practiced for months and it was time well spent drilling builds teamwork it also teaches recruits to react without thinking and in war quick reactions save lives and he said okay right turn in line quick March and he started left right left right left right left right left right left right left right left right left right left left we were a good very good crew and we were uh very coordinated group but 25 30 guys I forget how many in rows of three you know we'd be doing some pretty fancy marching uh slant marching going this way and straightening out and all it left right air crew training lasted about 2 years when it was over most recruits were posted to Europe Harry schmuck was 19 when he said goodbye to his family and left for war guess what Mom I'm going to be an air Gunner she said what's that and I said it's a great job you just sit in the plane and the pilot flies you all over you don't have to walk anywhere you I didn't tell her that in 1943 the life expectancy of an air Gunner was three minutes in combat and Lancaster pilot re Patterson had just turned 20 when he was sent overseas you never thought you were going to die no one never did I don't think anyway most of the guys figured they were immune to that sort of thing but uh you knew better CH L later on when the guy in the next bed wasn't there the next morning and now our turn is coming if we don't let down we have stood up to the enemy we can strike back harder longer now it's our turn to choose when and where we strike and when we do watch out wartime England was an exciting place for air crew like Joe English and it wasn't long before he met Harvey a hot shot Navigator who had a motorcycle and best of all Harvey knew where the pubs were to get to know each other we would go out to these little pubs out of the station that evenings put a big uh Croc of beer in the middle of the table and um have a ball he seemed like a real regular guy a regular guy you know uh he was no smart alec uh nothing and uh he' looked to me like a gung-ho pilot women love men in uniforms or so they say with wings on their chests and pounds in their pockets the two young bomber boys were ready for [Music] action personal hygiene there's a couple of reasons why it's important it's important to you and your ability to function because if you let it slip it has repercussions IE old Soldiers say almost as many men have been injured in the bedroom as on the battlefield and the safe sex campaign 1940 Style just one message title of the film is very dangerous can be also termed VD or venial disease and it could be debilitating to you so my advice is keep it in your pants we do know that everyone should be very well informed writing venial disease they are both usually acquired by sexual intercourse with an infected person to the lining of the tues into the deeper tissue inflammation starts P forms runs down and appears to the end of the fenis during this stage the man notices such mild symptoms as irritation a burning sensation when he passes water these women are always infected there is no such thing as a safe prostitute remember then beware of pickup beware of prostitute so there you have it gentlemen beware of pickups beware of prostitutes all right keep it in your pants or take care of business yourselves we got $2 a day flying pay alone well that's a lot of money you know in 1943 44 I had more money than I knew what to do with you know so when you have lots of money uh you draw a lot of uh chicks as they say [Music] right up right up right left BC ATP recruits were told they were the best and the brightest in their blue uniforms and stylish wedge caps they symbolized a new type of soldier the Air Warrior every candidate dreamed of wearing the coveted wings but to earn them took hard work work and ability right sit down my name warant officer one no remove your head first history and law ranks and responsibilities recruits averaged 45 hours of classes a week if you're not prepared for this challenge gentlemen the course is Young you don't want to learn there's the door don't waste our time and don't waste your time is that clear yes sir I can't hear you yes sir I worried a little bit about uh uh having the passing grades in order to uh get through this uh the schooling that they're giving me I really had to work hard at my studies because I had been so far behind yeah I didn't have the algebra or the trig and so on so I'll put three slash four engines an essential class was aircraft recognition knowing friend from foe often meant the difference between life and death the lanter may also be confused with other four engine bombers these seven represent the most prominent types in the world let's whip them around to see if you can pick the Lancaster come on make up your mind it's in the middle when you see a Lancaster on the wing it's a friend so praise the Lord and save your ammunition air crew recruits were taught three basic rules for Staying Alive work as a team know your enemy and expect the unexpected stand up sit down bomber command flew mostly at night in streams of hundreds of aircraft and concentration was crucial search lights were bad Flack worse but everyone feared the German night Fighters as they stalked the bomber Crews without Mercy they wanted to get underneath us because they were mounted a whole bunch of 20 mm cannons that were firing straight up out of the plane not ahead of the plane but they would try to go underneath you and they would give you a burst 20 or 50 rounds of ammunition trying to come up to go through your plane to hit any of the bombs that were on you 109's and 88s FWS and 110s the calculus of the air War had its own terrible logic operational losses were anticipated at 4% acceptable at five but on many nights especially early in the war as many as 10% of Crews were lost [Music] the Army really didn't get into the fight until 43 it's the Air Force that's kind of bearing the brunt of casualties but I suspected at the time this was seen as this is a horrible phrase but the cost of doing business um that's the cost of fighting a [Music] war despite the losses bomber command ordered attacks deep into occupied Europe the German defenses were strong and Flack batteries ringed most targets but a new aircraft was coming off the assembly line one that would change the course of the war the Lancaster and as the dawn broke over the roofs of the plant we took our big plane out of our hangers slowly onto the gray concrete Runway remember this was to be our last contact with her to us she was a living thing the propaganda machine called it The Shining sword of Victory those who flew on called the Lancaster their best hope for Staying Alive was it was a beautiful aircraft to fly it flew it responded quickly it took a lot of punishment and it carried an enormous amount of bombs I think it even you see an a normal load is about 14,000 ,000 pounds with the bombs and I you need about three b7s flying fortresses to carry what one Lancaster could carry and of course it could carry up to £22,000 I think it even surprised the even the the design you never worried about the lank letting you down now you couldn't talk about enemy action because you didn't know what was going to happen to you but the machine itself would never let you down I think everybody flying on Ops had occasions when the plane did things that you never would supposed to do it in Airplane but I can remember one night I got ConEd over the Target and the only way you can get out of a cone because they're going to shoot that cone at you just to change your altitude fast so I just rolled over on her back and took her through and down she went and uh the old air speed indicator was nudging up around 400 miles an hour which was far too fast for the sign in fact over the air speed indicators said do not dive this aircraft over 360 M hour but she pulled out no sweat and I had the boys check out when we got home and they couldn't find a rivet even popped anywhere you know I got along great with The Good Old Lancaster you know the Halifax was very nice the Lancaster was just a little better to me it it seemed a little especially once you got it up in the air it was a little more maneuverable when Joe was finally posted to a combat Squadron they were flying LS he was now surrounded by veteran Pilots proud of carrying the fight to the enemy their motto we avenge two years after finishing High School Joe English had reached the tip of the spear bomber command had an unusual way of selecting flight crews in the American Air Force you were assigned to a crew but here you you uh you did it sort of on a voluntary basis they put us in a great big room I think it was a hanger and all of these guys would just wander around and uh the pilot would be saying I'm looking for a navigator you know I'm looking for a w house operator I'm looking for a bomb AER you know and and all of a sudden he says I'm looking for some Gunners and you would wander around and the next thing you know everybody was crewed up Harry schmuck was a 19-year-old mid-upper Gunner on a Halifax who became a priest after the war he flew 28 combat missions with the same crew there was something behind this we never said anything about it but we knew that once we got to the Squadron we're going to live together or we're going to die together or we're going to end up in a p camp and that was what behind some of this bonding you know the lucky AG crew met while Joe and Harvey gotfried were waiting for tea at the mobile canteen called The nafy Wagon George sto and I was in the lineup for the nafy wagon and just in front of us was two Canadians I found these two Tall Air Gunners standing by themselves and looking kind of uh lonely way at the back not knowing what to do and I I didn't really know much but we had to approach somebody and I told this Joe I says well I'm from Alberta and he says well that's good or something like that and before we left the nafy wagon the four of us was crewed up together George sto with the crew nicknamed Boris was the rear Gunner George passed away a few years ago Ernie CAU was the next to join a veteran bomb aimer Ernie had seen a lot of combat and already knew what they were in for I've got memories and whatnot and there's some good there's some laughable and there's some that are really really you don't like to keep thinking about them with Ernie on board there were still two empty seats on Joe's lank these were filled by a couple of Englishmen Jack Munday and Mike chalk the average Englishman is fairly dignified fell especially Mike Mike was very concerned about going with a Canadian crew he used to call us Colonials anyway just just for fun just to make us mad you know all these guys I mean they were the greatest guys I could have met the greatest guys I could have met yeah the year was 1944 and the lucky H had its crew yeah we were a crew it was great yeah it was it was sort of real nice to know that you belonged what [Applause] is the bomber boys of Baker flight are also becoming a crew no longer strangers they found something in common girls I'm just going to go visit my girlfriend during lunch at school just out like after lunch Che around the back of the sport shed sport sh I'm Shing absence will make your love grow stronger I'm sure I think I'll um take it on a bit better not get into many not get into as many fights or arguments with her just cuz like I know that if I'm gone this long could you imagine if like I went away and died no matter what uh conversation would start it would always end up about girls as a rule when you're 18 years old and all of them well a lot of them had a girlfriend at home and I think most of them all got a Dear John eventually they're probably better off for it just watch out for them prostitute yeah and TRS and Pickups yeah pickups what I want you to do now is relax I want you to get out your brass polishing plate that's a thing I showed you earlier it has been a long day which is not over yet the discipline is quite hard to get used I mean I've never entered any sort of military service in my life I mean it's not really a common thing in England it's like um I don't know it's uh it's just a bit of a shock to the system to be honest with you your buttons which must be polished tonight a very light coat make them shiny air crew training was not intended to break the spirit of recruits just stretch it polishing boots and Shining brass instilled discipline and discipline saved lives tonight you're going to have these things Polished by tomorrow morning they're going to look nice and shiny for inspection they're making us do these things like shine our boots and they're making us put creases in our beds and I think mentally it just gets you in a state of mind that every minute detail is important good how about you not too bad sir not too bad it's the aggression physically I'm I'm fit for it I believe but it's just an aggression and just having to put it it's mental for me it's real mental and then you know you think about home you want to go home and but then you have to think about this you're constantly thinking about this cuz that's your got commands being put into your mind and you just have to do that and you can't really think about anything else so it's strenuous okay guys um what what are three chevrons John low wants to do well here every knows it his grandfather was a dam Buster and John was raised on Tales of War Time Adventure Two down and it should just twist a little bit and then it'll stick it's kind of being almost like going to I mean maybe a new culture a new country I mean everything's different nothing is the same you don't know what the expectations of the people are you don't understand the language kind of like we don't understand the military language that well um clothing's different food's different and people get mad at you for the simplest of things that you at home you would have not even thought about doing really I honestly can't even imagine just like going away for years like I'm worried about like not even 30 days it's it's it boggles my mind just how how mentally they could just put this all together and do this for their country [Music] country 60 years ago another generation of young men sat on their beds and jumped when the sergeant barked they were told the future of Western Civilization rested on their young shoulders as they and they alone were to carry the fight to the very heart of the [Music] enemy January 2nd 194 45 Joe English and the crew learn they are on the battle orders for that night it will be their first combat operation the lucky H is filled with 1,700 gallons of petrol and 5 tons of bombs it will join 521 other aircraft on a flight the crew will never forget their target nberg I remember thinking to my myself boy I'll never live through 29 more of these I remember that we come far closer to being defeated than what we think next time on bomber boys the shooting war begins this guy TR trying to come around behind you but he's got to get his guns in front of you not behind you and then you'd go this way and he'd be up here you see you are a feather plucked from the wings of the Angel of Death godfried Baker flight gets a taste of old time dis IPL left right left right left left right left right left right left and the strain of military life begins to take its toll just it's the combination of wearing this uniform and this heat is just too much that's next time on bomber boyso AO AO [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]