Blog No. 308 – Cliff’s Service as Aircrew in Bomber Command, Part 1 – 17 July 2025

My purpose is to give hope to those who have lost hope. Without hope, we remain lost in the Shadow Lands.

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Cliff in 1972 at age 51.  Cliff was always so very thin – and so immensely strong.

While I was growing up, Cliff ALWAYS worked a 44 hour week Monday to Saturday.  In theory, his working hours finished at about 5.00 pm.  In practice, Cliff worked until 8.00 pm EVERY Tuesday and EVERY Thursday.  If overtime was available on Sundays, Cliff also worked for 8 hours on Sunday as well.  

Cliff was not obsessed or a workaholic.  Our family was so desperately poor that we never had a toilet that flushed until 1963 when I was age 14.  From 1956 until we got a flushing toilet, we had to urinate and do our business into a big tin in the outside toilet - which did not have a light.  When the tin got full, Bill, I and mum used to dig a hole in the garden, drag the can out of the toilet, empty the can into the hole, return the now empty can to the toilet and fill the hole back up with dirt. 

My father was an immensely good man who never complained about what he did not have.  He made do with what he had – and he was grateful to have the little he did have.

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Aerial view of RAF Feltwell during WW 2.

Feltwell still exists and it is now used by the US Air Force.

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Modern Radomes now located at RAF Feltwell. 

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Cliff’s Service Record shows that he was posted to Feltwell on the 13th of February 1944.  This posting lasted for 6 days and Cliff was then posted to 32 base (Mildenhall) on 19 February 1944.

I have no doubt that Cliff was trained at Feltwell and returned to Mildenhall so he could take part in Big Week during the ferocious air battles to gain control of the skies before D Day on the 6th of June 1944.

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The official name of Big Week was Operation Argument.  

Big Week was probably the most important air battle of WW 2 – and most people have never heard of it.

The American Air Museum in Britain describes Big Week this way.

It was 20 February 1944 and the dark clouds that had resolutely hung over East Anglia for weeks showed no signs of clearing. Despite the ominous weather, ground crews on flight lines across the region readied their aircraft for a mission. Forecasts had tentatively suggested that dawn would break clear over the day’s targets: aircraft factories in Leipzig and Gotha. This was enough for General Carl Spaatz. “Let ‘'em go”, he ordered.  In the early morning murk, 1,000 bombers formed up over East Anglia to begin the long flight into Germany. Allied commanders waited with bated breath. This mission, the first of Operation Argument, would constitute an all-out effort to wrestle air superiority from the Luftwaffe. The success of Overlord rested on the outcome of “Big Week”.  Codenamed Operation Argument, “Big Week” (20- 25 February) would see the launch of consecutive raids on aircraft factories, engine, and ball-bearing plants by the Eighth Air Force, the Fifteenth Air Force, and the RAF. As well as reducing Germany’s production capabilities, the strikes were aimed at baiting Luftwaffe fighters into the air, where they could be shot down by Allied escorts. This ambitious plan was made feasible by the arrival of large numbers of long-range P-51 Mustangs and P-47 Thunderbolts kitted out with 150-gallon drop tanks. Whereas deep penetration missions into Germany in the autumn of 1943 had resulted in the near-obliteration of undefended bomber formations, the Eighth's B-17s and B-24s would now be protected deep into Germany. To the delight of the pilots, fighters were free to fly ahead of the formation to pounce on unsuspecting German fighters and to attack 'targets of opportunity'.

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Wiki provides this detailed information about Big Week.

Date 20–25 February 1944 Location Nazi Germany, Nazi-occupied Netherlands Belligerents United States + United Kingdom VS Nazi Germany Commanders and leaders United States Jimmy Doolittle United States Carl Spaatz          VS   Nazi Germany Hermann Göring United Kingdom Arthur Harris Nazi Germany Adolf Galland Strength United States US Eighth Air Force United States US Fifteenth Air Force    VS  Nazi Germany Luftwaffe UK RAF Bomber Command UK RAF Fighter Command Casualties and losses RAF: 131 bombers USAAF: 226 heavy bombers 28 fighters Over 2,000 aircrew killed or captured Luftwaffe: 262 fighters 250 aircrew killed or injured, including nearly 100 pilots KIA Civilian losses: c. 880 civilian deaths during the Bombing of Nijmegen, 57 civilian deaths in Arnhem, 40 civilian deaths in Enschede, 1 civilian death in Deventer.

Every crew member of every plane that flew during Big Week was in constant danger of instant death.  Every one of them was a hero.  They fought and defeated a vicious, malignant monster.

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Cliff’s job as an Official Observer required him to be alert while his Lancaster was in the air.  He had to watch out for German fighters trying to take advantage of the Lancaster’s “Blind Spot”.  Flying with Bomber command was a desperately dangerous job.  Cliff felt very strongly the heavy responsibility of spotting enemy planes early enough so his own Lancaster could take evasive action and avoid being shot down.

Bomber Command lost 131 bombers during Big Week.  Fortunately, Cliff did not become a casualty.  Good luck as well as skill undoubtedly played a part in his survival.

At this stage of the war, the Luftwaffe remained a very potent fighting arm of the Nazi war machine.

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Here is some more information from wiki about Big Week.

During Big Week, the Eighth Air Force lost 97 B-17s, 40 B-24s and another 20 scrapped due to damage. The operational strength of the Eighth Air Force bomber units had dropped from 75 percent at the start of the week to 54 percent, and its fighter units strength had dropped from 72 percent of establishment strength to 65 percent. The Fifteenth Air Force lost 14.6 percent (90 bombers) of establishment strength, and RAF Bomber Command lost 131 bombers (5.7 percent) during Big Week. Although these numbers are high in absolute terms, the numbers of bombers involved in the missions were much higher than previously, and the losses represented a much smaller percentage of the attacking force. The earlier Schweinfurt missions had cost the force nearly 30 percent of their aircraft per mission.

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By helping others to heal We help ourselves heal Remember those who preceded us. Give abundant Love Always

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Money cannot buy the important things needed to live.  It cannot buy courage or love.

Banish hatred from your heart. 

Bravery multiplies with use.  

We can always find courage; it is free but its value cannot be calculated.  Not one of Britain’s servicemen opposed Hitler because of a desire for money.

Those who fought Hitler while serving in the RAF were astonishingly brave – and so many of them never returned home.

Luckily for me, Cliff and his fellow airmen did manage to return home.