Bases of Bomber Command: Then and Now

Sixty years ago, over 100 aerodromes in east and north-eastern England were occupied by the men and machines of RAF Bomber Command. The tenure of the majority of the bases was brief — some six years — but during that time more than 55,000 men lost their lives while flying from them to attack targets on the Continent.

Split into seven operational groups, the airfields of Bomber Command formed the cornerstone of Britain’s efforts to carry on the war against Germany in the years before the landings in Normandy. Thereafter they played their part in the battle against the V-weapons with one of the last raids of the war being carried out against Hitler’s personal mountain retreat.

Each airfield has been explored and photographed in the ‘then and now’ style of Roger Freeman’s previous books for After the Battle on the US Eighth and Ninth Air Forces. The physical development, construction and operational history of every airfield is described in detail and all are illustrated with wartime and present-day aerial photographs.

Roger A. Freeman is the author of more than fifty books on Second World War subjects and specializes in the men, aircraft and operations of USAAF. His interest stems from boyhood experiences including working on and around an airfield which housed the organization that is the subject of this book.