RAF BOMBER COMMAND AT WAR 1939-45 (Vol 1)
Audiobook CD on CD41

Largely unheard for more than sixty years, the astonishing actuality recordings on RAF Bomber Command at War were made by plucky BBC engineers, who bravely joined the crews of Lancaster heavy bombers for night raids on German targets during the Second World War. The recordings were made on portable 'midget' disc cutting machines plugged directly into the aircraft intercom system, and capture the drama as it unfolds of anti-aircraft fire, night fighter attack, evasive action, 'bombs away' and the ever-present danger of mid-air collision. To purchase CDs click here


RAF BOMBER COMMAND AT WAR 1939-45 (VOL 1) CD41-013 £10.00
ISBN 978-0-9554335-0-4
This 76 minute audio CD compiles rare archive recordings from the Second World War, including broadcast and actuality recordings made during Bomber Command raids on Essen, Stettin, Kleve and Berlin in 1943, together with crew debriefs and war correspondent reports. The war correspondents featured include celebrated names such as Wynford Vaughan Thomas, Edward R. Murrow and Richard Dimbleby. The CD also features recordings made by aircrew after returning safely to base, including an air gunner's account of the devastating raid on Dresden in February 1945, and a remarkable report on the daring raid on the Dortmund-Ems Canal in August 1940, for which the speaker (Flt Lt Roderick Learoyd) was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest gallantry award. The booklet features detailed recording and historical notes by James Hayward as well as rare photographs. All audio content has been carefully digitally restored, making this CD an absolute must for all historians and researchers, as well as collectors of archive sound and broadcast recordings. To read Vol 1 liner notes click here. Full tracklist: Target for Tonight March (1.11), address by Air Marshall Sir Arthur Harris 1943 (1.36), Dortmund-Ems Canal raid 8/1940 (3.59), Essen raid 4/1943 (3.36), Stettin raid 4/1943 (3.41), at a Lancaster bomber station 1944 (5.59), Berlin raid 9/1943 (30.45), Berlin raid 12/1943 (17.25), Kleve raid 2/1945 (5.30), Dresden raid 2/1945 (2.41).

Reviews: "This is a captivating insight into Bomber Command operations - you can't get a more direct link than by hearing it from those who were there, as it happened. Perhaps the most absorbing tracks are the recordings made during operations over Essen, Stettin, Berlin and Cleeve via the intercom system. On the Essen raid you hear the crew going about their duties in a very calm, matter-of-fact way, despite the fact that one is able to read his watch by the searchlights, and that flak is blasting all around them - and hits the aircraft on one occasion"(Flypast, 10/06); "Chilling and evocative, valuable history and a genuine human testament" (Pilot Magazine, 03/07); "Raiding with the Lancasters! Excellent - highly recommended" (Best of British, 9/06); 'I cannot praise this CD highly enough. It exhausts superlatives. To listen to actual operations as they happened is both a privilege and an ordeal: yes, of course you know that these particular crews returned (if they had not, the recordings would not exist), but that will not stop you gripping the side of your chair as you hear them brave the lethal skies of Germany, weaving and twisting to avoid the deadly glare of the searchlights, the unblinking eyes of the gunners on the lookout for night-fighters, the flak exploding around them in an inferno of hot steel and cold hate' (www.waterstones.com, 03/2009)


RAF BOMBER COMMAND AT WAR 1939-45 (VOL 2) CD41-030 £10.00
ISBN 978-1-906310-05-9
This second CD of archive recordings covers raids including Augsburg, Kiel, Dortmund, the Rhine Dams, Amiens gaol and Aarhus, as well as low level precison strikes and the first unaided destruction of a U-boat. The 73 minute CD also includes first-hand accounts of early raids (1940-42) in Hampdens, Blenheims and Wellingtons, as well as later four-engined heavies. The booklet features detailed recording and historical notes by James Hayward, with images. All audio content has been carefully digitally restored. To read Vol 2 liner notes click here. Full tracklist: Blenheim Destroys U-boat (1940), Raid on Danzig (1940), Raid on Munich (1940), Wellington Bombs Kiel (1941), Roving Patrol By Hampdens (1942), Augsburg - Lancaster VC (1942), Nightingales & Bombers (1943), 617 Squadron - Dambusters (1943), Stirling Loses Turret & Ditches (1943), Dortmund Raid - Stirling Base (1943), Mosquito Raid - Amiens (1944), Normandy Ground Support (1944), Mosquito Base/Osnabruck Raid (1944), Work of Rear Gunner (1944), Air Gunner Debrief (1944), Mosquito Raid - Aarhus (1944), Damaged Beaufighter (1944), An Airman's Letter to his Mother (1940).

Reviews: "This second volume is really special" (Best of British, 12/07)


DAMBUSTER: GUY GIBSON CD41-042 £10.00
ISBN 978-1-906310-17-2
Dambuster is an audio tribute to legendary wartime pilot Guy Penrose Gibson, who was awarded the Victoria Cross after leading 617 Squadron on their daring low-level raid on the Ruhr dams in Germany on the night of 16/17 May 1943. As well as a rare radio interview with Gibson recorded in America that same year, the CD also includes a 1944 interview with members of the Lancaster crew lead by Harold 'Mick' Martin, who also took part in the Dams raid. The 75 minute CD also includes all selections chosen by Gibson for his appearance on Desert Island Discs in February 1944, with his words voiced by actor Richard Todd. For full details of this CD click here.


FOR VALOUR: VICTORIA CROSS WINNERS 1914-1945 CD41-022 £10.00
ISBN 978-0-9554335-3-5
This unique archive audiobook CD features first-hand accounts by and of 13 recipients of the VC between 1915 and 1945, include four from Bomber Command: Roderick Learoyd, R.H. Middleton, James Ward and George Thompson. The booklet features archive images and detailed historical notes. To read liner notes click here. Full tracklist: Sergeant Edward Dwyer (1915), Flight Lieutenant Roderick Learoyd (1940), Flight Lieutenant J.B. Nicolson (1940), Lieutenant Charles Upham (1941/1942), Sergeant Pilot James Ward (1941), Commander Robert Ryder (1942), Sergeant Quentin Smythe (1942), Flight Sergeant R.H. Middleton (1942), Lieutenants B.C.G. Place and D. Cameron (1943), Naik Nand Singh (1944), Fusilier F.A. Jefferson (1944), Major John Mahony (1944), Sergeant-Major Stanley Hollis (1944), Lieutenant G.R. Norton (1944), Flight Sergeant George Thompson (1945).

Reviews: "Fifteen original recordings, including five from the RAF. It's fascinating to hear these tales from those who earned the decoration, or listen to the posthumous tributes from those who were there. Well worth the price of admission" (Flypast, 10/2007); "Forgotten voices that offer a fascinating insight into heroism in wartime" (Jive Magazine, 10/2007)

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