Some Lancaster crew Audio from WW2. . . .

[Phil Perry]

[David2ayo]

Father in law flew in those things. Never talked about it.

 

I have to limit my imagination when I see / hear things like that, generates feelings of stress as to why, admiration for their bravery, anger at the necessity and thankfulness because I wasn't there.

 

I'm going in to get lunch and recover.

 

David

 

 

[Phil Perry]

I've been lucky enough to call a few WW2 aircrew members friends over the years. . . Following what I was told by an ex-Lanc navigator, who died in 1992, the Language on the R/T could be quite 'Fruity' at times,. . .no cockpit voice recorders as standard back then you see. . . so I've no doubt that the crew in the item posted above were on notice that they were being recorded for posterity and that it would be a bad show if they didn't behave. . .

 

Anyone who really believes that these crews all spoke with the greatest of good manners all of the time, is living in cuckoo land ( His words ) After witnessing lots of post war newsreel footage of what he used to do. . . .

 

George said that when he flew with a couple of Sergeant Pilots in the 'Skipper' role. . the 'Fruitiness' of common speech was much more evident. These pilots being drawn from the 'Ordinary ranks', rather than the elite Oxford / Cambridge wallahs. . . He recalled a young Flight Lieutenant, who used to cuss and swear in an extremely refined upper class accent, and the rest of the crew used to piddle themselves laughing at his attempts at gutter language. . .But he said that it took the unbearable tension away at times, and seemed to make everyone relax a little, . .insofar as you COULD actually 'relax' with nasty people shooting at you spasmodically from the air AND from the ground just because you just happened to be dropping all sorts of nasty explosive thingies on top of their relatives. . . .

 

Mate George Buka,. .told me that his Dad was a Hurricane pilot in the Battle of Britain. They used to scream all sorts of invective to each other over the R/T and their British Sqn commanders had no idea of what they were saying. . . ( This was touched upon in the B of B movie ) he said that they 'didn't like' the Germans with a vengeance. . .and they let rip about what they thought. . .in Polish. . .on the R/T. . .! They also used to shoot at German pilots who had bailed out but it was a long time ago and they'd gone through a lot of horrors in that country. . .another era. . . .