This website is dedicated, as its title suggests, to just an ordinary crew of Bomber Command in World War II. They wouldn't have regarded themselves as heroes, nor in the commonly accepted sense, were they. But like thousands of other men from across the world, for a variety of reasons, they chose to volunteer to serve as aircrew in the RAF, the RAAF, the RNZAF and the RCAF, knowing that from the outset even of initial training, their lives were in danger and that many, many of them would eventually pay the supreme sacrifice. It is an attempt to tell their stories, as far as I can ascertain them and to show the many ways inwhich, in their ordinariness, they, along with thousands of their colleagues, were all extraordinary. Their like will never to seen again.
My hope and intention is that within this website, I can show the various paths that each of these ordinary men took: the rigorous, arduous and often dangerous training that each had, and the vagaries of life that could effect each of them and their like on their route to becoming an efficient bomber crew. Although they only spent a slightly less than a month on their squadron doing what they had been trained to do, there is much to tell of the preceding two or so years. This, as far as I can tell it, is their story and also of the equally courageous men who fought against them.
With thanks to Koen Leuvering for the computer-generated image of ME453, PO-L of 467 squadron.
Members of the crew are Rowland Ward, Max Venton, Harry Callaghan, Ron Smith, Colin Terras, Bill Chatters and Tom Drennan. They flew Avro Lancaster ME453 (PO-L) to bomb the Dortmund-Ems canal on the night of 3 March 1945. It was their third and last mission.
An aerial view, the crew's graves are in the second block from the left side, a few rows in front of the twin trees.
The stone altar designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens which stands in the centre of the cemetery. Upon it are carved the words from the Book of Ecclesiasticus: THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE.
From the crew's graves looking back towards the entrance gates.
Rowland Telford Ward RAAF: pilot, see Crew members
Colin Hill Terras RAAF: wireless operator, see Crew members
Maxwell Venton RAF: flight engineer, though note his grave is marked as "pilot" since he had earned his "wings", see Crew members
Ronald Victor Smith RAF: bomb-aimer, see Crew members
William Albert Alfred Chatters RAF: mid-upper gunner, see Crew members
Thomas Edward Drennan RAF: rear gunner, see Crew members
Between September 1939 and May 1945 Bomber Command crews suffered 47,268 dead, about 4,000 wounded and 9,784 taken as prisoners of war. The C-in-C of Bomber Command, Sir Arthur "Butch" Harris pursued a policy of area bombing, reasoning that when attacking targets producing munitions, new aircraft or parts for them, or iron and steel producing plants etc., there was bound to be what we now euphemistically call "collateral damage", innocent civilians killed because of their proximity to the target. Later in the war, in an effort to break the will of the German population and thereby bring it to an early end, all German towns, regardless of whether they were industrial or not, were regarded as legitimate targets: this was sanctioned at the highest level within the RAF and the Government. However in Churchill's speech on 13th May 1945 announcing Victory in Europe, he paid tribute to the Royal and Merchant Navies, to the Army and to Fighter Command of the RAF, but no mention was made of Bomber Command, their efforts for the past six years....... their sacrifices might never have existed. To this day, there is still discomfort when the names of Dresden or Cologne are spoken, and to this day no campaign medal has ever been awarded by the British Government to recognise those who fought and those who died flying bombers.
But these boys, and they were little more since most were in their early twenties, will not be forgotten.
The Bomber Command Association is raising funds to erect a memorial to honour those who failed to return. Donations can be sent to the address below:
Doug Radcliffe MBE The Secretary Bomber Command Association RAF Museum Grahame Park Way Hendon London NW9 5RR
With thanks to Koen Leuvering for the computer-generated image of ME453, PO-L of 467 squadron.
Members of the crew are Rowland Ward, Max Venton, Harry Callaghan, Ron Smith, Colin Terras, Bill Chatters and Tom Drennan. They flew Avro Lancaster ME453 (PO-L) to bomb the Dortmund-Ems canal on the night of 3 March 1945. It was their third and last mission.
An aerial view, the crew's graves are in the second block from the left side, a few rows in front of the twin trees.
The stone altar designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens which stands in the centre of the cemetery. Upon it are carved the words from the Book of
From the crew's graves looking back towards the entrance gates.
Rowland
Colin Hill Terras RAAF: wireless operator, see 
Maxwell Venton RAF: flight engineer, though note his grave is marked as "pilot" since he had earned his "wings", see 
Harry Callaghan RAF: navigator, see 
Ronald Victor Smith RAF: bomb-aimer, see 
William Albert Alfred Chatters RAF: mid-upper gunner, see 
Thomas Edward Drennan RAF: rear gunner, see 
Between September 1939 and May 1945 Bomber Command crews suffered 47,268 dead, about 4,000 wounded and 9,784 taken as prisoners of war. The C-in-C of Bomber Command, Sir Arthur "Butch" Harris pursued a policy of area bombing, reasoning that when attacking targets producing munitions, new aircraft or parts for them, or iron and steel producing plants etc., there was bound to be what we now euphemistically call "collateral damage", innocent civilians killed because of their proximity to the target. Later in the war, in an effort to break the will of the German population and thereby bring it to an early end, all German towns, regardless of whether they were industrial or not, were regarded as legitimate targets: this was sanctioned at the highest level within the RAF and the Government. However in Churchill's speech on 13th May 1945 announcing Victory in Europe, he paid tribute to the Royal and Merchant Navies, to the Army and to Fighter Command of the RAF, but no mention was made of Bomber Command, their efforts for the past six years....... their sacrifices might never have existed. To this day, there is still discomfort when the names of Dresden or Cologne are spoken, and to this day no campaign medal has ever been awarded by the British Government to recognise those who fought and those who died flying bombers. 
