tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/raf-8284/articlesRAF – The Conversation2024-02-02T12:54:31Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2224292024-02-02T12:54:31Z2024-02-02T12:54:31ZMasters of the Air: the real history behind the show’s black fighter pilots<p>New Apple TV series, Masters of the Air, tells the story of the American air effort in Europe during the second world war through the eyes of the Bloody 100th Bomb Group, who were based at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk, England. </p>
<p>Viewers have been debating whether its inclusion of black fighter pilots, the famed “Tuskegee Airmen” who served in Italy, is appropriate. As a historian who researches the <a href="https://rdcu.be/dxslz">American air war</a> and the wartime <a href="https://8thaf.co.uk/">“friendly invasion”</a> of Britain by American troops, I believe a historical perspective can help unpick this contentious issue. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/masters-of-the-air-review-austin-butler-barry-keoghan-callum-turner-1235805462/">Negative comments</a> have centred on the inclusion of the all-black 99th Fighter Squadron and 332nd Fighter Group who flew in the Mediterranean. This follows the logic that their inclusion is historically inaccurate, as they were not part of the air campaign flown from Britain. </p>
<p>The unpleasant wartime reality for the Tuskegee Airmen was that, in addition to a determined enemy, they had to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/freedom-flyers-9780199896554?cc=in&lang=en&">fight their own side</a> – the US War Department, the US Army Air Force and white commanders – for the right to serve.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/masters-of-the-air-apples-air-force-drama-is-imperfect-but-powerful-222220">Masters of the Air: Apple's Air Force drama is imperfect, but powerful</a>
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<p>Although <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-reviews/masters-of-the-air-review-austin-butler-barry-keoghan-callum-turner-1235805462/">criticised</a> as “<a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-reviews/masters-of-the-air-review-austin-butler-barry-keoghan-wwii-steven-spielberg-tom-hanks-1234948913/">tokenism</a>”, the show’s screenwriter, John Orloff, ensured airtime for these men’s stories in what would otherwise have been an all-white show. He subsequently <a href="https://www.threads.net/@john_orloff_writes/post/C1e35O8uohS?hl=en">wrote on Threads</a> that he was “totally baffled by some people’s reaction to the Tuskegee Airmen’s inclusion” and that he was “honored to be a small part of telling their story”.</p>
<h2>Black pilots in the US Army Air Force</h2>
<p>By the start of 1944, the American air campaign had undergone considerable changes in command structure. Anxious to fend off Allied rivalries, achieve closer coordination and promote the case for an independent US Air Force (it was then part of the army) its chief, General Henry “Hap” Arnold, established the United States Strategic Air Force in Europe (USSTAF). </p>
<p>Based in London and commanded by General Carl A. Spaatz, <a href="https://media.defense.gov/2010/Oct/12/2001330126/-1/-1/0/AFD-101012-035.pdf">USSTAF controlled the combined strategic bombing efforts</a> of the Eighth Air Force in Britain (including the 100th Bomb Group) and the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy (including the 332nd Fighter Group).</p>
<p>Although black pilots were prevented from serving directly with the 100th, they were still very much part of a unified American campaign against Germany that transcended geographic boundaries.</p>
<p>Despite this laudable inclusion, Masters of the Air struggles to move beyond the established Tuskegee story that has already been portrayed in other TV shows and films, including The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) and Redtails (2012).</p>
<h2>Black stories the show doesn’t tell</h2>
<p>Approximately 130,000 African Americans served in Britain during the war with 12,000 supporting the air campaign. In accordance with contemporary US War Department <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/when-jim-crow-met-john-bull-9781850430391/">policy</a>, most were relegated to service and supply roles, as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law">Jim Crow segregation laws</a> and discrimination followed them to Britain.</p>
<p>Members of the <a href="https://8thaf.co.uk/exhibition/1/jim-crow-segregation-visits-britain">Combat Support Wing</a>, set up to improve morale following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-troops-were-welcome-in-britain-but-jim-crow-wasnt-the-race-riot-of-one-night-in-june-1943-98120">Bamber Bridge Race Riot of 1943</a> were responsible for hauling supplies to the airfields, including Thorpe Abbotts. They often faced long hours and the routine refusal of food and accommodation from the “white” bases they serviced. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://8thaf.co.uk/exhibition/2/923rd-engineer-aviation-regiment">923rd Engineer Aviation Regiment</a> were a unit of approximately 3,200 men tasked with constructing and maintaining the airfields. From late 1942, they performed backbreaking construction shifts to ensure the completion and maintenance of vital airfields. In April to May 1944, approximately 200 men of the <a href="https://8thaf.co.uk/exhibition/2/923rd-engineer-aviation-regiment">827th Battalion from Regiment</a> worked to repair the runways at Thorpe Abbotts at the very time that some of most dramatic actions of the 100th were taking place.</p>
<p>Masters of the Air is silent on this black experience much closer to home, representing neither the significant contribution of these men, nor the endemic racism they faced. The mythology of the 100th still masks the realities of 1940s American society, despite the available evidence of a substantial black presence at Thorpe Abbotts. </p>
<p>The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is a worthy and inspiring tale of victory over prejudice and Masters of the Air is correct to include them. But its failure to show black soldiers at Thorpe Abbotts allows some of the myths surrounding the Bloody 100th and the wider “friendly invasion” to continue unchallenged.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graham Cross receives funding from the British Academy. </span></em></p>The unpleasant wartime reality for the Tuskegee Airmen was that, in addition to a determined enemy, they had to fight their own side for the right to serve.Graham Cross, Senior Lecturer in History, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2222202024-01-30T13:25:33Z2024-01-30T13:25:33ZMasters of the Air: Apple’s Air Force drama is imperfect, but powerful<p>Apple TV’s new second world war series, Masters of the Air, tells the story of the 100th Bomb Group of the US 8th Air Force, which operated B-17 “Flying Fortress” bombers from an airfield at Thorpe Abbotts in Norfolk. The series is based on <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/441997/masters-of-the-air-by-miller-donald-l/9781529918571">Donald L. Miller’s history book</a> of the same name and is produced by Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks.</p>
<p>As a historian with interests in the history and memory of the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/allies-in-memory/05A4421543030D7D1B3BD54AF9D5C27B#fndtn-information">8th Air Force</a>, I was largely impressed by the show’s historical accuracy, especially the recreation of the base at Thorpe Abbotts. The series delivers a moving portrayal of the American bomber boys and explores their role in the European air war with care and sensitivity. </p>
<p>But there are also missed opportunities, and the storytelling lacks the confidence and clarity of previous Spielberg-Hanks productions. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Masters of the Air.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>The European air war</h2>
<p>Like many of its cinematic predecessors, Masters of the Air examines the doctrine employed by the 8th Air Force – daylight precision bombing. Focused on the “choke-points” in the German war economy – oil refineries, fighter production, ball-bearing manufacture – it was a key point of divergence with Britain’s Royal Air Force which attacked German industry through nighttime “area” bombing.</p>
<p>The merits of each approach are dealt with early on: an argument with RAF aircrew in the pub leads to fisticuffs and the matter is duly settled with one swift punch (in the favour of the Yanks).</p>
<p>The necessity of daylight precision bombing asserted, the series turns its attention to its cost in aircraft and aircrew. Missions are launched, and fortresses fall. Young aircrew bravely and stoically endure. </p>
<p>Air combat, we are shown, is brutal and chaotic. It consumes energy, sanity, hope. It breaks minds and bodies. In confronting the sheer arbitrariness of life and death, survival and sacrifice, Masters of the Air is a worthy successor to the Gregory Peck film, Twelve O’Clock High (1949).</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/masters-of-the-air-ten-other-films-and-tv-shows-about-the-friendly-invasion-of-the-american-eighth-air-force-221679">Masters of the Air: ten other films and TV shows about the 'friendly invasion' of the American Eighth Air Force</a>
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<h2>Missed opportunities</h2>
<p>The series pivots around real legends of the 100th Bomb Group, including Major Gale “Buck” Cleven (Austin Butler), Major John “Bucky” Egan (Callum Turner) and Major Robert “Rosie” Rosenthal (Nate Mann). </p>
<p>The nine episodes follow their war from rural East Anglia, to the skies over Germany, to the fields and forests of the European countryside and to the Stalag Lufts in which some were interned as prisoners of war. This enables the series to explore subjects that might otherwise have been absent: the bravery of European resistance fighters, the impact of Allied bombs on civilians, the crucial role played by Allied espionage and the brutality of the war in the east.</p>
<p>The result is a rich story which avoids an overly repetitive format based purely on bombing missions. But there are consequences.</p>
<p>One is that the series gives relatively little space to exploring the deep bonds between aircrew and East Anglians. This is a shame given the important role long <a href="https://www.100bgmus.org.uk/">played by the latter</a> in zealously guarding the 8th’s memory.</p>
<p>Another is the portrayal of racial segregation, the <a href="https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9981#:%7E:text=Executive%20Order%209981%3A%20Desegregation%20of%20the%20Armed%20Forces%20(1948),-EnlargeDownload%20Link&text=Citation%3A%20Executive%20Order%209981%2C%20July,Record%20Group%2011%3B%20National%20Archives.&text=On%20July%2026%2C%201948%2C%20President,segregation%20in%20the%20Armed%20Forces">official wartime policy</a> of the US military, which was not ended until 1948. A product of contemporary racism, this policy placed all African American personnel into separate units, and it restricted the vast majority to non-combat roles.</p>
<p>Military segregation is acknowledged in Masters of the Air through the story of the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/wing-war-ii-training-aircraft-legacy-tuskegee-airmen-180977313/">Tuskegee Airmen</a>, as the African American pilots of the 99th Pursuit Squadron and 332nd Fighter Group were known. </p>
<p>The only African American units to fly in combat, they served with distinction in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. As such, it it is absolutely right that Tuskegee Airmen like Alexander Jefferson (Branden Cook), Richard D. Macon (Josiah Cross) and Robert H. Daniels (Ncuti Gatwa) feature in the series.</p>
<p>At the same time, though, a parallel history more local to the 8th Air Force in England is overlooked. There were approximately 150,000 African Americans <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/they-treated-us-royally-the-experiences-of-black-americans-in-britain-during-the-second-world-war#:%7E:text=Around%20150%2C000%20of%20the%20US,to%20service%20and%20supply%20roles.">based in Britain</a> during the war, of which around 12,000 were in eastern England working tirelessly in logistics and supply. Like the Tuskegee Airmen, all were subject to the indignities and institutional racism of military segregation. </p>
<p>Masters of the Air misses the opportunity to acknowledge their service too. </p>
<h2>An uncertain future</h2>
<p>This is indicative of a broader issue. For all its stirring soundtrack (Blake Neely’s score certainly makes the spine tingle) the series lacks the power and punch of previous Spielberg-Hanks work.</p>
<p>Band of Brothers – with which the series will inevitably be compared – was made in the halcyon days of the turn of the 21st century. This was the moment, the decade between the end of the Cold War (1991) and 9/11 (2001), when the second world war became firmly established in American culture as the “Good War”.</p>
<p>The conflict <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/29/books/review-looking-for-good-war-elizabeth-samet.html">retains this sheen</a> in the American imagination, and Masters of the Air is in thrall to the “<a href="https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/98/12/13/daily/generation-book-review.html?scp=1&sq=Tom%2520Brokaw%2520Reports:%2520The%2520Greatest%2520Generation&st=Search">greatest generation</a>”. But after the inconclusive “war on terror” and the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, the series is also the product of a very different moment – one far less sure of the future.</p>
<p>In a sense, this brings to the series a heightened authenticity. After all, Harry Crosby (Anthony Boyle), the series’ narrator, explicitly confronted the lingering uncertainties of his war experience in his powerful memoir, <a href="https://www.cairn.info/revue-francaise-d-etudes-americaines-2023-4-page-67.htm">A Wing and Prayer</a> (1993) in which he explains how he “learned to live with ambiguity”. Just as importantly, though, such uncertainty marks Masters of the Air as inescapably of its time.</p>
<p>This was powerfully revealed on the very day the first two episodes were released (January 26), when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/us-planning-to-station-nuclear-weapons-in-uk-amid-threat-from-russia-report">it was reported</a> that a modern US airbase in East Anglia – RAF Lakenheath – was being readied to potentially host nuclear weapons. </p>
<p>This is a decision inextricably linked to the events in Ukraine. But it also implies that the peace won by the “Bloody 100th” all those years ago – from an airfield just 40 miles away – is more fragile than it has been for quite some time.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Edwards has previously received funding from the ESRC, the US-UK Fulbright Commission, the US Army Military History Institute, and the US Naval War College. Sam is a Trustee of Sulgrave Manor (Northamptonshire), the ancestral home of George Washington, and of The American Library (Norwich) a memorial to the 2nd Air Division of the US 8th Air Force.</span></em></p>The show explores the American role in the European air war with care and sensitivity.Sam Edwards, Reader in Modern Political History, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2216792024-01-25T16:34:42Z2024-01-25T16:34:42ZMasters of the Air: ten other films and TV shows about the ‘friendly invasion’ of the American Eighth Air Force<p>New Apple TV series Masters of the Air tells the story of the famed 100th Bomb Group. The “Bloody 100th” (as they became known), were a part of the United States Eighth Air Force, a huge organisation which operated out of around 70 airfields in eastern England from 1942 to 1945. </p>
<p>The show is based on a popular history book of the same name by Donald L. Miller and involves some of the same production team as Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010).</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Masters of the Air.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Masters of the Air is by no means the first time that the exploits of the Eighth Air Force have caught the interest of filmmakers and television producers. In several previous productions, two <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s42738-020-00053-y">recurrent themes stand out</a>: stories of Anglo-American romance and critiques of the bombing doctrine employed by American air force commanders.</p>
<h2>Special relationships</h2>
<p>The American military buildup in Britain – popularly known as the “friendly invasion” – was an unprecedented moment in British history. </p>
<p>It was the first instance of mass Anglo-American interaction, and in eastern England – where so much of the Eighth Air Force was based – many small rural communities were inundated by invading American GIs. </p>
<p>What followed were moments of “<a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Rich_Relations.html?id=QQdyAAAAIAAJ&redir_esc=y">culture shock</a>” as citizens of each nation attempted to understand one another. What followed, too, were Anglo-American romantic relationships. This is hinted at in the legendary refrain attributed to an unnamed British wit. The problem with the Yanks, apparently, was that they were: “Overpaid, overfed, over sexed, and over here.”</p>
<p>Little wonder that stories of Anglo-American love and romance quickly drew <a href="https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2022/11/21/a-look-at-the-gi-brides-of-the-second-world-war/#:%7E:text=As%20a%20result%20of%20the,States%20once%20the%20war%20ended">contemporary press commentary</a> (especially when they led to marriage). Such stories have likewise featured in a number of films and television shows.</p>
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<p>Take, for instance, director Anthony Asquith’s film, The Way to the Stars (1945). Focused on a British airbase – Halfpenny Field – taken over by the American air force, the film offers a lightheaded examination of the Anglo-American relationship, often lingering on moments of love and romance. </p>
<p>Take, too, the Herbert Wilcox film I Live In Grosvenor Square (1945) which similarly explores the Anglo-American ties that bind, this time via a transatlantic love triangle involving, once again, an American pilot. Anglo-American “special relationships” like this have remained a go-to plot device ever since. </p>
<p>In War Lover (1962), for example, two American bomber pilots based in England (one played by Steve McQueen) compete for the hand of an English sweetheart. In Hanover Street (1979), Harrison Ford’s American pilot similarly falls for an Englishwoman (Lesley Anne Down). </p>
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<p>By the time the British television series, We’ll Meet Again, was aired in 1982 the theme was well established. Offering a rather nostalgic take on the friendly invasion, the series tells the story of the relationships established between American bomber boys and the people of a small East Anglian village. </p>
<p>A similar story features in the BBC’s 2016 series My Mother and Other Strangers, though this time the focus is the relationships that follow the arrival of the Eighth Air Force in rural Northern Ireland. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-diplomat-netflix-show-suggests-the-us-uk-special-relationship-needs-some-tlc-205590">The Diplomat: Netflix show suggests the US-UK special relationship needs some TLC</a>
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<h2>Precision bombing</h2>
<p>The second theme apparent in several previous productions concerns the bombing strategy employed by American commanders.</p>
<p>This theme picks up on a subject much discussed during the war (<a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691120102/rhetoric-and-reality-in-air-warfare">and afterwards</a>): the effectiveness of daylight precision bombing. The doctrine employed by the Eighth Air Force, it was a notable point of divergence with the British ally who had given up on daylight bombing believing it too costly in RAF lives and planes. </p>
<p>Their American counterparts, however, entered the war committed to proving that it could be done. This commitment, the Anglo-American disagreements that ensued and what it all meant for American aircrew, has drawn persistent attention in film and television.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The trailer for Twelve O'Clock High (1949).</span></figcaption>
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<p>An early example is the 1948 film, Command Decision, which stars Clark Gable (himself an Eighth Air Force veteran). But it is Twelve O’Clock High (1949) which offers the most probing examination of American bombing. Starring Gregory Peck as a no-nonsense commander, the film provides a moving exploration of the human costs (for American aircrew) of the precision bombing campaign, which saw huge formations of bombers do battle against experienced German fighter pilots. It similarly featured in the TV series of the same name that aired over 1964-1967. </p>
<p>More recently, the importance of precision to the American bombing campaign was also explored in Memphis Belle (1990). In one scene, for instance, the captain of the Memphis Belle – the name of the B-17 bomber at the centre of the story – is so committed to delivering a precision attack on a German factory that he even insists on taking a second pass over the target after the initial attempt is confounded by cloud cover.</p>
<p>Apple TV’s Masters of the Air is in good company. It is the latest in a long line of film and television which has found inspiration in the war fought by the American Eighth Air Force. And with creative input from the likes of Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks (both credited as producers) it looks set to be a notable addition to the genre. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Edwards has previously received funding from the ESRC, the US-UK Fulbright Commission, the US Army Military History Institute, and the US Naval War College. Sam is a Trustee of Sulgrave Manor (Northamptonshire), the ancestral home of George Washington, and of The American Library (Norwich) a memorial to the 2nd Air Division of the US 8th Air Force. </span></em></p>The American military buildup in Britain –popularly known as the “friendly invasion” – was an unprecedented moment in British history.Sam Edwards, Reader in Modern Political History, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193532023-12-15T11:02:40Z2023-12-15T11:02:40ZThe Shepherd: Disney’s ghostly new Christmas tale evokes the eerie qualities of Britain’s abandoned second world war airfields<p>From <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/A-Christmas-Carol-novel">Charles Dickens</a> to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/01/collected-ghost-stories-mr-james-review">M.R. James</a>, Christmas has a long association with ghost stories. In The Shepherd – part of Disney+’s festive fare for this year – we have an evocative addition to the genre. </p>
<p>Based on a short story by acclaimed thriller writer, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-Forsyth">Frederick Forsyth</a>, and set in 1957, The Shepherd explores the links between flight and the spectral.</p>
<p>As Forsyth explained in the forward to a <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/350617/the-shepherd-by-forsyth-frederick/9781804943908">new edition of the story</a>, it was written as a gift to his wife “in a single afternoon” on Christmas Eve 1974. It draws on his first-hand experiences as a Royal Air Force (RAF) National Service pilot during which he had flown the <a href="https://www.dehavillandmuseum.co.uk/aircraft/de-havilland-dh100-vampire-fb-6/">Vampire</a>.</p>
<p>The film, which is largely true to Forsyth’s original, sees young RAF pilot Freddie (played by Ben Radcliffe) take-off on Christmas Eve from a British airfield deep in the German countryside bound for England. Freddie’s route should be straight-forward – a direct flight across the North Sea to the RAF base at Lakenheath, in Suffolk in east England.</p>
<p>Not long after he crosses the Dutch coast, however, he runs into problems – his compass fails and his radio malfunctions. With mere minutes of fuel left, salvation arrives. From out of the clouds comes an ageing <a href="https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/collections/de-havilland-mosquito-b35/">Mosquito</a>, a type of fighter-bomber from the second world war, and its pilot “shepherds” him home to a rather eerie and apparently deserted RAF base. </p>
<p>The Shepherd is a ghost story of a sort that became familiar in the post-second world war period. In this time, several storytellers found inspiration in the ghostly old airfields dotted around the UK. Many of these bases, once teaming with action and central to the war effort, had been left to decay – places full of ghosts and memories.</p>
<h2>Abandoned airfields</h2>
<p>The military airfields that were abandoned in the 1940s and 1950s were shaped by one of the most pivotal events of modern history: the second world war. Hundreds were hastily constructed throughout the country in what was one of the largest civil engineering projects in <a href="https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/redirect/15802">British history</a>.</p>
<p>For a few short years, these bases were home to thousands of service men and women. They were places in which life was lived intensely, and which were also marked by tragedy, trauma and death. And then, with the victory of 1945, many became surplus to requirements. Abandoned, they were returned to farming and their buildings were left to moulder.</p>
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<p>It’s not clear when the post-war cultural fascination with ghostly old airfields began, but two early examples are the films <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbjVrazpjzU&ab_channel=slardbigmoney">The Way to the Stars</a> (1945) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8GRkgb7bfU&ab_channel=JimmyJoseph">Twelve O’Clock High</a> (1949).</p>
<p>The Way to the Stars opens with scenes of an abandoned wartime airfield – the fictional RAF Halfpenny Field – before a flashback returns us to the dark days of 1940. Released in the US under the title Johnny in the Clouds, the film is a celebration of Anglo-American comradeship and common purpose. </p>
<p>Its opening sequence clearly inspired director Henry King as he set about filming Twelve O’Clock High. Starring Gregory Peck as a tough and experienced American air force officer “broken” by the strains of combat command, King’s film is set at another fictional wartime airfield in England, this time Archbury. </p>
<p>Just like The Way to the Stars, Twelve O’Clock High opens with scenes of an abandoned old airfield, lost to the weather and weeds. The runways are cracked and crumbling, the old buildings deserted and derelict. Into the scene walks an American airman who was stationed there during the war and through whose eyes we see the present fall away and the ghostly past return.</p>
<h2>Haunted by history</h2>
<p>By the time Forsyth was writing in 1974, the idea of the abandoned second world war airfield as a ghostly, memory-laden landscape had become firmly established. </p>
<p>Ghostly airfields are powerfully present, for instance, in publications like <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1500027152">Airfields of the Eighth: Then and Now</a> (1978) which provides an evocative photographic record of wartime airfields reclaimed by nature. Shots of the airfield “back then” are accompanied by those taken in the 1970s and the effect is suggestive of the lingering – if not ghostly – presence of the past.</p>
<p>Similar sentiment is apparent in the series of books written by Bruce Halpenny from the 1980s onwards. Called <a href="http://www.ghoststations.com/">Ghost Stations</a>, these volumes are full of spooky and spectral encounters among the ruined remains of airfields.</p>
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<img alt="An abandoned control tower surrounded by gorse." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565982/original/file-20231215-19-9ky8oh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Vegetation has grown around an abandoned control tower on the disused airfield at Winkleigh, Devon in south-west England.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/gorse-surrounding-abandoned-control-tower-on-272590388">Peter Turner Photography/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>I even encountered stories like this when researching the visits to their old bases made in the 1970s and 1980s by many second world war veterans <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/allies-in-memory/05A4421543030D7D1B3BD54AF9D5C27B">Allies in Memory</a>. Stood on the balcony of an old control tower, or walking the concrete runways, more than one veteran experienced the past as a powerful and distinctly ghostly presence. </p>
<p>Indeed, during the dedication of the memorials established on many wartime airfields in the 1990s, this sense that the dead remained present was often remarked upon. </p>
<p>In the ghosts that many have encountered within such landscapes – as well as in evocative productions like The Way to the Stars, Twelve O’Clock High, and now The Shepherd – we can see the profound impact made by airfields on quiet corners of the rural landscape. These are places marked by the life and death of war, and in their ghosts we can see the long shadow of history.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sam Edwards has previously received funding from the ESRC, the US-UK Fulbright Commission, the US Army Military History Institute, and the US Naval War College. Sam is a Trustee of Sulgrave Manor (Northamptonshire) and of The American Library (Norwich).</span></em></p>Once teeming with life, many of Britain’s wartime airfields are abandoned and full of the ghostly memories.Sam Edwards, Reader in Modern Political History, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2170102023-11-06T16:20:51Z2023-11-06T16:20:51ZRed Arrows: narcissism, immorality and lack of empathy are behind the dark psychology that can poison elites<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557710/original/file-20231106-23-8ldlv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=130%2C93%2C6099%2C4035&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sexism, harassment and bullying are rife in the UK's Red Arrows.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-may-6-2023-red-2300153179">Watcharisma/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/top-gun-sense-of-exceptionalism-fuelled-red-arrows-culture-of-sexism">Sexism, harassment and bullying</a> plague the Red Arrows, the UK Royal Air Force’s display team. This revelation was the outcome of investigations into complaints of bad behaviour in this elite organisation. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/raf-chief-acknowledges-unacceptable-culture-of-sexism-in-red-arrows">Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton</a> said that “behaviour that would be classed as unacceptable was widespread and normalised on the squadron”.</p>
<p>To me, the Red Arrows have always represented discipline, precision, skill, bravery and professionalism. They are the real-life Top Guns. Now, I’ll never be able to look at red, white and blue trails in the sky in quite the same way.</p>
<p>As a psychologist, I should perhaps be less shocked. Many of us suffer from a <a href="https://web.mit.edu/curhan/www/docs/Articles/15341_Readings/Social_Cognition/Ross_Intuitive_Psychologist_in_Adv_Experiment_Soc_Psych_vol10_p173.pdf">particular cognitive bias</a> that involves projecting the characteristics of a role onto the people who play that role. But just because the Red Arrows display discipline and professionalism doesn’t mean all individual members of the team will have those same characteristics. </p>
<h2>Lack of self-doubt</h2>
<p>Elite groups, be they military or otherwise, present with a particular set of psychological challenges. One is that they often play by different social rules to everyone else. In their entrenched macho culture, women in the Red Arrows squadron were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/raf-chief-acknowledges-unacceptable-culture-of-sexism-in-red-arrows">viewed as “property”</a>.</p>
<p>Elites are, by definition, <a href="https://research.bangor.ac.uk/portal/files/19286095/2017_Tough_get_tougher.pdf">highly selected</a> both in terms of skills and psychological characteristics.</p>
<p>In a military setting, such traits include mental toughness, which can also come with a certain <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/1099-0984(200007/08)14:4%3C291::AID-PER377%3E3.0.CO;2-6?casa_token=vL0gyl6G5jgAAAAA:BCpSN6sXd9tq0KVupvHkMa-Kmygm6qQGfWdQLOacTSBKoAllcI9nClaatNo_XxM6bmpcMWVUIsSklg">emotional coldness</a>. This helps an individual to stay calm under pressure and to focus on the task in hand rather than on other people. Other people’s wellbeing may therefore not be a major priority in a highly competitive, survival-of-the-fittest situation.</p>
<p>Those selected have to be able to operate at the highest level. There is always jeopardy. The top, after all, can be a narrow ledge – precarious and anxiety-producing. As I’ve shown in a recent book, emotional displays and expressions of self-doubt <a href="https://www.edgehill.ac.uk/leading-psychologist-releases-new-book-doubt-a-psychological-exploration/">are likely to be highly discouraged</a> among elites.</p>
<p>Bottling up emotions <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/semi.1998.120.1-2.39/html">can be psychologically damaging</a>, though. It may reduce our ability to empathise with others. Several studies have also shown that people who have a good grasp of their emotions, noticing them and thinking critically about them, often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/job.720">make better decisions</a>. People who ignore their feelings can, counter-intuitively, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02699931.2022.2099349">end up being more driven by them</a>. </p>
<p>If we don’t realise that we have feelings of fear or self-doubt, because we are discouraged from doing so, we may act out in anger when that uncomfortable sensation hits. </p>
<h2>Narcissism</h2>
<p>Elites also know how special they are. They are told so endlessly. This will feed any inherent narcissistic tendencies. </p>
<p>There <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5887138">may be a genetic component to narcissism</a>, but narcissism can develop within an individual over time – and within a culture. Narcissists will need to be at the centre of attention in all spheres of life – not just up there in the sky with the public gaping up at them.</p>
<p>They will require narcissistic attention, accolades and validation in other aspects of life, including their relationships. Narcissists are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656622000253">more likely to switch partners</a> because new partners are always better at giving attention and complimenting them than existing partners.</p>
<p>It seems there was a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/01/raf-chief-acknowledges-unacceptable-culture-of-sexism-in-red-arrows">high propensity</a>” to engage in extramarital relations in the Red Arrows. This was no doubt partly down to opportunity and the undoubted glamour of the role, but perhaps also attributable to this narcissistic need.</p>
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<img alt="Small red aircraft with Union Flag on its tail and blue smoke from its exhaust." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558359/original/file-20231108-23-99hnxx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Red Arrow in flight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/scarborough-gb-jun-25-2022-raf-2358900355">Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>As Colonel Bernd Horn, Deputy Commander of the Canadian Special Operation Forces Command <a href="http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/vo8/no4/doc/horn-eng.pdf">points out in the Canadian Military Journal</a>, elites also breed an in-group mentality that can become “<a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/%7Ecrsi/differentialprocessing.pdf">dangerously inwardly focused</a>”. Elites trust only those who know the score and who have passed the same rigorous selection tests that they have. </p>
<p>They therefore become harder to influence from the outside, where behaviour may be perceived more objectively. Objectivity, however, is very important in life.</p>
<h2>Moral confusion</h2>
<p>Being in an elite group grants access to resources and opportunities others may not have. This, of course, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1207/s15327752jpa8301_04?casa_token=SGZKV6H8neIAAAAA:QqCO6b4sPxSnqdnV50iJb9BzseSVswNqTVOR4eDyvIokULI9fWgdgPvGLuFSPGcP_uuDqiiY-iuc">creates a sense of entitlement</a> and privilege, which can further stoke egos of narcissistic people and affect moral decisions. </p>
<p>The belief that you deserve special treatment and are exempted from certain moral obligations can lead to a skewed perspective on right and wrong. The boundaries <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RjpoAgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=privilege+rules+don%E2%80%99t+apply+perceptions+of+right+and+wrong&ots=M5o-Vi9JPo&sig=BsKSZl4o7QOCuqb-hIH0p9cxQrg&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">can become blurred</a> after a while.</p>
<p>Elites are also in a position to prioritise their own interests, driven by this desire, conscious or unconscious, to maintain their status and protect their privileges. Their insularity means that they are often surrounded by like-minded people who share similar values and perspectives and encourage this.</p>
<p>These social circles <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=KDshCgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA81&dq=the+dangers+of+in-group+thinking&ots=ijXQNd4Rep&sig=IDEwsqwMOMfBBuCTTqS75NGrKwY&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=the%20dangers%20of%20in-group%20thinking&f=false">can influence</a> their moral compass by reinforcing certain beliefs and behaviour, without the necessary critique.</p>
<p>Those of us who are not part of an elite group may also play a part. Some of us may recognise the elite’s position, power and privilege and be unwilling to sanction them because of their perceived importance (in the case of the Red Arrows as iconic representations of national identity). Knighton described this as “bystander culture”, though a better term here might have been <a href="https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/46474669/Crowded_minds_the_implicit_bystander_eff20160614-5333-9sllxi-libre.pdf?1465913078=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DCrowded_Minds_The_Implicit_Bystander_Eff.pdf&Expires=1699284094&Signature=KJGetyFgJNc3iVtbEQPNrdTW%7EBEBY8-80KQ5JPGLAjQlhRJkaYyeUY5as2aFzhVq6nFOLEDRh-idN7GmgPRyTB%7Eew2lE-ahEFM%7E4Am2Yl15dcLEWKB-d%7ENSNWlq3657EojBIAqlZvn7laOZEWE%7EgPLpxWmjZYpj7IKNfgYcbiejActR1Nw2LY9gtGBN30GZHbh2jWc1xMBP2883vpre-NCHVAtcNMNI7482Fe2exzgUC00xScvIMDmy4BNt1s%7E9zV7hUZu%7EZ59vbIc%7E%7EHvoJURZ3ZPZmw9Dy2lD%7EQVA5na5nTjq7OokvOn2T32CMaBtNtgvlP9FhC7c23PYothKB2A__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA">“bystander apathy”</a> .</p>
<p>It’s important to keep in mind that these are issues that affect all elites – from politicians and people who went to top schools to social media influencers. Personalities, fed and developed by attention and accolades until they’re dependent on them, may become trapped in an echo chamber of shared values. This often comes with an immunity to criticism from those outside the group who could never understand the pressures of the elite.</p>
<p>So while elites can be very special, it’s not necessarily always in a good way. We should all do our best to call out their bad behaviour.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217010/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Beattie does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Elite groups often become trapped in echo chambers.Geoff Beattie, Professor of Psychology, Edge Hill UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1853412022-07-01T15:38:42Z2022-07-01T15:38:42ZGood historical fiction is not just about factual accuracy, but the details of human experience too<p>How do you begin the process of researching a novel? In the case of my latest book, <a href="https://www.flyonthewallpress.co.uk/product-page/man-at-sea-by-liam-bell#:%7E:text=MALTA%201941.,Victor%2C%20that%20will%20shatter%20everything.">Man at Sea</a>, the task seemed straightforward if a little daunting.</p>
<p>The novel is partly set during the second world war, so I spent a lot of time combing the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/research/research-facilities">Imperial War Museum archives</a>. It also examines Malta’s transition from <a href="https://historiansatbristol.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/archives/408">British colony to independence</a> in the 1960s, so I was fortunate enough to undertake several research trips to the island.</p>
<p>As a writer, the key is not so much assembling reams and reams of material, but finding the details that make a period or situation vivid for you and, eventually, for the reader – those few facts which make a sprawling and multi-faceted topic specific enough to relate to and empathise with. The novelist <a href="https://www.sarahwaters.com/#:%7E:text=Sarah%20Waters%20OBE%2C%20was%20born,in%20the%20UK%20and%20US.">Sarah Waters</a> once memorably described those nuggets of information as the “poignant trivia” that provides the canvas for historical fiction.</p>
<p>As a creative writing lecturer, I teach students to not judge their historical fiction purely on historical accuracy, but on its ability to evoke an emotional response. This is what academic Melissa Addey describes in her <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14790726.2021.1876095">research</a> as a “playful exploration set within the frame of the historical record”, which allows for incorporation of smaller, more idiosyncratic details. </p>
<p>Other <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13642529.2020.1727189?src=recsys">research</a> points to the useful distinction between accuracy and authenticity, with the latter allowing for the character-based detail that a reader will connect with.</p>
<p>For me, the initial wartime narrative clicked with the discovery of <a href="https://www.rafbf.org/guinea-pig-club/about-the-guinea-pig-club">the Guinea Pig Club</a>. This was the moniker adopted by a group of airmen badly burned in action who were operated on by the pioneering plastic surgeon, <a href="https://www.eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk/guinea-pig-club/">Archibald McIndoe</a>, in East Grinstead in Sussex.</p>
<p>At that point, I knew that one of the protagonists of the novel, Stuart, had been injured in the war, but the Guinea Pig Club provided a wealth of detail and characteristics that really brought him to life. In July 2017, I made my first visit to the “<a href="https://www.eastgrinsteadmuseum.org.uk/guinea-pig-club/town-didnt-stare/">town that didn’t stare</a>”, where the club’s honorary secretary, Bob Marchant, showed me around the Queen Victoria Hospital.</p>
<p>Here were the cedarwood huts which I’d seen in the background of photographs showing men with bandaged faces and long trunk-like skin grafts as they waited for their next surgery. And the balconies over the operating theatre from which fellow patients used to watch procedures undertaken by McIndoe. Back at the East Grinstead Museum, Bob showed me the archive of club magazines.</p>
<p>In those pages I found the camaraderie which my character would pine for in those long post-war years, the sense of support and belonging which could sustain him in navigating civilian life.</p>
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<p>And I was genuinely moved to find the Christmas 1960 issue with a memorial to McIndoe who had died that year. At the end was the simple statement: “There are no words.” The Guinea Pig Club, and the debt of gratitude the members owed to their surgeon, became the core of Stuart’s character.</p>
<p>But the emotional link to Malta itself, though, came from much closer to home. </p>
<h2>A family story</h2>
<p>Back in 1956, my grandparents lived in Malta while my grandfather was stationed with the Mediterranean fleet. My late grandmother, Marian Scrimgeour, kept a diary which was ideal for providing distinctive detail.</p>
<p>She didn’t experience the fierce air raids of the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-malta-survived-the-second-world-war">siege of Malta</a>, but she did navigate the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/why-was-the-suez-crisis-so-important">Suez Crisis</a> with two young children in tow. So, her account of daily life includes notes such as: “Watched review of Nato ships whilst hanging out washing on roof. Cook. Dinner. A and J to sleep”. That steadfast continuation of the everyday domestic tasks while tensions escalated provided valuable insight for imagining life on the island during the war. </p>
<p>I also found an entry in which she is passing notes with a friend via the “ice man”, and there is a mention, in late April, of the milk going sour overnight. In the novel, I used those small allusions as a way of the characters noting the arrival of the hot Maltese summer. </p>
<p>These real experiences had the benefit of feeling period-specific and would have been nigh-on impossible to gain from my own trips, some 60 years later. I was also fortunate in being able to speak with my grandfather, Murray Scrimgeour, about his memories before he passed away.</p>
<p>I have scrawled notes about his ship, the <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205163252">HMS Duchess</a>, and the position of the admiralty in Malta. But the most valuable elements I gleaned from him were the specific naval references, such as <a href="https://www.lordmountbattenofburma.com/return-to-the-royal-navy">Lord Mountbatten</a>, second in command of the Mediterranean fleet, being disparagingly referred to as the “straw-boss”; and the “two-tier” wardroom, or officer’s mess, with the Maltese taken on mostly as stewards for the British officers.</p>
<p>My grandfather told me what it was like to be moved to a “war footing” and having to evacuate his young family from the island by way of a flight on a decommissioned WWII bomber with a faulty fourth engine.</p>
<p>He also related just how dangerous driving his hired Morris Minor had felt, and it is as a nod to him that the character of Stuart observes that the locals all “drove like ricocheting bullets”.</p>
<h2>The historical and the personal</h2>
<p>Reading back over the finished novel now, it is lines like these which make me smile. It is easy to search out a newspaper article or an official report for the facts, but finding that kind of detail which sharply evokes the experience of living in that historical moment is so much more important for the novelist.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="A statue of a surgeon with a burns patient." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/471875/original/file-20220630-12-ydiymv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=953&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A statue of pioneering plastic surgeon Archibald McIndoe with a patient, East Grinstead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archibald_McIndoe#/media/File:McIndoe_monument.jpg">Martin Jennings/WIkipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As Man at Sea is released into the world, then, my hope is that the “poignant trivia” Waters speaks of provides a sense of connection and immediacy. My bookshelves are filled with authoritative accounts of the second world war and detailed analyses of Malta’s journey to independence, but the passages in the narrative which readers will hopefully relate to are those provided by the Guinea Pig Club and especially by my late grandparents.</p>
<p>I’ve learned that the key to writing historical fiction is not providing all of the facts and figures, but combing through your research and pinpointing the one detail in ten which the reader can emotionally connect with. It is the human experience that truly resonates.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185341/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Murray Bell receives funding from the Society of Authors.</span></em></p>When it comes to writing historical fiction, one author finds that it’s the very human details that resonate with the reader.Liam Bell, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1719052021-11-19T16:08:32Z2021-11-19T16:08:32ZModern warfare: ‘precision’ missiles will not stop civilian deaths – here’s why<p>Modern guided missiles and bombs are capable of incredible, almost science-fiction-like precision. To research my book, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Reaper-Force-Inside-Britains-Drone/dp/1789460786/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=">Reaper Force</a>, about the lives of drone operators, I was allowed to watch RAF MQ-9 Reaper drones in real-time action in Syria. </p>
<p>I sat with a three-person crew at a ground-control station in <a href="https://www.creech.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/449127/history-of-creech-air-force-base/">Creech Air Force Base</a> in Nevada as they killed an Islamic State fighter with a <a href="https://www.thedefensepost.com/2021/03/22/agm-114-hellfire-missile/">Hellfire precision-guided missile</a>. The Reaper drone being piloted was flying 20,000 feet above its target. He was on a moving motorcycle when the missile hit him. </p>
<p>Missile accuracy is judged by how close it gets to its aiming point. Precision refers to the <a href="https://geographicalimaginations.com/tag/hellfire-missile/">size and predictability</a> of the explosive blast. The strike I watched was accurate and precise and no civilians were hurt. </p>
<h2>Degrees of precision</h2>
<p>Air-launched missile technology continues to advance rapidly. The 100-pound Hellfire missile was developed to destroy armoured tanks, and its laser targeting is the most accurate system in regular use. It included <a href="https://man.fas.org/dod-101/sys/land/wsh2011/128.pdf">20 pounds</a> of explosive charge, though recent versions use less explosives to reduce the risk of collateral damage and civilian deaths. </p>
<p>Having said that, precision can only take you so far: governments do not publish lethal blast-radius information, but a video released by the UK’s Ministry of Defence shows a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LvWMZKusEs">Hellfire blast</a> radius of several metres. Blast is also affected by the angle at which a missile hits a target, the local topography and any nearby structures which might absorb some of the explosion. Also, even <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2018/11/06/how-do-military-pilots-aim-guided-weapons-through-clouds/">light clouds</a> can disrupt the laser beams that laser-guided missiles like the Hellfire rely on to hit their targets accurately.</p>
<p>This is still much more accurate than more traditional bombs, though these are being improved for accuracy too. Traditional unguided 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound “dumb” bombs are being converted into “smart” Guided Bomb Units (GBU) by attaching a <a href="https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104572/joint-direct-attack-munition-gbu-313238/">Joint Direct Attack Munition</a> (JDAM) guidance tail kit. </p>
<p>The JDAM contains <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/inertial-navigation-system">inertial navigation</a> – an internal computer and gyroscopes to ensure it flies straight – as well as global positioning-system guidance capabilities. They can only hit coordinates and can’t “see” or avoid civilians, though unlike the Hellfire missiles, they are not affected by cloud cover. The 2,000-pound version can be lethal up to <a href="https://aoav.org.uk/2016/large-destructive-radius-air-dropped-bombs-the-mark-80-series-and-paveway-attachments/">several hundred metres</a> away but the guidance kit enables them to strike between [10 and 30 metres] of their targets. </p>
<h2>Danger to civilians</h2>
<p>The development of more precise missiles and guided bombs does not automatically mean a reduction in civilian deaths. For one thing, “precision” is not about protecting civilians so much as making these weapons “<a href="https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1232889/block-5-mq-9-debuts-in-combat/">more lethal</a>”.</p>
<p>A whole range of factors affect the civilian risk during a “precision” attack. These include the size and explosive yield of the missile or bomb; the training and experience of the aircrew involved; the quality of the military intelligence; and the operational environment in which the attack is made. </p>
<p>Political implications for the countries involved are also a factor. The British government, for example, has faced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/david-cameron-justifies-drone-strikes-in-syria-against-britons-fighting-for-isis">public scrutiny</a> for civilian deaths in air strikes in a way that, say, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has not.</p>
<p>Much also depends on the <a href="https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/OLH_2015_Ch5.pdf">rules of engagement</a> – or legal guidance, because they will set out how many civilians a government is prepared, or not, to allow its air force to kill in pursuit of its military campaign objectives.</p>
<h2>Law of war</h2>
<p>The law of war – which includes the Geneva Conventions – requires civilians to <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=4BEBD9920AE0AEAEC12563CD0051DC9E">be protected</a> in war and not attacked. But – and this is not commonly understood – the law allows civilians to be legally killed in some circumstances: where the number of deaths is judged by the attacker not to be “excessive in relation to the concrete and <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=4BEBD9920AE0AEAEC12563CD0051DC9E">[direct military advantage]</a> anticipated”. So if a target is judged to be valuable enough, and the military advantage important enough, civilians can and will be killed.</p>
<p>On August 29 2021, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/17/us-military-strike-afghanistan-civilians-islamic-state-pentagon">ten Afghan civilians</a> were killed by a Hellfire missile from a US Reaper drone. The precision of the missile did not save them. The crew responsible made the mistake through a <a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/2831896/air-force-official-briefs-media-on-deadly-drone-strike-in-kabul/">combination of</a> human error, miscommunication and the fact that the family’s Toyota Corolla had been wrongly identified as the car of an important ISIS target. </p>
<p>Lieutenant General Sami Said, the US air force inspector general, described it as “<a href="https://www.defense.gov/News/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2832634/pentagon-press-secretary-john-f-kirby-and-air-force-lt-gen-sami-d-said-hold-a-p/">an honest mistake</a>”. His enquiry also found that the crew had not broken the law of war. </p>
<h2>Sometimes harming civilians is the point</h2>
<p>Sometimes air power is also used to directly target or coerce civilian populations. For example, in 2016 Amnesty International reported air attacks by Russian forces on Syrian hospitals. Six hospitals or medical facilities <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2016/03/syrian-and-russian-forces-targeting-hospitals-as-a-strategy-of-war/">were bombed</a> in three months in areas controlled by forces opposed to the Syrian government. Dozens of civilians were killed or injured. This, despite hospitals being <a href="https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/ART/380-600022?OpenDocument">explicitly protected</a> under international humanitarian law. </p>
<p>Direct hits on all of those hospitals indicate the operational effectiveness of the aircraft and weapons involved. Russia was open about its use of <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/home/2015/10/18/russia-shows-early-success-new-capabilities-in-syria/">“precision” weapons</a> by its air force in Syria at the time. Putin spoke of Russia acting in Syria in support of its government within “the <a href="http://en.special.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50548">norms of international law</a>”. When he referred to Russian strike aircraft producing “<a href="http://en.special.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/50548">positive results</a>"m, it was about keeping Syria’s government in power, not protecting civilians.</p>
<h2>What does the future hold?</h2>
<p>As aerial firepower has become more sophisticated, the risks of civilian deaths also rise for other reasons. For example, IS has repeatedly demonstrated effective methods of reducing its enemy’s aerial advantage, such as resorting to urban warfare and creating a network of tunnels under cities such as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-mosul-idUSKCN12J1OX">Mosul</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraqi-troops-face-booby-traps-tunnels-packed-with-explosives-as-they-advance-on-fallujah/2016/06/11/97dd7314-2f19-11e6-b9d5-3c3063f8332c_story.html?utm_term=.efbe7f089551&itid=lk_inline_manual_5">Fallujah</a> in Iraq.</p>
<p>In urban warfare it is impossible to avoid all civilian deaths. A camera in the sky cannot tell if there are civilians out of sight behind walls, in buildings, under trees or in tunnels. Choosing not to shoot is the only sure protection for civilians in unclear circumstances.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, no degree of missile precision will stop the tragedy of civilian deaths in war. And wars show no sign of ending. Perhaps it is time for a more honest dialogue about the limits of technology and the human costs involved.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171905/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The technical and political issues at play in launching air attacks that may harm civilians.Peter Lee, Professor of Applied Ethics and Director, Security and Risk Research, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1683932021-09-21T15:23:57Z2021-09-21T15:23:57ZHow the British navy hid the heroic voyage of crippled second world war submarine HMS Triumph<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422346/original/file-20210921-13-mqnbqg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C167%2C716%2C426&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pride of the fleet: the submarine, HMS Triumph, in 1940 after being rebuilt.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Imperial War Museum archive</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In September 1941 the British press enthralled its readers with a story of naval heroism that the public, battered by German bombing and strict rationing, was crying out for: a tale of survival against the odds. </p>
<p>My research involves looking at how the British media covered the second world war. When I came across this story, I was struck by the way in which the navy kept the it quiet for nearly two years.</p>
<p>On September 15 1941, the Daily Mail reported that in December 1939, the Royal Navy submarine HMS Triumph had been sailing on the surface in the Skagerrak Strait between Denmark and Germany when it hit a mine. The newspaper account described how the deadly device split the air with a colossal explosion that “temporarily blinded the men on the bridge”. Its rival paper, the Daily Mirror, explained that the mine had blow off an 18-foot-long section of Triumph’s bows and opened “a 12-foot split in her hull amidships”.</p>
<p>Triumph was in German-patrolled waters and so badly damaged that she could not dive. She was leaking copiously, and her pumps were working flat out. Undaunted, the Triumph’s commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander John Wentworth McCoy, brought her slowly home to the Firth of Forth in Scotland. The 300-mile journey was made at speeds as low as 2.5 knots, exposing Triumph to German bombing. As she approached the Scottish coast, a Dornier bomber found her and prepared to attack. Before it could deliver a fatal blow, British fighters drove it off.</p>
<p>Triumph staggered back to port with nothing but a crumpled bulkhead between her crew and death. The Daily Mirror noted that a damaged torpedo in her shattered bow had been armed throughout the voyage and might have exploded. Triumph’s steering gear, it noted, “seemed held together by a miracle”. The Daily Telegraph reflected that “only good material and excellent workmanship” had prevented her “literally falling to pieces”.</p>
<p>In the gloom of the phoney war of 1940, workers at the Vickers yard in Barrow-in-Furness – where Triumph had been launched in 1938 – might have been proud to read that. But they could not – nor could anyone else. Triumph hit the mine on Boxing Day 1939, but not a word was published about her voyage or the bravery of her crew until 21 months later. It was a stark example of the power that the various armed services ministries had to silence the press.</p>
<h2>Senior Service</h2>
<p>Although Britain’s wartime governments recognised that statutory press censorship was incompatible with the democratic values Britain fought to defend, the ministries responsible for the Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force exercised rigid control over access to information about Britain’s armed forces. If they did not want to release it, they did not do so. The navy, fiercely proud of its status as the “Senior Service”, was notoriously conservative.</p>
<p>In his 1947 memoir, Blue Pencil Admiral, the wartime government’s chief press censor, Rear Admiral George Thompson, recalled that – long after the Army and the Royal Air Force learned to appreciate the value of publicity: “It was seldom that any naval news of real interest or importance was allowed to come out … until so long afterwards that all interest in the event had vanished.” </p>
<p>A proud submariner himself, Thompson cites the example of HMS Triumph as one that infuriated him. Thompson believed her voyage was a “magnificent story of the heroism and fortitude of the British sailor”. By delaying release of the details for so long, the Navy ensured that the voyage “lost its tense, human, immediate interest”. Thompson lamented that “it was a great story, and it was a pity that it could not have been released at the time”.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image showing the stern of HMS Triumph, damaged by a German mine in December 1939." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=816&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/422347/original/file-20210921-13-d7fxa2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1025&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The HMS Triumph managed to limp back to the Firth of Forth despite being severely damaged.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Imperial War Museums</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He was right. It’s not clear from the public record what led to the news emerging, but Triumph’s story eventually appeared on the front page of the Daily Express on September 15 1941. Under the headline “Submarine lost 18 ft – Got Home”, Lord Beaverbrook’s market-leading paper described her “amazing exploit”. This was accompanied by a photograph of Triumph at her launch with the now-missing portion of the bow indicated by a wavy line. Other papers followed up the story, but none gave it such front-page treatment.</p>
<h2>Chasing the story</h2>
<p>If the navy’s approach to publicity was overly cautious, the Air Ministry was much more dynamic, allowing RAF press officers to mould stories of heroism during the Battle of Britain. Their promotion of heroes such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/battle-of-britain-how-the-british-press-found-a-hero-in-douglas-bader-the-amputee-fighter-ace-142069">Douglas Bader</a>, the amputee fighter ace won sympathetic, high-profile coverage in popular and elite newspapers.</p>
<p>Later they would promote Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his fellow <a href="https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-incredible-story-of-the-dambusters-raid">Dambusters</a> with equal enthusiasm. RAF press management helped to limit and delay criticism of the civilian casualties caused by area bombardment of German cities.</p>
<p>Among leading members of the wartime coalition, Winston Churchill and the home secretary, Labour’s Herbert Morrison, hated newspaper criticism and expended considerable energy to threaten editors who dared to challenge ministers in the interests of their readers. </p>
<p>The Daily Mirror, and its sister title the Sunday Pictorial, attracted particular venom. In 1940 Churchill described these mass circulation socialist tabloids as “vicious and malignant” and accused them of publishing “subversive articles”. Morrison urged MI5 to investigate these journalists with, as he described them, “diseased minds”.</p>
<p>But such political pressure should not distract our attention from the enormous power that the armed service ministries and the ministry of information possessed. By rationing access to information – and promoting only those stories they considered helpful – they achieved more than politicians threats would have done.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/168393/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Luckhurst has received research funding from News UK and Ireland Ltd. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a member of the Free Speech Union and the Society of Editors.</span></em></p>It took nearly two years for the Royal Navy to tell the story of the heroic voyage of the crippled submarine HMS Triumph.Tim Luckhurst, Principal of South College, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1413362020-07-21T20:10:00Z2020-07-21T20:10:00ZSecond World War singing icon Dame Vera Lynn was more than the British Forces’ Sweetheart<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348223/original/file-20200718-17-1j8j4fs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Photos of British singer Vera Lynn are seen in a window, as her funeral procession is led through the village of Ditchling, southern England, July 10, 2020. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Dame Vera Lynn died June 18, there has been an outpouring of tributes rightly celebrating her fame as a singer and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-53337459">“the Forces’ Sweetheart”</a> during the Second World War. </p>
<p>Lynn (born Vera Welch) had grown up in London’s working class East End and blossomed as a dance band singer in the 1930s. During the war, she became a beloved solo performer on stage, record and radio.</p>
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<img alt="Vera Lynn stands at a microphone singing, backed by a pianist." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348226/original/file-20200718-27-1pzake0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Vera Lynn performs at a munitions factory during the Second World War.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(P 551 from the Imperial War Museums collection/Wikimedia)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Particularly as heard on the BBC, Lynn’s voice offered comfort and hope to forces and civilians alike. Her personal <a href="https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/778/765">sincerity</a>, working class background and accessible songs embodied the values of “<a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/104/1040534/the-people-s-war/9780712652841.html">People’s War</a>” unity, shared sacrifice and egalitarianism.</p>
<p>Once they reach the end of the war, however, some obituaries lose the thread. They <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/18/world/vera-lynn-dead.html">skim over</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/dame-vera-lynn-dies-second-world-war-1.5617056">75 years of Lynn’s remarkable life</a> when, through hard work, public service and careful balance, she would adapt and change while sustaining — and sometimes challenging — her place in public memory.</p>
<h2>Post-war interest</h2>
<p>It’s worth noting Lynn herself did not assume the public would still be interested in hearing her after the war. She briefly “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-the-Politics-of-Hope-Queer-and-Feminist-Interventions/Fast-Jennex/p/book/9781138055896">retired</a>” in late 1945, a few months before <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNNCB6cPuk4">her daughter was born</a>. </p>
<p>But she returned to the recording studio in late 1946. By early 1947, she was back on BBC radio, starring in her own show, and making solo appearances in <a href="https://www.macmillanihe.com/page/detail/britain-had-talent-oliver-double/?k=9780230284593">variety theatres</a>. </p>
<p>Some may <a href="https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/american-women-in-world-war-ii-1#:%7E:text=Women%20were%20critical%20to%20the,women%20worked%20outside%20the%20home.">assume that every “Rosie the Riveter”</a> or Forces’ Sweetheart became a housewife after the war. But Lynn, like many women, <a href="https://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/4e68f7d2-4ddb-4d34-889d-30c831beb6b1.pdf">continued to work outside the home</a>. In her <a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780007318919/some-sunny-day/">autobiography</a>, she recalled a discussion with her husband, Harry Lewis, about which of them would have the career. Lynn’s earning potential was greater, as he was a musician who had been discharged from the Royal Air Force Squadronaires dance band, because of illness. </p>
<p>They determined Lewis would support Lynn as advocate and manager. Their loving and effective partnership lasted until his death in 1998. </p>
<h2>Busy 1950s</h2>
<p>As with many women in the public eye, the 1950s media worked to make Lynn relatable by emphasizing her roles as <a href="https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/4759ee1e48de4d57a6eb95019aafd322">wife, mother and homemaker</a> — and downplaying her professionalism.</p>
<p>The fact was that the 1950s were <a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780007318919/some-sunny-day/">even busier</a> for Lynn than the war years. Her popularity grew in the United States and in 1952, she became the first British artist to top America’s Hit Parade, with the nostalgic “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36prRdWCqu0">Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart</a>.”</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Vera Lynn sings ‘Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart.’</span></figcaption>
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<p>Lynn made the move to television in 1955, signing contracts <a href="https://www.politics.co.uk/reference/itv">with broadcaster ITV</a> and then the BBC. As BBC Audience Research reported in 1957, audiences regarded the then 40-year-old as both a top contemporary entertainer and an admired “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-the-Politics-of-Hope-Queer-and-Feminist-Interventions/Fast-Jennex/p/book/9781138055896">historic figure</a>.”</p>
<p>As British tastes changed and rock ‘n’ roll, rock, ska, punk and disco topped the charts, Lynn continued to broadcast, record and tour internationally. </p>
<p>She worked tirelessly for a range of charities, from veterans to children with disabilities and breast cancer research. </p>
<h2>Potent symbol</h2>
<p>In 1975, Lynn was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, in recognition of her charity work, an honour she described as “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.co.uk/9780007318919/some-sunny-day/">the high point of my career</a>.” </p>
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<img alt="Vera Lynn stands smiling wearing a triple string of pearls and a jacquard blue and orange jacket in 1969." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=831&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/348224/original/file-20200718-29-1fvh100.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1044&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Vera Lynn attends a reception in London in 1969.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo, File)</span></span>
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<p>During the 1970s, though Lynn sometimes described herself as <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-the-Politics-of-Hope-Queer-and-Feminist-Interventions/Fast-Jennex/p/book/9781138055896">semi-retired</a>, she continued to present new material, both on her own television variety show and on albums such as <em><a href="https://www.discogs.com/Vera-Lynn-Vera-Lynn-In-Nashville/release/4175261">Vera Lynn in Nashville</a></em>. </p>
<p>In a September 1975 <em>Radio Times</em> profile of the newly made dame, the novelist Margaret Drabble observed, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-the-Politics-of-Hope-Queer-and-Feminist-Interventions/Fast-Jennex/p/book/9781138055896">Altogether, she’s a very odd mixture of hard-working professional artist and busy contented woman-about-the-house. Perhaps … that is why, so long after the war, she remains so potent a symbol</a>.”</p>
<p>Lynn continued to make appearances, support charities and advocate for veterans and <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/newsheadlines/dame-vera-questions-afghan-mission-6727364.html">active-duty troops</a>. She also continued to perform at Second World War commemorations, up to her “final” performance for the 50th anniversary of VE-Day in 1995, when she was the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOpFyDy5CRo">closing act</a> for a crowd of 100,000 in Buckingham Park. </p>
<p>In the process of sustaining her career, Lynn also laid the foundation for her enduring legacy as a Second World War icon, the “one singing voice above all others [that] had come to exemplify the courage, the determination and the refusal to be downhearted,” as she was introduced at the 1995 VE-Day concert. </p>
<h2>Racist myths impacting nostalgia</h2>
<p>Dame Vera, with her well-earned reputation for sincerity, kindness and courage, helped embody British memory of the Second World War as a “good war” in which Britain had fought heroically and alone against fascism. But no one becomes an icon alone and neither Lynn nor England triumphed through the war as solo efforts.</p>
<p>Though she never <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1148617/Dame-Vera-Lynn-warpath-BNP-uses-White-Cliffs-Of-Dover-anti-immigrant-album.html">“aligned” with a political party, Lynn did not stay completely out of the political fray</a>. In 2009, the xenophobic British National Party included her recording of “White Cliffs of Dover” on a fundraising CD without her permission. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1148617/Dame-Vera-Lynn-warpath-BNP-uses-White-Cliffs-Of-Dover-anti-immigrant-album.html">The <em>Daily Mail</em> reported Lynn was “furious” and that her solicitor was investigating legal action</a>. (However, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7899602.stm">she no longer controlled the rights</a> to the 1942 recording.) </p>
<p>Such nationalistic nostalgia is sometimes used to advance racist myths of Second World War Britain as a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/06/before-windrush-review-race-relations-liverpool">fundamentally white nation</a>. This, despite the reality that Britain’s <a href="https://www.routledge.com/We-Europeans-Mass-Observation-Race-and-British-Identity-in-the-Twentieth/Kushner/p/book/9781138275812">continental ties</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-52939694">colonial history</a> have <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/windrush">long</a> made it a nation <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/06/before-windrush-review-race-relations-liverpool">populated by diverse peoples</a>.</p>
<p>It also overlooks the fact that the Second World War “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/An-Imperial-World-at-War-The-British-Empire-193945-1st-Edition/Jackson-Khan-Singh/p/book/9780815366867">was fought by the British Empire, not just by Britain</a>,” as the historians Yasmin Khan of the University of Oxford and Gajendra Singh of the University of Exeter write. Britain depended upon troops, resources, and food from both its dominions (Canada, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand) and its colonies in <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/108/1085586/the-raj-at-war/9780099542278.html">Asia</a>, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8344170.stm">Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-32703753">the Caribbean</a>. </p>
<p>Forgetting these histories has limited Britain’s reckoning with contemporary racism and the legacies of colonialism, including international <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/ng-interactive/2014/feb/11/britain-100-years-of-conflict">conflicts</a> of “post-war” Britain.</p>
<h2>Full span of Lynn’s life</h2>
<p>We can celebrate Dame Vera without mythologizing Second World War Britain, especially if we consider the full span of her life. </p>
<p>It is hard for any musician to sustain a long career, but it is especially hard for women, who are so often judged by their youth and physical attractiveness. Dame Vera had the curious experience of aging in the public eye. She was never far from her audiences’ <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_o5VXH-pIk">memories</a> of her younger Forces’ Sweetheart self, yet she evolved as an artist and philanthropist, and did not shy away from asserting control over how her image and music were mobilized.</p>
<p>We can celebrate the working-class girl who became a Dame, the working mother and philanthropist, the artist who sustained and built connections with fans everywhere and the woman who did her best to make the world a kinder, fairer place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141336/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christina Baade receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>We can celebrate Dame Vera while rejecting racist myths about Second World War Britain and those who seek to use Lynn to advance a xenophobic nostalgia.Christina Baade, Professor in Communication Studies, McMaster UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1420692020-07-06T12:46:06Z2020-07-06T12:46:06ZBattle of Britain: how the British press found a hero in Douglas Bader – the amputee fighter ace<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/345755/original/file-20200706-25-1x7a79x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C0%2C3419%2C2474&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Squadron Leader Douglas Bader CO of No Squadron seated on his Hawker Hurricane after the Battle of France, September 1940.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Devon S A (F/O), Royal Air Force official photographer, Imperial War Museum</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In July 1940, Britain’s coalition government was <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/228834681">concerned about public morale</a>. German forces that had swept through France stood poised to invade. In the skies, Luftwaffe warplanes fought for the supremacy that Adolf Hitler needed to get his army across the channel. The nation’s fate hung in the balance and the Air Ministry believed uplifting stories could inspire optimism and encourage resistance.</p>
<p>When a 30-year-old Hurricane pilot shot down a Dornier 17 “in a fierce aerial fight”, the ministry spotted <a href="http://find.gale.com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/dvnw/newspaperRetrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DateAscend&tabID=T003&prodId=DVNW&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchId=R2&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=1&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C20%29Legless+Pilot+Dances%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28MB%2CNone%2C4%29Dmha%24&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&inPS=true&userGroupName=duruni&docId=EE1865014643&contentSet=LTO&&docId=&docLevel=FASCIMILE&workId=&relevancePageBatch=EE1865014643&contentSet=UDVIN&callistoContentSet=UDVIN&docPage=article&hilite=y&tabLimiterIndex=&tabLimiterValue=">a tremendous story</a>. This was no ordinary pilot. In 1931, he had lost both his legs when “coming out of a slow roll over Woodley Aerodrome, Reading, he crashed and for weeks struggled against death in hospital”. His legs were amputated and, although he soon learned to fly again using artificial legs, the RAF rejected his applications to return to active service until the war began.</p>
<p>The hero was, of course, <a href="https://funeral-notices.co.uk/national/death-notices/notice/sir+douglas+bader/4070937">Douglas Robert Stuart Bader</a> (1910-1982). Today, his story is familiar to millions who have seen the award-winning film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049665/">Reach for the Sky</a> or read of his courage in books and newspapers. But in 1940, Bader was little known beyond RAF Fighter Command. In a meticulous public relations exercise, Air Ministry press officers would make him a household name.</p>
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<p>Alerted by an Air Ministry briefing on July 14, the mass-market Conservative Daily Mail sent a reporter to interview Bader’s mother. She told the journalist: “I wish I could tell you adequately the story of how he had to face life again without two legs … It was amazing to watch his courage and the gradual return of his sunny disposition.” He had also learned how to dance and drive a car. The Mail portrayed the hero in uniform and smiling for the camera.</p>
<h2>Thrilling tale</h2>
<p>Like its conservative rival, the Labour-supporting Daily Mirror displayed its populist flair when it covered the story. Douglas Bader was the “<a href="https://go-gale-com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=Newspapers&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=3&docId=GALE%7CACHQRF037770620&docType=Article&sort=Pub+Date+Forward+Chron&contentSegment=ZDMA&prodId=DMIR&contentSet=GALE%7CACHQRF037770620&searchId=R2&userGroupName=duruni&inPS=true&ps=1&cp=3">Greatest hero of them all … Britain’s most amazing RAF Fighter Command Pilot</a>”. The Mirror sent a reporter to meet the hero’s mother-in-law. Mrs Edwards said: “The more fights he can fly himself into, the better he is pleased.” He was encouraged by the love and support of her daughter Olivia, whom he married in 1938. The Mirror declared that “the story of his courage thrilled Britain”.</p>
<p>Establishment broadsheet The Times also got carefully targeted help. Its readers learned that Bader had “passed through Cranwell [home since 1920 of the RAF College] where he was a fine games player and captain of cricket”. The Manchester Guardian decided that its educated readers would resent mawkish populism. <a href="https://search-proquest-com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/hnpguardianobserver/docview/484765831/98487A5B82074837PQ/1?accountid=14533">It noted</a>: “Everybody who was in the Air Force or who was interested in rugby football eight or nine years ago knew DRS Bader, the Harlequins and RAF fly half, whose crash robbed him of his legs, cut short a brilliant service career and destroyed good prospects of an England cap”. </p>
<p>But, the report continued, Bader was not unique. Before the war an officer nicknamed “Peggy” flew “in spite of having one artificial leg. He wore a plain wooden peg-leg which he inserted into a cylindrical cigarette tin screwed to the rudder bar.”</p>
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<p>The Daily Telegraph was not sceptical. Its correspondent, Major CC Turner, reported: “I learn that a Hurricane pilot who although he lost both his legs shot down a Dornier 17 in a weekend raid was Flying Officer DRS Bader.” Turner did not acknowledge that he had learned this from the Air Ministry. But that’s how every newspaper found out about Bader – it was a formidable work by a team determined to promote courageous young men and cheer the nation.</p>
<h2>Naval gazing</h2>
<p>The RAF worked closely with journalists and its reputation benefited accordingly. By contrast, the Royal Navy took a rigidly secretive approach that infuriated even the government’s chief press censor, <a href="http://www.dreadnoughtproject.org/tfs/index.php/George_Pirie_Thomson">Rear Admiral George P Thomson</a>. </p>
<p>Thomson lamented that the adventures of HMS Triumph, which limped home after being damaged in action 300 miles from home, had begun on Boxing Day 1939. “Yet it was not until September 1941 that the British public were told this magnificent story of the heroism and fortitude of the British sailor.” Thomson believed secrecy had stopped people talking about the navy with pride. </p>
<p>The navy’s reluctance to reveal detail about the war at sea remained entrenched. In his outstanding book about journalism and conflict, <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/kent-csi/vol20no1/pdf/v20i1a05p.pdf">The First Casualty</a>, journalist Phillip Knightley reveals how Edward R Murrow of CBS Radio complained about the secrecy surrounding this theatre of war: “The curious thing about the Battle of the Atlantic is that no one knows anything about it. Nothing may be said either to the Americans or to the British public about this battle which, we are told, will determine the destinies of freemen for centuries.”</p>
<p>The thoroughly modern RAF understood that Douglas Bader was the hero Britain needed in its hour of greatest need. And such early success in promoting its achievements set a pattern that the Air Ministry would follow throughout the war. It would even invite BBC correspondents <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b039lmkg">Wynford Vaughan Thomas</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0187bbk">Richard Dimbleby</a> to report from Lancaster Bombers flying in raids over Germany. </p>
<p>The army also learned to value positive reporting of its achievements when Field Marshal Montgomery presented the war in the desert to readers at home with striking phrases such as “Kill Germans, even padres – One per week day and two on Sundays”.</p>
<p>As for Bader, his fame did not fade when he was shot down and taken prisoner. Having received a replacement aluminium leg, dropped by parachute to his prisoner of war camp, he immediately tried to escape. A German search party found him hiding in a hayloft. <a href="http://find.gale.com.ezphost.dur.ac.uk/dvnw/newspaperRetrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DateAscend&tabID=T003&prodId=DVNW&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchId=R3&searchType=AdvancedSearchForm&currentPosition=20&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28ke%2CNone%2C13%29Douglas+Bader%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28MB%2CNone%2C185%29Bbcn+Or+Ncnp+Or+Ncuk-2+Or+Ncuk-1+Or+Bncn-1+Or+Bncn-2+Or+Bncn-3+Or+Bncn-4+Or+Bncn-5+Or+Dmha+Or+Econ+Or+Ftha+Or+Iln+Or+Inda-1+Or+Inda-2+Or+Lsnr+Or+Pipo+Or+Stha+Or+Ttda-1+Or+Ttda-2+Or+Tlsh%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28gs%2CNone%2C36%29%22Editorial+and+Commentary%22+Or+%22News%22%3AAnd%3ALQE%3D%28da%2CNone%2C23%2901%2F01%2F1940+-+12%2F20%2F1945%24&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&inPS=true&userGroupName=duruni&docId=JF3237833214&contentSet=LTO&&docId=&docLevel=FASCIMILE&workId=&relevancePageBatch=JF3237833214&contentSet=UDVIN&callistoContentSet=UDVIN&docPage=article&hilite=y&tabLimiterIndex=&tabLimiterValue=&uzFieldValue=bncn-4">After that</a>: “They took away one of his legs every night and gave it back to him in the morning.” </p>
<p>Bader ended the war in the infamous Colditz castle where he was held as a member of the group known as the <em>Prominente</em> – famous prisoners the Nazi leadership hoped they might use as bargaining chips.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142069/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tim Luckhurst has received research funding from News UK and Ireland Ltd. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts and a member of the Free Speech Union and the Society of Editors. . </span></em></p>As it faced imminent Nazi invasion, Britain needed heroes. The RAF provided one ready made: a fighter pilot with no legs.Tim Luckhurst, Principal of South College, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1005632018-07-26T14:25:57Z2018-07-26T14:25:57ZCurious Kids: what’s it like to be a fighter pilot?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229407/original/file-20180726-106524-1eqzzhu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C21%2C3594%2C2554&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.defenceimagery.mod.uk/fotoweb/archives/5042-Downloadable%20Stock%20Images/Archive/RAF/45152/45152844.jpg">Ministry of Defence. </a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is an article from <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a>, a series for children of all ages. The Conversation is asking young people to send in questions they’d like an expert to answer. All questions are welcome: find details on how to enter at the bottom.</em> </p>
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<blockquote>
<p><strong>What’s it like to be a fighter pilot? – Torben, aged eight, Sussex, UK</strong></p>
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<p>Thanks for your question, Torben. I’m a professor working at the University of Portsmouth’s Extreme Environments Laboratory, where we study how humans respond when going into space, mountains, deserts and the sea, as well as what it’s like to be in submarines, spacecraft and, of course, jet planes. </p>
<p>To be a fast jet pilot, you must be fit and smart, and able to do what’s needed, even when the going gets tough. You also get to wear some very special clothes, to protect your body while flying. </p>
<p>If you’re a fighter pilot, you’re not allowed to get air sick (which is a bit like getting car sick, in a plane). And you have to be the right height and weight to fit in the cockpit – and to jump out in emergencies.</p>
<p>Fighter jets can go 1,550 miles an hour: that’s more than twice <a href="https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/dynamicsofflight.html#sound">the speed of sound</a>, or 25 miles in a minute. So, if you live two miles from school, you could get home in less than five seconds in a fighter jet. </p>
<p>Only the best pilots in the world can fly a plane that goes so fast: you have to be able to think and act very quickly. To help you, modern jets listen to your voice, so you can tell them what to do – it’s called “voice command”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229408/original/file-20180726-106524-16gfev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Alright pilots, now let’s get in formation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/show-force-jets-271619963?src=bEfNVxJtqBBBdpM1_F7dXw-1-0">Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>Fast jets aren’t smooth to fly in, like the kind of planes you go on holiday in – they’re more like a fast fairground ride. You have to be strapped into your seat very tightly, so that you don’t get thrown around. </p>
<p>In fact, flying that fast and making lots of turns and dives can make you feel very sick. Can you imagine being sick, while wearing a mask and flying a plane at 1,000 miles an hour? That’s why fighter pilots have to be checked and trained to make sure they don’t get air sick. </p>
<p>Fast jet pilots also have to wear lots of special clothes to protect them in different situations. One thing they have to wear is a helmet to protect their head, and a mask with a microphone. </p>
<p>The mask is linked up to a system that can provide extra oxygen if anything goes wrong – after all, there’s less oxygen in the air when you’re flying very high, and humans need plenty of oxygen to breathe properly. </p>
<p>Standing on Earth, humans experience gravity at 1G (that’s one times the acceleration due to gravity). But when fighter jets make fast turns and rolls, the pilot can experience up to 9G (by comparison, roller coasters only produce 3-6G). That means they feel nine times heavier, which can be very unpleasant and would make most people black out. </p>
<p>To help with this, fighter pilots also wear special trousers that squeeze their legs tightly when they go round bends – this keeps the blood pumping up to their brain, to stop them from fainting: trust me, you don’t want to faint when flying a fast jet. </p>
<p>Fast jet pilots may also have to wear a flying suit, a life jacket and an “immersion suit” – that’s a suit which keeps you warm and dry, if you end up in the sea. They may also wear another suit to protect them from chemicals and other dangerous things. </p>
<p>All this kit and clothing can make a fighter pilot pretty hot. Plus the jet has a plastic lid and lots of very clever electronics, which can also heat up the cockpit. And when the plane goes fast through the air, it warms up due to friction – like when you rub your hands together fast. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/229409/original/file-20180726-106517-1inenp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">It’s hot up here.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/fairford-gloucestershire-uk-july-10-2016-1067231909?src=aSPjXTFKuuGiNY2RP-YfGw-2-61">Andrew Harker/Shutterstock.</a></span>
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<p>To stay cool, fighter pilots can wear a special vest with long small tubes in it, which pump cold water around. Or, they can wear a suit next to their skin which has cold air blowing through it. </p>
<p>Pilots sit on a rocket-powered ejector seat, so if he or she gets into trouble, they can pull a handle and be blasted up into the air and away from the crashing plane. </p>
<p>Luckily, the seat has a parachute that opens up and lets them float down to the ground safely. But the force of the ejection <a href="http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0708776">actually makes them shorter</a> for a little while afterwards.</p>
<p><em>Hello, curious kids! Have you got a question you’d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to us. You can:</em></p>
<p><em>* Email your question to curiouskids@theconversation.com
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=376&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165749/original/image-20170419-32713-1kyojyz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
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<p><em>Please tell us your name, age and which town or city you live in. You can send an audio recording of your question too, if you want. Send as many questions as you like! We won’t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.</em></p>
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<p><em>More <a href="https://theconversation.com/topics/curious-kids-36782?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">Curious Kids</a> articles, written by academic experts:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-do-the-clouds-stay-up-in-the-sky-99964?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">How do the clouds stay up in the sky? – Samson, age four, London, UK</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-if-an-insect-is-flying-in-a-car-while-it-is-moving-does-the-insect-have-to-move-at-the-same-speed-98833?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=CuriousKidsUK">If an insect is flying in a car while it is moving, does the insect have to move at the same speed? – Sarah, age 12, Strathfield, Australia</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100563/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mike Tipton receives funding from the MoD and Industry</span></em></p>You have to be smart and fast to be a fighter pilot – but perhaps the most surprising challenge is the clothes you have to wear.Mike Tipton, Professor of human and applied Physiology, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/966532018-05-15T16:10:15Z2018-05-15T16:10:15ZThe Dambusters raid took place 75 years ago – here’s how they made a bomb bounce<p>Sir Barnes Wallis was a genius engineer who designed a very special bomb during World War II. The idea was that it would bounce across water and destroy German dams along the Ruhr Valley, causing massive flooding and damage to water and hydroelectricity supplies. </p>
<p>Partly thanks to the 1955 film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046889/">The Dam Busters</a>, the story behind Operation Chastise, which took place on May 16 and 17 in 1943, has become a familiar war time tale. But Wallis’s actual working <a href="http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/dambusters-building-bouncing-bomb">calculations were lost</a> (fittingly perhaps, in a flood in the 1960s). So what do we know about the complex science behind the bouncing bombs? </p>
<p>We know that the Germans considered their dams to be a potential target for their enemies, and placed torpedo nets in front of the structures to protect them. And to bust a dam, Wallis realised that peppering it with lots of small bombs wouldn’t work. It would be the difference between throwing a handful of sand at a window, and then doing the same with a rock. </p>
<p>Wallis figured that to do serious damage, a single four tonne bomb had to be detonated right up against the dam wall at a depth of about 30ft below the water. In those days, high altitude bombing accuracy wasn’t good enough to deliver such a bomb bang on target. The idea of bouncing it across the water towards the dam like a skimming stone was inspired.</p>
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<p>In early experiments a few things became clear. First, for the bomb to bounce it had to be spinning – with backspin. Just like that a delicate backspin dropshot in tennis, which causes the ball to hover just over the net. </p>
<p>Wallis worked out that a bomb with backspin would be levitated by what is known as the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/Magnus-effect">Magnus effect</a> countering the downward pull of gravity and ensuring that it struck the surface of the water gently. If the bomb hit the water too hard, it would detonate prematurely, causing damage to the aircraft above, but no damage to the dam. </p>
<p>Spin therefore meant that the bombs could be delivered from a manageable height. Flying at 60ft was already dangerously low, but without backspin the Lancaster bombers would have to have flown even lower and faster.</p>
<p>In Wallis’ earliest experiments he worked with marbles and golf balls and it was obvious that his bomb would be spherical. But because it was easier to manufacture cylindrical bombs, a spherical wooden casing was strapped to the cylinders to make them round. </p>
<p>However, when scaled up to full size, the casing on the spherical bombs would break apart on impact with the water. It didn’t take long to establish that the spherical casing was unnecessary and that the bare cylinder would bounce just as effectively. </p>
<h2>Spin doctor</h2>
<p>Unlike a sphere however, cylinders will only bounce if they bounce straight. This is the second good reason for spinning the bomb, because spin keeps the axis of the cylinder horizontal so that it hits the water squarely. Just like for the spinning planet Earth, the gyroscopic effect of the spinning cylinder stabilises the axis of spin.</p>
<p>Wallis found yet another key benefit of backspin. The bomb couldn’t just smash into the dam wall at 240mph, as it would detonate prematurely and do no significant damage. So he made sure the bomb landed just short of the dam – but because it was still spinning, it curved down gently towards the dam wall. By the time it reached the required depth it was right up against the dam where it would cause maximum damage.</p>
<p>Finally, Wallis needed to know how much explosive to use. He did small-scale tests on models and then worked out how to scale up the amount of explosive to deal with a dam which is 120ft high, and ideally would have loaded his bombs with 40 tonnes of explosive. In the event (there’s only so much one plane can carry) he could only use four tonnes, so as well as the dark conditions, low altitude and enemy fire, precision was key. </p>
<p>(For our own <a href="http://www2.eng.cam.ac.uk/%7Ehemh1/dambusters/Dambusters.htm">bouncing bomb experiment</a> in 2011, we found that 50 grams of explosive would completely demolish a 4ft dam, so our 30ft version would need 160kg. We used 180kg just to be sure … and it was totally wrecked.)</p>
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<p>Following trials on water in Dorset and Kent, the actual raid took place in the early hours of May 17 1943, with 19 Lancaster bombers flying out of RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. After a three hour flight, the first plane lined itself up on the Möhne dam, flying at 240mph and at that dangerously low altitude of 60ft. </p>
<p>The bomb was released about half a mile in front of the dam, bounced five or six times and sank just short of the wall. At the required depth of 30ft the pressure of water triggered the explosion right next to the dam wall. In all, five planes had to drop their bombs before the first dam was breached.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5730031/Heart-stopping-account-reveals-Dambusters-nearly-doomed-start.html">The raid</a> was dangerous, many lives were lost, and its effect on the course of the war is still debated. One thing we can surely agree on however, 75 years later, is that Wallis is rightly remembered as a genius engineer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96653/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Hunt received payment for his part in the making of the 2011 C4/PBS documentary "Dambusters, building the bouncing bomb"</span></em></p>The science behind the famous World War II attack masterminded by Barnes Wallis.Hugh Hunt, Reader in Engineering Dynamics and Vibration, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/759032017-04-25T07:51:29Z2017-04-25T07:51:29ZWhy the RAF destroyed a ship with 4,500 concentration camp prisoners on board<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165123/original/image-20170412-25894-5ffrhy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Cap Arcona burning.</span> </figcaption></figure><p>On the afternoon of May 3, 1945, a squadron of RAF Typhoons began their descent to attack Axis shipping in Neustadt Bay, Germany. Below them, the former luxury liner SS Cap Arcona was laden with over 4,500 concentration camp prisoners who had been “evacuated” to the coast – and at around 3pm, the Typhoons from the Second Tactical Air Force, launched their assault. </p>
<p>The result was one of the world’s worst maritime disasters, leaving the prisoners and the ship’s crew struggling for survival in the icy Baltic waters. An estimated 4,000 prisoners perished. More than 70 years on from the tragic sinking, crucial questions remain regarding the role of British forces in the final days of the Second World War. </p>
<p>The disaster has long been <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3606747/How-German-Titanic-transformed-Hitler-luxury-ocean-liner-Nazi-barracks-floating-concentration-camp-mistakenly-blown-RAF-pilots.html">sensationalised</a> by the print media. Headlines such as <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Features/The-friendly-fires-of-hell%5D">“Friendly fires of hell”</a> have been the norm – thanks, in part, to a surprising lack of scholarly attention.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166611/original/file-20170425-23807-c3fld5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Cap Arcona in 1927.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Cap_Arcona_(1927)#/media/File:Cap_Arcona_1.JPG">Wikipedia</a></span>
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<p>In turn, this has led to a number of conspiracy theories about the sinking. One such rumour claimed that important British records related to the incident had been <a href="https://m.thevintagenews.com/2016/01/20/wwii-nearly-39-years-parts-skeletons-washed-ashore-ss-cap-Arcona-carrying-around-5500-concentration-camp-inmates/">sealed until 2045</a>. In fact, all of the records were publicly released in 1972 after the Public Records Act 1967 reduced the amount of time they were to <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/information-management/legislation/public-records-act/history-of-pra/">be kept secret</a> – and I have spent a great deal of time researching them. </p>
<p>In the immediate aftermath of the war, Britain’s focus was on attempting to prosecute Nazi war criminals, and investigations into British misadventures were sidelined. And shortly after that, attentions shifted east, as the Cold War gathered pace. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, it is now possible to reconstruct what really happened – including Britain’s role in the tragedy – with a closer examination of archival files.</p>
<h2>Endgame</h2>
<blockquote>
<p>No concentration camp prisoner must fall alive into enemy hands.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That was Himmler’s last order concerning the fate of Germany’s remaining camp prisoners. But as the Nazi camp system continued to contract in March 1945, it would be wrong to assume that it was the real driving force behind the <a href="http://media.offenes-archiv.de/capArcona_summary.pdf">evacuation of Neuengamme camp</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005539">Neuengamme</a>, near Hamburg, was largely unique within the Nazi camp system. Local politicians, in particular Nazi Gauleiter <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Kaufmann">Karl Kaufmann</a>, had developed close business links with local industrialists and supplying slave labour from the camp to nearby businesses became a profitable enterprise. </p>
<p>But by early 1945, the Allied advance placed increasing pressure on local politicians – and complicit businesses – to eradicate any evidence of slave labour from within Hamburg city limits. The “problem” had to be moved elsewhere.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=799&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/166489/original/file-20170424-12650-1pzpema.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1004&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Karl Kaufmann.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Kaufmann#/media/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1973-079-70,_Karl_Kaufmann.jpg">Bundesarchiv Bild via Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the absence of another option, Kaufmann made arrangements in March 1945 to requisition a passenger liner to act as a “temporary” holding camp for Neuengamme’s prisoners. Any long-term planning was simply nonexistent. Indeed, once the camp was emptied in mid-April, the local politicians no longer concerned themselves with the fate of the prisoners now held in squalor aboard the Cap Arcona in nearby Neustadt Bay. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the “prisoner hierarchy” continued on board the ship. The prisoners remained segregated according to nationality and religion. In addition, SS troops stayed on board to supervise the prisoners. This indicated that the Arcona was intended as a temporary extension of the original Neuengamme, albeit one that was largely out of sight and out of mind.</p>
<h2>Liberation or destruction</h2>
<p>Following the Allied <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir2/yaltaandpotsdamrev1.shtml">Yalta Conference</a> of February 1945, British military policy was geared towards a swift advance to the Baltic coast. </p>
<p>There were two reasons for this. First, Britain wished to halt the Soviet advance as it swept ever further west. To achieve this, Lübeck on the Baltic coast was considered the strategic goal. </p>
<p>Second, by halting the Soviets here, British forces would be able to liberate Denmark and restore the Danish monarchy. With the monarchy restored, Britain would gain a valuable ally in the months ahead. </p>
<p>But the speed of the Soviet advance meant that the normal protocols and procedures that had been well established throughout the war fell to the wayside as British troops raced for their objective. To make matters worse, communication lines became strained, and intelligence was not always processed in a <a href="http://harbourofhope.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/HoHTheWhiteBuses.pdf">thorough and timely manner</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=603&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/165126/original/image-20170412-25882-1b0eina.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=758&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Casualties of the tragedy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Imperial War Museum Image Collection</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the afternoon of May 2 and the morning of May 3, two pieces of intelligence were handed to British commanders. The first was handed to the liberating forces of Lübeck, the 11th Armoured Division, by an International Committee Red Cross delegate (ICRC). The second was presented to British forces by a Swedish Red Cross (SRC) delegate. </p>
<p>Both informed the British that camp prisoners were being held aboard ships in Neustadt Bay. But the warning arrived too late. </p>
<p>As the German Reich contracted, British forces remained heavily engaged in an important battle to reach their objective on Germany’s north coast. But while the German retreat was often marked by disorder, Britain’s military campaign also became frantic and chaotic, particularly in the final weeks. A breakdown of efficient communication and intelligence sharing meant that frontline forces were often ill-prepared for the actual situation ahead of them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/164710/original/image-20170410-31911-wsrcej.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cap Arcona Memorial, Neustadt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this case, the latest intelligence on the ships in Neustadt Bay never reached the pilots who attacked them. As they made their final descent, the airmen likely believed they were attacking bona fide hostile targets. </p>
<p>Ultimately, the fate of the Cap Arcona and its passengers was a tragic consequence of the fog of war.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75903/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daniel Long does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The chaos that led to a disastrous attack in the final days of WWII.Daniel Long, PhD Candidate, School of Art and Humanities, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/506412015-12-02T12:54:56Z2015-12-02T12:54:56ZBritain still thinks it’s a great power – but it isn’t<p>In the days of empire, Britain was a force to be reckoned with. Coalitions of the willing were an unnecessary nicety. Britain’s opinion mattered, both in Europe and further afield. The current situation in Syria shows how far Britain has moved from that position.</p>
<p>David Cameron, prime minister of a majority government, had to carefully time his <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34970516">parliamentary vote on airstrikes over Syria</a> in order to win. And to do so, he had to rely on the support of dissenters from the main opposition party. These are hardly the actions of the leader of a great world power.</p>
<p>That’s really because Britain is no longer a great power; it is a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32317703">medium size power</a>. That’s not something for it to be ashamed of, but something it, as a nation, struggles to accept.</p>
<p>The mirage of great power status is a comfort blanket to cling to in an uncertain world, but the truth is Britain’s voice has stopped being a roar. Intervening in Syria under a delusion of grandeur has long-term implications both nationally and internationally.</p>
<h2>Big ambition, small budget</h2>
<p>Superpowers are usually easy to identify because of their sheer dominance on the world stage. A great power, on the other hand, can be more difficult to define. They lack the dominance of the superpower but they exert power in other ways to differentiate themselves from less powerful nations.</p>
<p>That dominance can be shown in a variety of ways, but the outcome is usually the same. The purpose of power, after all, is to ensure its holder gets its own way. The powerful nation either needs to be able to offer a large benefit (such as money) to its supporters or wield a large punishment to mete out to its detractors. The larger the carrot or the stick (or both), the more powerful the nation will be.</p>
<p>Britain’s economic position has been overtaken so it pursues military prowess to exert power. Irrespective of how the UK is perceived overseas, governments of all parties have long believed that Britain needs to have a military befitting a great power – even if the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-the-uk-spend-more-on-defence-42663">dwindling military budget</a> is closer to what might be expected for a medium size power. </p>
<p>Britain, like many nations, historically used its military power not only to defend itself from aggressors, but to pursue benefits overseas. It has <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/this-battle-over-how-britains-military-and-colonial-history-is-taught-is-also-a-battle-for-britains-8651059.html">taken control of nations</a>, forced rulers and governments to <a href="http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/battles/egypt/">adopt a pro-British line</a> and generally ensured that Britain benefited wherever possible.</p>
<p>The enduring willingness to intervene militarily (and the prominent role British prime ministers tend to take on the international stage) demonstrates that the political elite wishes to maintain the appearance of great power status. But this requires a large, strong, well-trained, well-resourced, mobile force.</p>
<p>While the abilities and commitment of the British forces have never been in question, there have been numerous issues raised over the commitment of successive governments to adequately fund the armed forces. This came into sharp focus during the Iraq war, when the government was repeatedly accused of <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3309611.stm">not properly supplying the British troops</a> with the equipment they needed.</p>
<p>Cuts have been slowed in the short term but it is clear that in military terms, Britain is not a great power. It is simply not able to push its own agenda militarily overseas without the aid of other nations. In this latest case, it is making significant noise about joining the coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria, but it is <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-cameron-follow-france-into-the-syrian-war-51180">questionable</a> whether it will really make a real difference.</p>
<h2>A partner nation</h2>
<p>While the government and the public would baulk at the categorisation of Britain as a medium size power, there is clearly already some recognition of the limitations of Britain’s influence overseas. The plan for intervention in Syria is evidence of that.</p>
<p>We are seeing Britain becoming more collaborative in its activities. Long gone are the days of unilateral action. Instead, as with many medium size powers, Britain is being forced to negotiate with both international allies and enemies in order to achieve its goals.</p>
<p>This co-operation is necessary for Britain but it also enables the collaborating nations to create a sense of <a href="http://www.academia.edu/7045675/How_symmetrical_is_the_special_relationship_between_Britain_and_the_United_States">international legitimacy</a>.</p>
<p>The unpopularity of the Iraq war, and the fallout from the Blair era have made the British public more reluctant to put boots on the ground in pursuit of enemies, Islamic State included. This has meant that the expense of war has, for a short while, been avoided (something that we would expect to see in medium sized powers).</p>
<p>Even now as it looks set to stray into Syria, it does so as part of an alliance. Britain is already acting in a way that we might expect of medium-sized nations – avoiding war and building alliances to push its international agenda.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Britain continues to cling to the label of great power. Some would argue that there is no harm in allowing this to continue. British pride remains intact, while the limitations of Britain’s position are quietly managed under the guise of international co-operation and collegiality.</p>
<p>However, there is a danger here. By failing to recognise a drop in status, the British public and the political elite allow themselves to believe that they have the ability to independently go to war, either economically or militarily, if necessary to protect their interests.</p>
<p>While it is true that Britain can contribute to action, Britain cannot lead that action and certainly cannot unilaterally act to push its own agenda. By failing to admit this, Britain remains vulnerable to another Blair-style era of action, where practicality is overshadowed by morality and the desire “to do the right thing”. While action may be needed to protect the innocent, Britain cannot allow past ambitions to outstrip its means.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50641/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Victoria Honeyman does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>David Cameron talks like he can change the fight against Islamic State. But Britain’s international role has been dwindling for years.Victoria Honeyman, Lecturer in British Politics, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/446042015-07-14T05:22:12Z2015-07-14T05:22:12ZCameron looks to drones in the fight against Islamic State<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/88247/original/image-20150713-11804-15mqix5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C83%2C1800%2C1137&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fly the unfriendly skies.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/defenceimages/13449800293/in/photolist-cobF47-9LxXRe-qtxD8C-mux3qW-muvK3v-njm9h5-9vVQNJ-dPmRCP-iEtNZY-iEth3g-b7X5An-iHdi96-iEsaVF-iEtN5w-iEtMzy-87o6y1-iHc6jD-iHc4zB-as3NDH-7APiyN-ekxxgv-iHc5cZ-iHc44r-iHc6Sn-as3Pdv-ixd65N-ikuZ2J-7eNbLz-rrL337-7yqQcv-bRjGTX">UK MoD/Flickr</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>David Cameron has said that he is looking at potentially <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/jul/13/david-cameron-drones-special-forces-top-defence-shopping-list">increasing</a> the use of drones, spy planes and special forces in its fight against Islamic State. The prime minister says this equipment has become vital to “keeping us safe” and is now top of his defence shopping list. This just days after the UK <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33448383">agreed to invest 2% of GDP in defence</a>, in line with NATO standards, for the rest of the decade. </p>
<p>For the UK, as for the US, <a href="http://www.army.mod.uk/specialforces/30602.aspx">special forces</a> and unmanned aerial vehicles have become vital assets for dealing with insurgency in far-off lands. They defeat restrictions on space and time and offer flexibility and mobility, as has been seen in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These conflicts are reshaping how we think about armed intervention and how the UK will use kinetic force in the future.</p>
<p>The question now being asked is whether or not to use combat troops on the ground. It’s a conundrum for the UK, the US, France and others as they decide how to handle the ongoing crisis in Iraq and Syria. All of these states have opted for <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-raf-using-to-fight-islamic-state-32394">air war</a> up until now, with minimal use of ground troops (except of course Iran, which has <a href="https://theconversation.com/tikrit-offensive-us-and-iran-line-up-against-islamic-state-38257">extensive forces</a> involved in Iraq and Syria).</p>
<p>This makes sense in a conflict that is changing rapidly. Air power allows states to cover more space in shorter amounts of time – when of course they have air superiority as they do in Syria and Iraq. Traditional ground troops can’t provide this kind of flexibility.</p>
<p>Air power is also politically useful. A government staying off the ground can avoid appearing over-committed and minimise casualties. But at the same time, the US has been criticised for not providing a sustainable strategy for dealing with Islamic State. This stands in stark contrast to how NATO’s bombing in Yugoslavia was viewed in 1999. This campaign was seen as fundamental to bringing an end to Serbia’s military activity in Kosovo.</p>
<p>The key difference is that while NATO was fighting a traditional military in Yugoslavia, US-led action in Syria and Iraq is against an insurgency, similar to that seen in Afghanistan and at times Iraq during the Iraq War. A core component of counterinsurgency is being able to hold land by defending and building. Air power, in its current state, is not the best tool for holding land. This problem was evident in the Vietnam war and now in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.</p>
<h2>Keeping up with the times</h2>
<p>Cameron’s switch to drones and special operations can be seen as an alternative approach to counterinsurgency. UAVs provide militaries with the ability to extend themselves beyond traditional boundaries and remain present in hostile areas long after ground troops would have had to leave. They are even more manoeuvrable and cost effective than traditional aircraft. Some can remain in situ for more than a month without needing to be landed, charged or tended.</p>
<p>All this illustrates what we might assume would be the future armed intervention. On one hand, the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and, before that, Vietnam illustrate that kinetic force is limited in its ability to bring about military and political solutions. On the other hand, Cameron’s statement suggests that he thinks his country’s security will be predicated on operational engagements with asymmetric forces for the foreseeable future.</p>
<p>Investing in drones may make sense for now, while the enemy is Islamic State. But militaries are likely to <a href="http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780198701842.do">prepare for the wars they want to fight</a> rather than those that are most likely to occur. Cameron should avoid throwing everything he has into drones. As we know, the nature of the enemy can change very quickly.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/44604/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David J Galbreath receives funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council and Economic and Social Research Council to research changes in conflict and technology.</span></em></p>PM wants more unmanned intervention but he should be wary of putting all his eggs in one basket.David J Galbreath, Professor of International Security, Editor of European Security, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/439272015-06-29T11:47:29Z2015-06-29T11:47:29ZTunisia attack shows the war with Islamic State is bigger than we think<p>As the number of Britons confirmed dead in the Sousse massacre continues to climb, David Cameron has again <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33307279">ruled out</a> putting British troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria – but conceded that Islamic State (IS) is plotting “terrible attacks” on Western soil.</p>
<p>This is a sign that the attack in Tunisia has made the magnitude of the war against IS clearer than ever. Until now, the government has been able to downplay it – an official strategy reminiscent of the aftermath of July 7, 2005. </p>
<p>In the days after 52 people were killed in the 7/7 attacks, the Blair government was insistent that the war in Iraq had nothing whatsoever to do with the appalling massacre. That argument had to be <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/sep/02/alqaida.politics">rolled back</a> eight weeks later when al-Jazeera screened a “martyr video” recorded by one of the bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, which drew an explicit link between the attack and UK foreign policy.</p>
<p>Khan said: “We are at war and I am a soldier. Now you too will taste the reality of this situation.” He went on: “Your democratically elected governments continuously perpetuate atrocities against my people and your support of them makes you directly responsible, just as I am directly responsible for protecting and avenging my Muslim brothers and sisters.”</p>
<p>In retrospect, the government’s insitence that these were simply evil men undertaking terrible actions that were utterly unconnected with the war is understandable, given the Iraq war went on to permanently contaminate Blair’s legacy.</p>
<p>Now, here we are again ten years later. This time the connection is more complex, but the link with Britain is clear enough. Yet the extraordinary element is that the great majority of people in the UK are hardly aware that this is a major war – and that Britain is at the centre of it.</p>
<h2>On the march</h2>
<p>It was clear some days before the <a href="https://theconversation.com/day-of-terror-reminds-us-that-extremism-must-be-a-problem-shared-43964">attacks in Tunisia and Kuwait</a> that IS leaders wanted to take the war to their external enemies, whether Shi’a communities in the region or elements of the more distant “far enemy” such as the UK. As the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/world/middleeast/terror-attacks-france-tunisia-kuwait.html">New York Times</a> put it: “While officials in the three countries investigated the attacks, many noted that the leaders of IS have repeatedly called for sympathisers to kill and sow mayhem at home.”</p>
<p>The same week, the spokesman for IS, <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2014/230676.htm">Abu Mohammed al-Adnani</a>, greeted the group’s followers for <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/ramadan/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">Ramadan</a>, telling them that acts during the Muslim holy month earned greater rewards in heaven.</p>
<p>“Muslims, embark and hasten toward jihad,” Adnani <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/world/middleeast/terror-attacks-france-tunisia-kuwait.html?_r=0">said in an audio message</a>. “Oh mujahedeen everywhere, rush and go to make <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/r/ramadan/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">Ramadan</a> a month of disasters for the infidels.” </p>
<p>It is now almost certain that the Sousse attack by the young engineering student, Seifeddiene Rezgui, was not a “lone wolf” operation but supported by a larger group and aimed specifically at a hotel in which most of those killed would be British. It may even have been directed from IS. The UK government has committed <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tunisia-attack-security-stepped-up-5968012">a huge force of 600 police to the investigation</a>.</p>
<p>While one intention was seriously to wreck the Tunisian tourist industry, leading to higher unemployment and more anger and resentment, providing a better environment for recruiting young people to the IS cause, it was probably part of a much wider intention to bring the conflict home to the coalition of countries now engaged in the air war.</p>
<p>This makes for uncomfortable connections, especially as most people in Britain simply do not recognise that the country is part of a large coalition that has been waging a major air offensive on IS forces in Iraq and Syria for almost a year. </p>
<h2>True scale</h2>
<p>The Pentagon surprised the American public recently by reporting that there had been around 15,600 air sorties since the campaign started in August 2014, and that air and drone strikes are killing IS supporters at the rate of <a href="http://www.voanews.com/content/as-is-expands-should-us-deepend-its-military-involvement/2836831.html">1,000 a month</a>. The US is the main actor but the UK is second in terms of the number of air and armed drone strikes.</p>
<p>Britain’s principal contributions are <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-the-raf-using-to-fight-islamic-state-32394">Tornado ground-attack aircraft</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/10/uk-reaper-drones-africa-middle-east-mod-afghan">Reaper drones</a> armed with Hellfire missiles. The Ministry of Defence is singularly cautious about releasing details of British involvement, especially of the two squadrons of Reaper drones, but it is <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/paul-rogers/britain%2527s-informationlight-war">known</a> that more attacks have been carried out in recent months by the armed drones, which are “flown” from <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25425711">RAF Waddington</a> south of Lincoln, than by the Tornadoes. </p>
<p>The ministry gives even vaguer details of casualties; on those few occasions when information about attacks is released, almost nothing is said about those killed and injured. This persistent obfuscation means there’s been surprisingly little debate about the true scale of the war and Britain’s part in it.</p>
<p>One of the grim ironies of the Sousse attack is that the appalling loss of life might alert more people in the UK to the true extent of the war. Equally, IS will no doubt encourage further attacks on the countries at war with it; counterterrorism forces in countries as far afield as the US, Australia, Canada, France and Britain will accordingly be intensifying their work. </p>
<p>It is just possible that the Sousse massacre will turn out to be an isolated attack on British nationals, but it’s very unlikely. The reality is that the war with IS in Iraq and Syria is beginning to extend beyond those countries and the region – even beyond the established battlegrounds of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/19/afghanistan-braces-for-violence-as-islamic-state-makes-presence-felt">Afghanistan</a> and <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/uk-libya-security-protests-idUKKBN0OS1OC20150612">Libya</a>. What happened to the holidaymakers in Sousse may only be the beginning of a new phase.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/43927/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Rogers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The true scale of the war against IS has gone largely unremarked on – until now.Paul Rogers, Professor of Peace Studies, University of BradfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/323942014-10-02T05:35:23Z2014-10-02T05:35:23ZExplainer: what is the RAF using to fight Islamic State?<p>The UK’s <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/world-news/islamic-state/59846/islamic-state-raf-jets-carry-out-first-air-strikes-in-iraq">air assault on Islamic State</a> (IS) began with two RAF Tornado GR4 bombers attacking targets in Iraq: one using a <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/paveway-iv.cfm">Paveway IV</a> precision-guided munition (PGM) to destroy an IS heavy weapon position that was engaging Kurdish forces, the other firing a <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/brimstone.cfm">Brimstone missile</a> at an armed pick-up truck. </p>
<p>After the two Gulf Wars, the intervening no-fly zone operations, and the lengthy operations in Afghanistan, this sort of language is familiar to anyone with a basic interest in international affairs. </p>
<p>But what does it mean – and what equipment is actually being deployed to execute these missions?</p>
<h2>Leaner and meaner</h2>
<p>Originally deployed on Harrier jets in Afghanistan, the Paveway IV PGM is an almost entirely different weapon to the <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/paveway23.cfm">Paveway II</a> used in the first Gulf War on the Tornado and Buccaneer. Using GPS guidance, the Paveway IV can be programmed with target data from the Tornado’s own sensors or from a third party, such as a <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafregiment/roles/fac.cfm">Forward Air Controller</a> (FAC) on the ground. </p>
<p>It also retains the ability to home on a laser signal, from an airborne or ground designator. Being much more accurate than earlier PGMs it has a smaller, lighter, warhead which in turn reduces the likelihood of collateral damage. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, though initially envisaged as a Cold War anti-armour weapon, the Brimstone missile was subsequently equipped with a laser sensor in addition to its original basic radar one. With the ability to function in poor weather or at night, this is a very potent weapon against IS’s tanks, self-propelled artillery, and ubiquitous armed pick-up trucks.</p>
<h2>Tornado force</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tornado.cfm">Tornado</a>, which came into service in the early 1980s, is a twin-engined bomber, crewed by a pilot and a weapons systems officer. It was originally designed to attack Soviet and Warsaw Pact targets in the event of the Cold War hotting up.</p>
<p>It was later upgraded to GR4 standard, giving it a much better navigation system with integrated GPS and the ability to carry a range of new sensors, targeting on-the-ground devices and weapons. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A Tornado flying low in Wales.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although designed to operate at very low level (200 ft or less), like all the coalition’s fast jets, it usually operates at medium altitudes (15-to-25,000 feet) to stay above anti-aircraft artillery and hand-held missile threat envelopes. At these altitudes and with air-to-air refuelling, missions can last between six to eight hours or longer.</p>
<p>The six Tornados at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/british-forces-overseas-posting-raf-akrotiri-cyprus">RAF Akrotiri</a>, in Cyprus, belong to <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/organisation/2squadron.cfm">No II (AC) Squadron</a> based at <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafmarham/">RAF Marham</a> in Norfolk. This squadron’s primary role is reconnaissance – but when first deployed some weeks ago, its Tornados were fitted with the <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/litening-3.cfm">Litening III</a> targeting and reconnaissance pod, which has the ability to send images by data-link to various receivers in real time - this was chosen in preference to its more specialist Reconnaissance Airborne Pod for Tornado (<a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/raptor.cfm">RAPTOR</a>). </p>
<h2>Keeping an eye out</h2>
<p>To support the Tornados, a <a href="http://www.armedforces.co.uk/raf/listings/l0055.html">Voyager KC2 aircraft</a> has also been deployed to RAF Akrotiri in the airborne tanker role. Only recently in service, and based at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, the Voyager is a modified Airbus A330-200 airliner with two under-wing air-to-air refuelling pods. </p>
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<p>The Voyager can also carry up to 291 passengers plus cargo, in addition to the fuel it needs for itself and for refuelling other aircraft. This makes it a very efficient way of deploying fast jets and the required engineering support at very short notice.</p>
<p>The last British aircraft so far deployed in support of the operation against IS is the Boeing RC 135 or <a href="http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/rc135wrivetjoint.cfm">Rivet Joint</a>. </p>
<p>Reportedly deployed to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/12/world/middleeast/hagel-lifts-veil-on-major-military-center-in-qatar.html?_r=0">Al Udeid Air Base</a> in Qatar, which is being used to support the air campaign, the Rivet Joint is an all-weather electronic surveillance plane. Its <a href="http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/death-spiral-for-helix-britain-wants-rc-135-rivet-joint-planes-05102/">standard crew of 24</a> comprises not just pilots and in-flight maintenance technicians, but a plethora of electronic warfare officers and intelligence operators.</p>
<p>The RAF’s Rivet Joints are identical to those of the <a href="http://www.af.mil/AboutUs/FactSheets/Display/tabid/224/Article/104608/rc-135vw-rivet-joint.aspx">US Air Force</a> and the two nations effectively operate them as a single team. </p>
<h2>So it begins</h2>
<p>Thanks to a ready supply of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LkTpfeJn-k">images from target designator pods</a>, attacks on IS headquarters and forces will get the lion’s share of publicity in the months (probably years) to come – even though, as others have written, the key to defeating IS will be a <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-bad-intelligence-on-islamic-state-west-is-flying-in-the-dark-32247">combined intelligence effort</a>. Air systems such as the Rivet Joint will play a crucial part in this.</p>
<p>But still, the full logistical scale of the air offensive and the resources it demands is clearly enormous. To give some sense of the scale of the anti-IS offensive, all the kit described here – air mobility forces, airlift and air-to-air refuelling, two varieties of missile, and mission and support crews – is just a snapshot of one day’s contribution by one partner air force in a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2014/09/25/what-the-60-members-of-the-anti-islamic-state-coalition-are-doing/">coalition of over 60 states</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Next, read: <a href="https://theconversation.com/with-bad-intelligence-on-islamic-state-west-is-flying-in-the-dark-32247">With bad intelligence on Islamic State, West is flying in the dark</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/32394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Finn does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The UK’s air assault on Islamic State (IS) began with two RAF Tornado GR4 bombers attacking targets in Iraq: one using a Paveway IV precision-guided munition (PGM) to destroy an IS heavy weapon position…Christopher Finn, Senior Lecturer in Air Power Studies, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/212952013-12-10T06:33:19Z2013-12-10T06:33:19ZKilling with drones is not ‘easy’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/37256/original/xknf4692-1386603693.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's not a game: RAF pilots controlling a UAV at Kandahar Airport</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Defence Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Reaper drone pilot and sensor operator stared intently at the bank of screens in front of them, their concentration fixed on one individual. Their target had been identified by more than one intelligence source and extended observation had confirmed both his identity and activities as a Taliban fighter. The mission intelligence co-ordinator continued to provide them with checks and updates, while legal sanction to attack the target had been granted.</p>
<p>As the selected weapon was about to be released and the target killed several thousand miles away in Afghanistan, the RAF sensor operator thought he glimpsed, fleetingly, what may have been another person encroaching onto the camera’s field of vision. The pilot had seen nothing untoward.</p>
<p>A discussion ensued: there might have been someone there. But they were cleared to fire and their rules of engagement allowed them to do so. With the crew split over what they did or did not see, given even the small possibility of killing or maiming an innocent passer-by, they agreed to abort the attack.</p>
<p>Contrary to popular mythology, the crew members involved in this real-life incident were not itching to pull the trigger in the latest deadly round of “<a href="http://dronewarsuk.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/conv-killing-final.pdf">death by Playstation</a>”. Such caution challenges many ill-informed and oft-repeated assumptions about RAF Reaper drone operations: the crew’s concerns prompted by a complex interplay of rules of engagement, commander’s intent, and a desire to act ethically at the extreme of human activity – killing another human. </p>
<p>One sensor operator summed up these three considerations like this: “Keeping the lawyers happy, the boss happy, and letting me sleep at night.”</p>
<h2>Convenient killing?</h2>
<p>Anti-drone campaigners and critics of the military use of remotely piloted aircraft rely on three key arguments: drones are somehow depersonalised and make killing “easy”; they encourage politicians to use force knowing that no aircrew lives are at risk; and they conflate legitimate military activities with the morally and legally dubious actions of the CIA in Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen. All underpinned by Hollywood-fuelled fears of unthinking, autonomous killer robots.</p>
<p>So in what way is killing made “easy”? Technically, killing – or even just conducting surveillance – by Reaper is extremely difficult. Hundreds of specialists are needed: from software writers to airframe technicians, electronics engineers to communications experts, armourers to logisticians, intelligence coordinators to legal advisors, and so on.</p>
<p>Some opponents claim that targets have become dehumanised blips on screens. Minimal evidence and maximal hyperbole is invoked: all without speaking to the operators involved or understanding the personal familiarity and empathy that results from hours and days of fine-detailed observation.</p>
<p>In the course of my research, one pilot described his experience to me thus: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I have killed the enemy from both [conventional aircraft] and from the Reaper [drone]. The body’s reactions are the same – it surprised me. Your mouth goes dry and the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. Everything goes tense and you get that sick feeling in your stomach. You know what you are about to do. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Hardly killing made easy. And nobody yet fully understands why PTSD rates among UK and US Reaper crews <a href="http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/distance-from-carnage-doesnt-prevent-ptsd-for-drone-pilots/">are similar to the rates</a> found in manned aircraft pilots.</p>
<p>Perhaps “easy” refers to the sheer numbers that can be killed using a particular weapon? If so, then the B-52 bomber should top the hate-list. Or not. In the grotesque calculus of death, nearly a million people were brutally murdered in Rwanda in only a few weeks in 1994. Yet nobody campaigns to ban the household knives, machetes or farming tools that were used to commit mass slaughter.</p>
<h2>Use them wisely</h2>
<p>There can be little doubt there is a temptation for politicians to use drones for apparently low-cost military intervention. But if it is that simple why were Reapers and Predators not dispatched to Syria months or years ago? Because they are slow and vulnerable and would not last five minutes against Syrian or any other competent air defences. In any case, a lack of drones never stopped powerful countries from interfering across borders in the past.</p>
<p>States that have already acquired lethal, remotely piloted aircraft have at least a moral responsibility to use the technology wisely. As a result of CIA actions, the US is creating generations of enemies in some regions of Pakistan – and perhaps at home as well – for no discernible strategic advantage.</p>
<p>The toxic combination of the abuse of technology for political ends and the fomenting of hysteria in opposition to the use of drones could result in numerous benefits being lost. From the UN’s deployment of drones to observe rebel groups in DR Congo to their use fighting recent Australian bush fires, and from anti-piracy activities to the monitoring of endangered animals and vulnerable refugees, remotely piloted drones offer many advantages. The myth of “easy” killing is just that: a myth.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/21295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Lee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Reaper drone pilot and sensor operator stared intently at the bank of screens in front of them, their concentration fixed on one individual. Their target had been identified by more than one intelligence…Peter Lee, Principal Lecturer in Military Ethics, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.