My Dad was aircrew, and used to like to watch the old films about the RAF - but you could see how he was affected when one of the aircraft did not return - the ground crew and staff waiting and watching long after there was no possible hope of them coming back.

He used to work on Lancasters, I think also on the Manchesters, rocket firing Typhoons, the pathfinder Mosquitoes, and the American Dacotas. He had a reputation of being able to find faults and was sent over to the American squadrons to get their aircraft started when their mechanics failed.

He spoke about the German fighter planes - Stukas, I think, lying in wait for the bombers just as they came in to land after a sortie, and the satisfaction of putting in disguised ac-ac guns to blast them before they could do damage. One of them straffed the bicycles laid in a heap by the dispersal, which put the ground crew in a distinctly bad mood, having to walk miles around the airfield.

I think he would have liked Bomber's moon - though it would have come as no surprise that there would be one, there would have been no need for an announcement.