Been There, Done That: Through Treacherous Skies

W/C Ron Butcher ..DFC, CD (Ret'd)

BOOK REVIEW

According to Lieutenant General Bill Carr, an ex-Commander of Canada's Air Command, and himself a decorated WWII Spitfire pilot, "This book contains the most vivid, uncomplaining and honest descriptions I have ever read of what the WWII Bomber Command air

crews went through during the years 1939-1945 when they delivered no less than one-and-a-quarter million tons of bombs on Hitler's empire.

....

Butcher was an observer/navigator on Lancaster bombers, and his account of training in Canada and Britain is first-rate. So too is the way he describes how he managed his fear on operations while all around him his mates were being shot out of the sky.

There are tales of night raids to Southeast Germany and 6 raids to Berlin. This milieu had up to one million personnel, 20,625 guns, 6,680 searchlights and about 400 fighters, a formidable barrier across Western Germany and around the targets, all with the prime purpose of frustrating the efforts to bomb, shooting down aircraft and killing crews being their preferred outcome.

The tour terminated with bombing raids in France. He finished his 30 ops just after D-Day, and he attributes his survival to the fact that Bomber Command switched its focus away from heavily defended Germany to supporting the preparations for the invasion.

In addition, the life and times of growing up in New Brunswick in the 1920s are included, as well as stories of pre-war employment. There are also post-war stories of managing the family business, returning to the RCAF as a construction engineer, time as General Manager of the RCAF Association and proprietorship of Unique Decor Unlimited. Stories of retirement include much about worldwide travel.

W/C Ron Butcher is a member of RUSI of VI.

Through Treacherous Skies is available from Trafford Publishing in Victoria. Webpage URL as noted below. URL Rhttp://Rwww.trafford.com R© R1995-2006R

Trafford RPublishing, Ra Rdivision RofR

Newsletter of the Royal United Services Institute of Vancouver Island ... 7

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