The Valour and the Horror

The tail gunner had the lowest survival rate of all crew positions. The tailgunner was the first line of defence against enemy fighters, and the first point of contact for their bullets. He was isolated from the rest of the crew and spent long cold hours alone searching the black sky.

MOFFAT

I only became a rear gunner after our first one got killed by a night fighter. I had a hard enough time getting into that turret - I was scared I'd never be able to get out of it if we were hit and going down. Mind you the guys up front would have no picnic getting out either... they had to crawl over these spars which was one thing when we weren't moving. Getting around the plane in the dark in a panic wearing a parachute would be almost impossible. We all just had to pray that it wouldn't happen to us.

It's like going to hell and coming back to paradise: Picadilly Circus, warm pubs, the good times you know. And then the next morning, back to hell. The fear, the flak, the searchlights.

This for me is the worst part of it, the worst. This to and from. Often, when we come back from a raid, I...I'm sitting back there all alone, I just cry, I cry like a baby. I have to. That's the only way to get out of it.