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The Crew

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About this listen

The Crew recounts the intimate, personal testimonies of Wing Commander Ken Cook, who served as Bomb Aimer with the Comans crew. The audiobook specifically follows Flying Officer Jim Comans and his crewmen from their enlistment as volunteers, through training and into operational service. The Comans crew flew 45 hazardous bombing missions - mostly deep into Germany at night - through the winter of 1943 to the summer of 1944.

At 95, Ken Cook is the crew's last survivor. Enlisting in the RAF Bomber Command at 19, his extraordinary story brings a moving insight into the bombing campaign. His experiences, particularly during the Battle of Berlin, highlight the extreme danger each bomber crew faced. With Bomber Command's casualty rate of over 44 percent, the book describes how the airmen overcame immense physical and mental challenges to survive. There are now very few surviving RAF Bomber Command airmen from the Second World War. The Crew will be one of the final eyewitness testimonies to a momentous time in our history.

©2020 David Price (P)2020 W. F. Howes Ltd Europe Great Britain Military Military & War World World War II War Survival Air Force England US Air Force Thought-Provoking Aviation
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Good book which covers many different facets of the time, not just the story of The Crew themselves. My 'but' is that I found the narration very dry and the consistently poor name/place pronunciations irritating. I'm pleased I've listened but won't rush to do so again

Good book, but.....

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Absolutely superb in every way.

My father flew Beaufighters in Coastal Command, and was latterly posted to Burma, post VE .

His older brother, Frank, after whom I'm named, was a Flying Officer, bomb aimer, in Bomber Command. He was killed on his 23rd birthday, 16.3.1945, and was flying, I understand, his 29th mission. So very near the conclusion of both his tour, and VE day.
His taking of a commission, caused a rift between the brothers, which was never resolved

I'm sure, having listened to this superb narration, that my uncle's Lancaster would have been among the 28, to which the author refers to, as being lost in final months of the conflict.

Thank you, David Price, for making my Uncle's memory live large for me, as I was born after his death, and never knew him, though I see him and his crew with their Lancaster on the mantelpiece every day.

Also, thanks to Peter McGovern for your wonderful and sensitive delivery of this tragic period of our history.

Thank you.

A wonderful story, evoking personal sadness

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So well researched and focused on one crew. All about the build up to the war and how bomber command started and executed its business with no detail spared. I liked the narration very much he has a matter of fact delivery typifying the attitude of that generation.
A great listen

Great detail and fascinated

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The title Crew covers much more than the team which the story is based on, it is a graphic account of the war in the air and how it came about that force's on either side could and did rage total war, its very well written and told, making you realise the bravery and dedication of those who lived for today, not knowing if they had a tomorrow.
A brilliant book.

The whole story

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A very engaging listen. Incredible story of a bonnet crew from start to finish including post war history.
Having a Grandfather in Bomber Command I remember his stories and was very enthralled by this account of what it was like for these men from all overt the Empire and occupied Europe who took the fight back to the ‘childish’ Germans who thought they could bomb whoever they liked, and no one would bomb them back (to paraphrase Harris).
Good job. Only negative was the Americanised way of saying dates. I’m sure it wouldn’t bother most but I like to hear 17th of July as opposed to 17 July.
Apart from that - spot on.

Will We Ever See Their Kind Again?

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