Arthur Spencer, a navigator with Bomber Command, gave a vivid first-hand account of the operation to destroy Peenemunde, the location of the German development of the deadly V1 and V2 rockets.

“On a summer’s afternoon in wartime, the aircrews were sitting in a briefing room waiting to hear what this evening’s target would be. It was a full moon that night, so we were surprised that there was to be a mission, since we’d be in full view, but we were ready for the task. We thought it would probably be Berlin, since that was often raided, but we were wrong. On 17 August 1943 we would be taking part in a raid on Peenemunde, a small village on the Baltic coast.”

Arthur Spencer, a navigator with Bomber Command, gave a vivid first-hand account of the operation to destroy Peenemunde, the location of the German development of the deadly V1 and V2 rockets. Very few people knew of its existence, despite an anonymous letter in 1939 giving a detailed account, which was passed to the intelligence service in London. They decided that it was a hoax, and although there were rumours about rockets being tested, they were discounted until two captured German officers were overheard discussing them in 1943. Finally the threat was understood, and Bomber Command was tasked with neutralising it.

Just under 600 planes took part. A diversionary raid was carried out on Berlin, which succeeded in delaying the enemy’s discovery of their real target. Later waves of attack on Peenemunde suffered heavier losses than the early ones, but they managed to destroy the plant. The Germans moved the production of V1&2 rockets further east, to Poland. Although they later used V2s to attack allied targets, they were unable to manufacture the huge quantities they had originally planned. Arthur Spencer’s eye-witness account gave a real sense of what it was like to be part of Bomber Command.