RAF Bomber Command inflicted tremendous damage on German cities, but suffered greatly for its efforts. Bomber Command experienced high casualty rates: 55,573 killed out of a total of 125,000 aircrew (a 44.4 per cent death rate), with a further 8,403 wounded in action and 9,838 becoming prisoners of war. Only 10 per cent of those serving with Bomber Command at the beginning of the war survived to 1945. Bomber Command aircrew had a worse chance of survival than a British infantry officer in the Great War. Of the Command’s personnel killed during the war, 72 per cent were British, 18 per cent were Canadian, 7 per cent were Australian and 3 per cent were New Zealanders. A total of 8,305 airmen lost their lives in non-operational flying, such as training or accidents. Bomber command flew 372,650 operational sorties, and dropped almost a million tons of bombs; 8,617 of its aircraft were lost in action. The grave casualties suffered give testimony to the courage of Bomber Command’s aircrews in carrying out their missions. They knew that there was little prospect of surviving a tour of thirty operations; by 1943 the odds were that just one in six were expected to survive their first tour. Only one in forty would survive a second tour. Pictured here is a 1939-dated tunic (centre) of Bomber Command’s Pilot Officer Harry Graham-Hastings DFM, a logbook, ‘S’ brevet wing, prayer book, and photo of an aircrew wireless operator (lower left), a panoramic photo of No. 10 Squadron, and a souvenir No. 88 Squadron plaque (lower right).