Quote:
Originally Posted by Novotny
Interestingly, I think it was Stanford Tuck who adopted a policy of not bringing down the bombers, but instead making sure that they did get home, albeit with dead and dying crew members. He felt that this had a much greater effect on the morale of the Luftwaffe then planes simply not returning at all.
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In one of the books I've got, the practice of sending home bombers riddled with bullets to dent morale is attributed to the South African ace A. G. "Sailor" Malan: "...with a dead rear gunner, a dead navigator, and the pilot coughing up his lungs as he lands...I think if you do that it has a better effect on their morale..." from
Battle of Britain (Deighton and Hastings, 1980).