FAILED TO RETURN (Part One Introduction and Appendices)

This is the first comprehensive and detailed record to be published of all British, Commonwealth, Dominion and European Allied airmen who died while under Royal Air Force control or with their own national air services during the Second World War. A total of nearly 129,000 airmen and airwomen are listed with details including their unit, base, place of residence, and cause of their death where known including aircraft types and serial numbers. The casualties range from the newly-recruited airman who died while still in training to the Air Marshals; from the Battle of Britain fighter pilots to the two-tour veteran bomber crews; and all those who were killed in accidents while training. Personnel from the British, Australian, Canadian, Indian, New Zealand, Rhodesian, and South African air and naval air services are listed together with those from the European Allied air services of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, the United States and Yugoslavia who served with the Royal Air Force. Also included are locally-recruited airmen in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Introductory notes provide context to the individual records and the appendices include a detailed order of battle; casualty statistics by month, service, theatre, and aircraft types; ship losses; service numbers; and places of burial or commemorationNever before has such a complete and detailed record of the sacrifice of the British and Commonwealth air services been available.