Pathfinders: Bomber Command's Elite
Dan Snow's History Hit
History Hit
4.7 • 12.9K Ratings
🗓️ 26 July 2021
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Pathfinders were ordinary men and women who transformed the efficiency of the Allies' air campaign over mainland Europe and helped deliver victory over Nazi Germany. Journalist and bestselling author Will Iredale joins Dan on the podcast to tell the incredible story of the team who transformed RAF Bomber Command. Find out how the air force was created, how bombing accuracy was improved, and how Pathfinders put their lives at risk to carry out the raids.
Will’s book, The Pathfinders: The Elite RAF Force that Turned the Tide of WWII, is out now and includes exclusive interviews with remaining survivors, personal diaries, previously classified records and never-before seen photographs.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to Downsnow's History. We're talking about an elite force in bomber command in World War II, |
| 0:06.0 | a spearhead unit that tried to solve the fundamental problem with strategic bombing. |
| 0:12.0 | It was very hard to actually hit anything, and particularly in almost impossible to hit anything accurately at night. |
| 0:18.0 | Throughout the years of the Second World War, accuracy of British bombing slowly improved until it was actually very effective by 1944-45. |
| 0:26.0 | Another reason is the creation of a new Pathfinder Force, an elite that would go ahead, light up the target, |
| 0:32.0 | stay over the target to help coordinate the bombing of the other bomber formations. A truly extraordinary tale. |
| 0:38.0 | A tale that has just been written up in a book by Will Ardell. |
| 0:42.0 | It's a great new book, and for me it fills in a big gutter gap in my life over the Second World War, |
| 0:46.0 | so I hope that you guys enjoy this interview as much as I do. |
| 0:50.0 | We have interviewed a Pathfinder on the podcast before, if you go back and search in the archive, Downsnow's History Hit, |
| 0:55.0 | you can do that by subscribing to History Hit, you go to historyhit.tv, |
| 0:59.0 | but you get all the backups of the podcast, including our Pathfinder episode, |
| 1:03.0 | and then you also get hundreds of hours of history documentaries. |
| 1:07.0 | The Air War, World War II Air War featuring luminaries like James Holland and Victoria Taylor, |
| 1:13.0 | is one of my more popular documentaries, and that is on very similar terrain to this interview here, so you might enjoy that. |
| 1:19.0 | So, head over to historyhit.tv and check it out, get a month for free if you sign up right now. |
| 1:25.0 | In the meantime, they'll enjoy this conversation with Will Ardell. |
| 1:35.0 | Will, great to have you on the podcast. |
| 1:37.0 | Lovely to be here, Dan. Thanks very much for inviting me. |
| 1:39.0 | Well, you've done that thing that brilliant historians do, particularly in the Second World War, it seems, |
| 1:43.0 | you've brought the story into much wider prominence of a whole new branch, a whole new section of the Armed Forces, |
| 1:49.0 | with all the characters and innovation and drama that we've come to expect when we're talking about, you know, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.