The Unheard Tapes of Bomber Command

Dan Snow's History Hit

History Hit

History

4.7 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2021

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over 55,500 men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; more than the number who serve in the Royal Air Force today. Flying at night over occupied Europe and battling German night fighters, anti-aircraft fire and mid-air collisions, they showed astonishing courage and resilience in the face of what often seemed to be insurmountable odds. On 25 July 1943, Flight Lieutenant Stevens flew in one of the deadliest bombing raids on Essen. The moment he returned home, he made a recording of himself reliving the events of that night. Here, for the first time, we bring together the voice of the 21-year-old and his present-day 96-year-old self, conversing across the years. With original recordings interwoven with a fascinating interview, Dan presents a vivid insight into the life and bravery of this remarkable man and the extraordinary men he flew with.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi everybody, welcome to Dance Notes History. A couple years ago, a historian who didn't touch
0:04.2	me, I listened to history, it couldn't touch me from Northwark and told me about the remarkable
0:09.0	veteran living nearby. On the 23rd of July 1943, flight left tenant Steve Stevens flew on
0:19.0	a deadly bombing rase of the German city of Essen. The minute he returned home, he made
0:24.2	a recording of himself reliving the events of that night. I was able to go and visit
0:28.9	the 96-year-old Steve Stevens 75 years after he made that recording. And this podcast
0:35.6	will hear parts of his original recording and also my conversation with him back in
0:40.6	2018. First broadcast of time, but now bring it to you a much larger audience in 2021.
0:47.5	Sadly, Steve Stevens is no longer with us. He passed away shortly after I was lucky enough
0:52.0	to interview him. But his son, Adrian Stevens, who's got an touch, and he is spent lockdown
0:57.0	writing and publishing a beautiful book, full of pictures, 10 The Story of Steve Stevens'
1:01.8	life. So please go and search Adrian Stevens' book on his father if you'd like to get
1:07.1	any more detail. This is one of the more special podcasts I've recorded. We also filmed this
1:11.8	episode for History Hit TV. It's available on there now. Just go to historyhit.tv.
1:17.5	You get 30 days free if you subscribe today. And then once you've subscribed to the
1:22.5	price of a cappuccino every single month, you get access to the world's best history
1:26.8	channel, all the podcasts without the ads and hundreds of ads and history documentaries
1:30.7	like this one about Steve Stevens. So he interviewed him 75 years on from that extraordinary
1:37.2	recording that he made. He was not a very pioneer Steve Stevens. He really is the
1:41.0	forefather to this podcast. Somebody can touch to ask me how you can watch History Hit
1:46.0	on your TV, your big screen. I managed to start a history hit on my Android TV the other
1:51.2	day. I've got a little projector. I can now watch myself projected onto the wall of my
	...

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