However, not all the men were killed and some survived, such as bomber pilot Jim Crampton from Moulton, who was shot down and incarcerated in Stalag Luft 3, but went on to establish Spalding Airways in the late 1940s and live to old age.
Alan Summerson from Donington was another survivor, as he too was shot down and partially blinded before making his way to safety and medical treatment. He remained in the RAF after the war.
But Arthur Edgley from Gedney Dawesmere is the most astonishing of all of them: Arthur is still alive, in his 90s, despite the fact he was shot down on his third operation as a rear gunner. He went on the run through Holland, Belgium and France for six weeks, living on his wits, passing through the Resistance escape routes until he was betrayed and captured and spent two years in a camp. When he was liberated, Arthur returned home to Gedney Dawesmere, where he married his girlfriend and returned to his farming life.