MANCHESTER, ENGLAND.- The Imperial War Museum North presents Against The Odds, the first major exhibition to tell the extraordinary story of Bomber Command in the Second World War. Using key loans and Imperial War Museum’s unrivalled collections of objects, art, film, sound, photography and documents, the exhibition will tell stories of the air and ground crews, and examine the impact of the campaign on the people of Germany.

The bombing of Germany and allied countries in the Second World War by British and American forces made a significant contribution to the defeat of the Nazis. For much of the war it was the only direct way Britain had of taking the fight to the enemy. Bomber Command’s main role was the destruction of Germany’s economic, industrial and military strength. But it did much more: combating the U-boat, attacking German warships, minelaying at sea, assisting during the Battles of France and Britain in 1940 and in the Middle East, supporting the invasion of Normandy and the liberation of North West Europe and countering the V-weapons. The Command flew on operations from the first day of the war to nearly the last.

Some 125,000 men and women served in Bomber Command during the war, both in the air and on the ground, including many from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, other Commonwealth countries and those under German occupation. Aircrew were all volunteers and many were only in their late teens or early twenties. They often faced extreme dangers and hardships and required qualities of great courage and mental strength. 55, 888 personnel were killed in action or on active service. 9162 were wounded. German authorities estimated that several hundred thousand German civilians died.

In conjunction with Imperial War Museum North’s focus on people’s stories and the concept that war shapes lives, Against The Odds will reveal the experiences of the Bomber Command crew, as well as the role of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and the contribution of aircraft factory workers from Trafford Park (the site of IWM North), the north west and the rest of the country.

Most of the show will be devoted to the development of Bomber Command – from its ill-prepared beginnings in 1939 to its undoubted contribution to winning the war. Key operations that will be covered include the famous Dambusters raid, the sinking of the German battleship Tirpitz, and the Thousand Bomber raids. Later sections will examine the human cost, both in the air and on the ground, of the strategic area bombing campaign and give visitors the opportunity to consider their own personal responses.

Amongst the highlights in the exhibition are Dame Laura Knights’s iconic painting Take Off, as well as Guy Gibson’s cap, on loan from 617 Squadron, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire’s VC and the George Cross awarded to Daphne Pearson, who rescued the pilot of a bomber that crashed and exploded in May 1940.

A series of hands-on family interactives will enable visitors to find out more about the human cost of Bomber Command operations, delve into the technical detail of aircraft production, find out how little space airmen had to work in while on an operation and how bomber crew slang is still used in present-day speech. Visitors to the exhibition will receive an “identity card” with a real-life story of a person involved in Bomber Command and will find out their fate in the exhibition.