Phil,
I remember reading that David Puttnam wanted to make a film about the night bomber offensive, (did he have the film rights to Len Deighton's "Bomber")? He couldn't get the funding for a film about Bomber Command so the outcome was "Memphis Belle".
I well remember the radio version of "Bomber"; the play was transmitted in eight 30 minute episodes during the afternoon and evening of one day on Radio 4, in I think, 1995.