Cliffnemo: I see you managed to get the 800th post!!
Well done for starting such an interesting thread on 5th June last year, so almost up to the anniversary.
Would it be possible for either (or both) you and regle (hope you getting better) to just run through the entire course of an actual raid?
Did you orbit the airfield gaining height until all airborne or set off immediately? How did you maintain separation from not only other aircraft from your Sqdn but others whilst forming up? Were Sqdns allocated a certain altitude and ETA to be over the target? Were you aware of being in a certain part of the bomber stream, first second or third wave etc? How long would it generally take to cross the North Sea and to reach "operational" height?
I can get a general sense from reading various Bomber Command and Sqdn histories but as you are both so eloquent in evoking those times, I'm sure there is an awful lot more that has never brought home to us youngsters, how each crew performed during a raid, to better understand what you all went through.