I understand that the use of H2S had its own problems.
The clear delineation of coastline was easily identifiable, however over a landmass the earlier versions couldn't identify specific features to be used as a navigational aid.
Its main drawback though was that after a few weeks of use the Luftwaffe discovered its secrets in the shot down wreck of a Shorts Stirling and developed a radio aid called Naxos which they fitted to the Luftwaffe nightfighters and which homed into the transmissions of H2S resulting in increased causalities.
I once had a friend who flew a tour with RAF Bomber Command in 1943-1944 and survived, he put down his survival to the fact that they didn't have H2S fitted to their aircraft.
He also mentioned about being approached by Group Captain Hamish Mahaddie at the end of his first tour in the winter of 1943 when the casualties were at their worse. The Group Captain wanted his crew to go and undertake an immediate second tour with the Pathfinders as their operational experience was invaluable and they would receive a Pathfinder badge which would impress the girls and an "extra bob a day"
His crew barely out of their teens were all for it and the kudos it would bring, but my friend who was the old man of the crew at 25 and married with children suggested that they take the weeks leave due to them and think it over and it was never mentioned again.
He went onto say that had they accepted an immediate second tour, including the "extra bob" that they never would have survived such was the casualty rate during the Battle of Berlin in the winter of 1943-1944.
When I think of the boys of RAF Bomber Command I am reminded of the words of the American General Patton who said,
"Do not mourn these men, but just thank God that such men lived"
Last edited by DC10RealMan; 20th Feb 2013 at 22:50.