World War Two Bomber Command Phot - Possibly

[OJ 72]

Knowing what a repository of information the denizens of Aviation History and Nostalgia are, notwithstanding their needle-sharp wit, and tendency to 'pithy asides' (or is that 'Jet Blast'??? (:})) I come to you in an endeavour to track down quite a famous World War Two phot.

In the past, I've seen it in numerous books about Bomber Command, but when I have recently tried to track it down, I cannot for the life of me think of which book it is in!!! And, before anyone starts, yes, it could be a 'senior moment', (:)) but it could also be that I have a 'shed-load' of Bomber Command books, and I'm just not looking in the right place! :8

Anyway, the phot that I'm after shows (I think) a Bomber Command Station Commander (?) asleep, slumped in an armchair, his SD Hat pulled over his eyes, Irvine (?) leather jacket on, and a map/Op Order stuffed in his flying boot.

Trying to locate it has been driving me up the walls for some time now!!! So...HELP!!! :O Please...

[Blue_Circle]

I'm now climbing the walls with you. I can see it in my mind but can't find it anywhere to hand.

[thnarg]

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1177x1708/img_3654_9996cbf5d7d874a663d68ca9d9a993bcee0ed2e5.jpeg

[OJ 72]

thnarg…that’s the very fellow!!! Thank you so much!!! 👍 I don’t suppose that you have any details of who, where, when etc?!?

[thnarg]

I have to admit I just used Captain Google and “sleeping bomber pilot”! The only caption was:

“From georgerodgerphotographs.com Blitz - George Rodger
Sleeping station commander, near London 1940”

Glad to be of service…

[Liffy 1M]

I have to admit I just used Captain Google and “sleeping bomber pilot”! The only caption was:

“From georgerodgerphotographs.com Blitz - George Rodger
Sleeping station commander, near London 1940”

Glad to be of service…
If 1940 it is perhaps less likely that he is from a bomber base.

[Asturias56]

George William Adam Rodger (19 March 1908 – 24 July 1995[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Rodger#cite_note-1)) was a British photojournalist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photojournalism) noted for his work in Africa and for photographing the mass deaths at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen-Belsen_concentration_camp) at the end of the Second World War.[2] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Rodger#cite_note-2)
Born in Hale, Cheshire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hale,_Greater_Manchester), of Scottish and German descent, Rodger went to school at St. Bees School (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Bees_School) in Cumberland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumberland). He joined the British Merchant Navy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Merchant_Navy) and sailed around the world. While sailing, Rodger wrote accounts of his travels and taught himself photography to illustrate his travelogues. He was unable to get his travel writing published; after a short spell in the United States, where he failed to find work during the Depression (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression), Rodger returned to Britain in 1936. In London, he found work as a photographer for the BBC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC)'s The Listener (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Listener_(British_magazine)) magazine. In 1938 he had a brief stint working for the Black Star (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Star_(photo_agency)) Agency.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Rodger had a strong urge to chronicle the war. His photographs of the Blitz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz) gained him a job as a war correspondent for Life (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(magazine)) magazine, based in the United States. Rodger covered the war in West Africa extensively and, towards the end of the war, followed the Allies' liberation of France, Belgium and Netherlands. He also covered the retreat of the British forces in Burma. He was probably the only British war reporter/photographer allowed to write a story on the Burma Road (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Road) by travelling on it into China, with special permission from the Chinese military.[citation needed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)]

Rodger was one of many photographers to enter the concentration camp (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concentration_camp) at Bergen-Belsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergen-Belsen_concentration_camp) in 1945, the first being members of the British Army Film and Photographic Unit (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Film_and_Photographic_Unit). His photographs of the survivors and piles of corpses were published in Life and Time (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_(magazine)) magazines and were highly influential in showing the reality of the death camps. Rodger later recalled how, after spending several hours at the camp, he was appalled to realise that he had spent most of the time looking for graphically pleasing compositions of the piles of bodies lying among the trees and buildings. This traumatic experience led Rodger to conclude that he could not work as a war correspondent again. Leaving Life, he travelled throughout Africa and the Middle East, continuing to document these areas' wildlife and peoples.

A co-founder of Magnum.