At the start of the war it could be as little as six months or about 150 flying hours, although on average it took longer - 200-320 flying hours - especially later on in the war when the pilot training pathway became more stringent ( RAF Museum). The time taken to qualify as a pilot could vary considerably. Ray completed his ab initio training at the Cambridge Flying School and his further training at No 10 Elementary Flying Training School (EFTS) at Yatesbury in Wiltshire and No. Having already served a year with the RNZAF, Ray came to the UK in August 1939, and in September he volunteered for service with the RAF and was selected for pilot training. The family later moved to Palmerston North in the Manawatū-Whanganui region, and it was here that Ray grew up with his brother, Noel, and four sisters, Elizabeth, Joan, Madelyn and Elaine. Ray enjoyed sports, particularly hockey, and in the late 1930s, he played for the 'Black Sticks', the New Zealand national men's field hockey team. Ray’s paternal grandparents and his maternal grandmother had all emigrated to New Zealand from Ireland in the latter quarter of the 19th Century. Ray was born on August 9th, 1917, in Hāwera in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island, the son of first-generation New Zealander, John Joseph Hannan, and his wife, Helen Mary Hall. The pilot of R5694 EM-F on the fateful evening of November 25th, 1942, was New Zealander, Raymund Joseph Hannan. Flight Lieutenant Raymund Joseph Hannan, D.F.C We salute them and remember the sacrifice they made to assure our future. In total, 55,573 airmen died flying with Bomber Command ( BC Memorial) during the Second World War, among them the eight young men who formed the gallant crew of Avro Lancaster R5694 EM-F. With operational losses of up to 50 percent ( IWM), a crew member had a worse chance of survival than an infantry officer during World War I. The mortality rate among Bomber Command crews was staggering. Crews came from across the globe – from the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all corners of the Commonwealth, as well as from occupied nations such as France, Poland and Czechoslovakia. One thing no one doubts however, is the bravery of the thousands of men who flew and died in Bomber Command. Most of the men who served as flight crews were very young, the great majority still in their late teens or early twenties. Vast numbers of German soldiers and planes were diverted from the eastern and western fronts, while Allied bombing attacks virtually destroyed the German air force, clearing the way for the invasion of the continent. On a strategic level the offensive failed to bring about the collapse of civilian morale that was its intention. Others maintain that the attacks made a decisive contribution to the Allied victory. At the time, this wholesale destruction was judged necessary to defeat an enemy that seemed on the brink of victory, although today, some historians take the view that the offensive was immoral and unjustified. The deliberate targeting of German and Italian cities caused the death of hundreds of thousands of civilians.
Accepting that precision bombing was proving impossible, the War Cabinet sanctioned 'area bombing', the targeting of whole cities to destroy both factories and their workers. In 1942, Bomber Command received a new aircraft – the Avro Lancaster – and a new leader – Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris. Their success was limited, but the appearance of taking the fight to the enemy was just as important in raising the morale of the British people as was the actual damage inflicted. In the early years of the war, Bomber Command crews, although poorly equipped with only medium bombers and lacking sufficient technology to bomb accurately, continually assaulted German military and industrial targets. The Nazi Blitzkrieg of 1940 quickly defeated France, leaving Britain to fight on alone. After the RAF's famous victory in the Battle of Britain the country found itself on the defensive, and to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, only the bombers offered a chance to take the fight right into the heart of Nazi Germany. War however came despite the threat of the bombers. At the time, it was thought that a strong bomber force would prove to be a deterrent against aggression as bombing would result in complete and inescapable destruction on both sides. RAF Bomber Command was formed in 1936 in response to the potential threat posed by Germany’s increasing airpower.
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