The role of a tail gunner in Bomber Command

The tail gunner showcase here in the Australians in Bomber Command exhibition contains 48 objects that a tail gunner would have carried on board with him on the aircraft.

The uniform he wore, everything that was in his pockets and all the protective equipment required to carry out a mission on a Lancaster aircraft over Germany.

The role of the tail gunner was crucial to the fate of the aircrew of a Lancaster.

It was their job to defend the aircraft from enemy night fighter actions and they also communicated with the pilot to manoeuvre if they saw an enemy aircraft coming to attack them.

He worked in very tight, confined space at the back of the aircraft, a very lonely position and you'd be sitting there for up to eight hours, maybe even as long as 10 hours on some missions in freezing conditions up to minus 30 degrees Celsius or lower.

He would also take with him his escape and evasion equipment. 

These were maps of France and northwest Europe that would be hidden in his uniform as well as other hidden escape equipment such as compasses that would be disguised as buttons on his uniform.

He also took with him portrait photos in the style of Dutch, Belgian and French identification papers.

This was in the case that if he was shot down and made contact with the resistance movements they'd be able to make him a fake identity paper in the style of the country in which he found himself in. 

Of the some 7,000 Lancaster bombers that were manufactured, 3,500 of them were shot down on operations. It shows you how dangerous it was for serving and flying operations in Bomber Command.

So one of the tail gunner stories we tell in the gallery is that of flight sergeant Geoffrey Chapman-Smith. 

Chapman-Smith was a tail gunner in a Lancaster aircraft that became under attack from night fighters and he was badly wounded.

In fact his foot was partly severed but despite his horrific injuries he stayed at his post defending the aircraft for hours on the return journey to England.

When they landed he had to be cut out at the back of the aircraft using fire axes and his leg was eventually amputated.

Chapman-Smith survived and he was awarded a conspicuous gallantry medal.

Just one of 10 Australians to be awarded such a medal during the Second World War.

One thing we wanted to do in the Australians in Bomber Command gallery was continue a tradition that was established by Charles Bean in 1918 when he collected the uniform of Private Giles on the Western Front.

That uniform has long been displayed in our First World War galleries. What we wanted to do was to put together an entire kit and equipment of airmen from Bomber Command in the Second World War and we chose the tail gunner. It's a less glamorous position on the aircraft. 

Pilots and navigators often get a lot of the attention. The tail gunner with the mid-upper gunner defending the aircraft were crucial to operations.