As war gripped the world in 1939, an overconfident Reichsmarschall Hermann Goring made a comment akin to: "No enemy aircraft will fly over the Reich territory", so sure was he that his Luftwaffe controlled the skies over mainland Europe. Famously, the air force leader had to eat his words as the Allies hit target after target across Germany from May 1940 onwards. However, the Luftwaffe exacted a terrible price - more than 44% of Bomber Command's aircrew were killed in action, while some 18,000 were wounded or taken prisoner.
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