CONCLUSION: THE NEW HERO IN ACTION, 1940–2006 191
the case of Haig, but during the Second World War this became standard
practice for the Royal Air Force.
The youngest of the service branches was still in its infancy in the
Great War, with nothing approaching a concrete doctrine for most of the
conflict.^13 The VCs won by pilots for the duration of the First World War
reflected the romantic reputation of the flyer. All but one were either for
aerial combat or rescuing a downed comrade from possible capture.^14
Between the wars, however, the RAF developed a new doctrine of stra-
tegic bombardment.^15 The bomber, not the fighter, was the savior of the
nation:
It was definitely Bomber Command’s wholesale destruction of the invasion
barges in the Channel ports that convinced the Germans of the futility of
attempting to cross the Channel, especially as Fighter Command’s victory
meant that our bombers could have fighter cover over the Channel if
necessaryOur attacks on the barges began in July of 1940, well before
the main air Battle of Britain developed, and were highly successful.^16
Not surprisingly, Arthur Harris, the author of the above assessment of
the Battle of Britain (that Bomber Command had it won before Fighter
Command got decently engaged with the enemy) got the nickname of
‘Bomber.’
The RAF had staked its future as an independent service on the doctrine
of strategic bombing.^17 Here Arthur Harris had the chance to prove that an
air force could fight and win a war from the skies, and proudly boasted that
the RAF was the first force to conceive the concept and build itself around
it.^18 As a consequence, the Victoria Cross was used to validate the strategic
vision of Bomber Command. Only one VC of the Second World War was
awarded to a fighter pilot:
On 16 August 1940 near Southampton, Flight Lieutenant [Eric J. B.]
Nicolson’s Hurricane was fired on by a Messerschmitt 110, injuring the
pilot in one eye and one foot. His engine was also damaged and the
petrol tank set alight. As he struggled to leave the blazing machine he
saw another Messerschmitt, and managed to get back into the bucket seat,
pressed the firing button, continuing firing until the enemy plane dived
away to destruction. Not until then did he bale out, and when he landed
in a field, he was unable to release his parachute owing to his badly
burned hands.^19
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