Bombers Moon. Songs about or relating to aviation.

Scott.

The entire album is very good. I had a copy on vinyl many years ago which was lent out and inevitably lost. A few years back I was trying to get hold of the CD and found an internet link to a company selling it. Much to my surprise I found myself talking to Mike Harding.

The song ‘Bomber’s Moon’ is a good one, but for me it is far from the highlight of a superb collection of songs. For sheer poignancy listen to the full seven minute version of ‘Accrington Pals’ or ‘The Band played Waltzing Matilda.’ There are other songs which hold a special and personal poignancy for me, ‘These Poor Hands’ and ‘A Small High Window’ are two which make me think deeply about my own ancestry. But it’s not all gloom and doom. ‘God Help The Poor’ and ‘Thirty Nights’ are really uplifting.

Harding’s personal views about Harris, Bomber Command and the bomber offensive are somewhat at odds with mine and, I suspect, many of the readership here. But then again, how many of us lost our Fathers without ever having the opportunity to know them in the darkened skies of Europe?

Regards,

kev35

I have this album somewhere and The Bombers Moon is a truly great song and album.
It’s only when you watch the link that it brings it home to you and must thank Merlin for sharing it with us.
And on a side note regarding the album, The January Man for me is another song that will always stick in your head.

Do we have any history on his father? Are the names given in the song a clue?

Moggy

Well said Kev and to be fair I only actually heard this one song so I cannot comment on the rest of the album. I find the song one very much to reflect on and to spare a thought for the guys that died doing exactly what Mike Hardings father was doing when he died.

From the website it is posted as an anti war song. I can reason why it would be but for me it a memorial of sorts.

Must have a listen to the rest of the album now that you have mentioned it.

Thanks for the heads up Kev.

SD90: Is that kev35’s album!!
Very good posting and the other tracks mentioned can be accessed from the righthand list on the link…
Very thought provoking….
Wiki (yeah, I know but…) has this
Harding’s father, Louis Arthur “Curly” Harding, was a a navigator in the RAF who was killed during World War II, a few weeks before his son’s birth.
Name: HARDING, LOUIS ARTHUR
Initials: L A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Flight Sergeant (Nav.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Unit Text: 9 Sqdn.
Date of Death: 24/09/1944
Service No: 574158
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 15. Joint grave 13.
Cemetery: HOLTEN GENERAL CEMETERY

So you can understand that this is really a song from the heart…..

Moggy.

I believe Mike’s Father was Flight Sergeant Louis Arthur Harding, a navigator on 9 Squadron who failed to return from an operation to Munster on the night of 23/24 september 1944. The aircraft was a Lancaster I, LL901 coded WS-V. Of the crew only one survived to become PoW. Chorley states they were to attack the airfield at Munster Handorf. However, Gordon Thorburn in Bombers First and last states that a flight from 9 Squadron were attacking aqueducts near Munster on the Dortmund Ems Canal using Tallboys. He writes “Bloody rough it was, for Rees on his second, attacked by a fighter, hit by flak, home on three, and even rougher for F/Lt. Charles Scott and his crew, with Tallboy in LL901 WS/V. They had recovered from their Russian exertions and were restored to normal squadron routine after the adventure of a lifetime.They failed to return from Munster. They did not bring their Tallboy home. Their lifetime was finished as they crashed in Gelderland. They were a week or two short.They had only managed three and a half months. Scott had 28 Ops, F/Sgt Harding and the rest of the crew 27, and V-Victor wanted one for her half century.”

Chorley gives the crew as follows:

F/O C B Scott.
Sgt J E Simkin.
F/S L A Harding.
F/S L W Langley PoW.
Sgt M E Hayward.
Sgt F A Saunders.
Sgt L J Hambly.

Those who died are buried in Holten General Cemetery.

Mike Harding refers to his Father as Lewis Arthur ‘Curly’ Harding but I am sure this is the same man. In his book ‘Bombers Moon’ Harding states that his Father joined up as a Regular before the war and gradually moved into aircrew. As I said before, his sentiments regarding the death of his Father are at odds with the way in which many of us view his death. However, his words are heartfelt, honest and powerful. he makes one comment which has always struck me and that is that his Mother was a ‘bride, widow and mother all in just over a year.’

Regards,

kev35

Just to add, I believe that Harding and crew flew at least one operation in W4964 WS/J famous for completing over 100 operations.

Regards,

kev35

Holten

SD90: Is that kev35’s album!!
Very good posting and the other tracks mentioned can be accessed from the righthand list on the link…
Very thought provoking….
Wiki (yeah, I know but…) has this
Harding’s father, Louis Arthur “Curly” Harding, was a a navigator in the RAF who was killed during World War II, a few weeks before his son’s birth.
Name: HARDING, LOUIS ARTHUR
Initials: L A
Nationality: United Kingdom
Rank: Flight Sergeant (Nav.)
Regiment/Service: Royal Air Force
Unit Text: 9 Sqdn.
Date of Death: 24/09/1944
Service No: 574158
Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead
Grave/Memorial Reference: Plot 15. Joint grave 13.
Cemetery: HOLTEN GENERAL CEMETERY

So you can understand that this is really a song from the heart…..

My Great Uncle was also in this Crew

Spirit of Russia

Hi the crew also did a mission in the spirit of Russia WS-S