55,573, that's the number of Royal Air Force bomber command air crew who lost their lives in the fight against fascism during the Second World War.

And if that statistic isn't terrifying enough, well, if you're in a Lancaster bomber, it was worse, with a 46% combat attrition rate.

In this episode of the History Hit World Wars podcast, I have the honor pleasure of talking to John Henry Miller,

who's not only a veteran of bomber command, but also a veteran of serving in the Lancaster bombers during the Second World War. John takes us on a journey

through what it was like to serve in a Lancaster, the roar of those four engines and the

threat of serving over hostile enemy territory. We're also joined by John's wife Barbara and his daughter Caroline

who helped him write a new fantastic book called The Boy With Only One Shoe, an illustrated memoir of wartime life with bomber command.

Now I urge you to go and get this book, it benefits the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund,

but it also tells us about what life was like in pre-war Britain and how that changed during the wartime period.

It is a pleasure to have them on the show and I know you're going to find this one absolutely fascinating. Today we have the whole Mela family with us on the World Wars podcast. We have John, we have Caroline, and we have Barbara.

Thanks to all three of you for coming on the show.

Oh pleasure. Thank you very much.

No, not a problem at all.

Thank you.

So there's so much to talk about in your book.

A book I know that all three of you worked on,

but really focuses on your experience and your life prior to the Second World War John and of course your experiences in the

area during the Second World War. But let's start by talking about the hardship that the UK had to face following the first World War.

And of course you had your youth as a boxer, but you also had an early fondness for the RAF.

So let's start there. What was the allure of the REF and air power to you?

Well in the first place when I was in school I went for a flight in a tiger moth and the cadets and fully enjoyed it.

I was working at Burton Wood, Airdoom, before it went over to the Americans.

...