
Military Legends Of WWII – Episode 12: Sir Arthur Harris
Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Sir Arthur Travers Harris, was commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press. He was in command of the RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. He implemented the concept of the ‘bomber stream’ that eventually reduced the high loss rate of bombers and he was the advocate and designer of massive raids, some amassing a bomber force of 1,000 planes for a single raid. Harris's continued preference for area bombing over precision targeting in the last year of the war remains controversial, partly because by this time many senior Allied air commanders thought it less effective and partly for the large number of civilian casualties and destruction this strategy caused in Continental Europe. After the war, he refused a peerage until 1953 when Prime Minister Winston Churchill forced him to accept a baronetcy becoming the 1st Baronet of Chipping Wycombe.