Sergeant Pilots of Bomber Command in World War II: a cull of the elite among British working class men

The crew of a Handley Page Halifax heavy bomber - some Sergeant's stripes evident

The extremely high casualties in RAF Bomber Command, throughout the Second World War - with roughly half of crews killed, more than 50,000 men* - was mostly among Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)

All RAF aircrew were volunteers; and (soon after the war began) NCOs were awarded the rank of Sergeants or higher. Most of the personnel (and resources) of the RAF were in Bomber Command. 

Indeed most of the total UK expenditure and military effort in WWII went into Bomber Command (i.e. more than the totality of the Army, Royal Navy, and RAF Fighter and Coastal Commands combined).  

Whereas RAF Officers were mostly selected from the upper class, especially those who had been in Officer Training Corps at public-private schools or university; NCOs were promoted from those who entered the services as Private. 

In practice; NCOs were substantially recruited from among the skilled working class (e.g. trades and craftsmen), and lower middle class (shopkeepers, small business owners)...

In other words; NCOs - especially in the elite military groups such as aircrew, paratroopers etc) could be taken to represent "the salt of the earth", "the backbone of the nation", "the Yeomen of Old England". 

Becoming an aircrew member of the RAF was extremely competitive. 

This meant that aircrew took only those men who had passed rigorous physical and intellectual tests, and who could pass a range practical examinations. 

So, Bomber Command (which was most of the RAF) represented an elite of the non-officer class... and then most of them were killed.  

My point is that this cull of so many of the best of "Lower Class" men in WWII could be compared with the much better known and investigated - and very real - losses of men of the upper classes in the First World War.

(i.e. Those junior officers - e.g. "Subalterns" - Second Lieutenants - whose job was to lead their men in hazardous advances, patrols, raids and the like. The astonishing casualty rate of this group can be seen in the length of war memorial lists from 1914-18; that are displayed in - for instance - public schools and Oxford and Cambridge colleges).  

It seems likely that the loss of so many of the best of upper class men had a definite detrimental effect on that became evident after 1918. 

It seems likely to me that some of the evident decline in British society following the 1939-1945 war - analogously - a consequence of the exceptional casualty rates in Bomber Command.  

*It has been said by credible historians I have read; that such a casualty rate sustained over such a long period in a large cohort, may be the highest in history. I don't know whether this is correct - but as a percentage killed in a substantially sized selective volunteer military force, Bomber Command was certainly extremely high in terms of the wars of the twentieth century.