Criticism of the attacks on civilian areas of Dresden, Cologne and Berlin has left many veterans feeling victimised.

We do not hate the Germans - but they asked for it

Navigator, Fred Norton

And at a gathering marking the 60th anniversary of the Avro Lancaster's first combat mission, former crew members said those who risked and sacrificed their lives should be given campaign medals.

Casualties high

The night raids on occupied Europe were launched by the then head of Bomber Command, Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris.

Many of the 30 former Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots, wireless operators, navigators and gunners at the Imperial War Museum's aviation section in Duxford, Cambridgeshire, also took the opportunity to climb into a Lancaster for the first time in more than 50 years.

Navigator Fred Norton was the sole survivor in an eight-man crew when his Lancaster was shot down over Cologne in January 1945.

He spent the final months of the war in a prison camp.

And the 88-year-old feels it is "very wrong" that no campaign medals have been awarded.

"The casualty rate was very high," he explained.

"Yet we got nothing.

"Harris upset too many people."

I am not sure it was necessary

Rear gunner Basil White

Mr Norton, of Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, has "no time" for critics of the campaign.

"War is war," he said.

"The things Hitler said and did were not pleasant."

Mr Norton, who lived in London during the Blitz, stressed: "We did not know we were going to win in 1942."

"We do not hate the Germans - but they asked for it.

Comradeship

"And the sacrifice the bomber crews made should be rewarded."

Rear gunner Basil White was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal after 29 flights.

But the 79-year-old believes all his comrades should have been decorated.

"They should have awarded a campaign medal," he said.

"The Americans got one."

Mr White, of Cambridge, is less convinced about the ethics of the campaign though.

"I am not sure it was necessary," he said.

"But at the time you didn't know where the bombs were dropping."