The November/December 2006 issue introduced a new feature to the magazine: the essay. Freeman Dyson's remembrance of his time spent working for Britain's Bomber Command in 1943-1945 ("A Failure of Intelligence") prompted many letters.

War Stories
I was a rear gunner flying Lancasters in 300 (Polish) Bomber Squadron, which flew alongside Britain's Royal Air Force and operated out of Britain. Reading Freeman Dyson's essay brings back many memories, not all of them pleasant. I share some of ­Dyson's views on the ruthlessness of Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, commander in chief of Britain's Bomber Command. My expression of the revulsion I felt when ordered to bomb Chemnitz, Germany, the day after Dresden was burnt--and after being told that the refugees from Dresden were filling the streets of Chemnitz, where there was no room in shelters--nearly got me court-­martialed!