The bilberry pilots: a wartime story that lacks evidence
verdavita editorial team · 2026-11-05
A popular story says RAF pilots ate bilberry jam before night missions. McGill's Office for Science and Society says there is no documented evidence for it. We tell it here because it shows how a good story outruns the facts.
What the story says
The tale appears in supplement marketing, often as proof for bilberry products. Some accounts suggest it may have spread during the war to distract from British radar work, but that part is also not firmly documented.
What later tests found
Two research groups, one in Florida and one at Tel Aviv University, measured night visual acuity. McGill reports that neither saw an improvement in night vision.
The carrot cousin
Carrots have a better documented wartime legend. British messaging linked them to night fighters such as John Cunningham, nicknamed Cat's Eyes, while airborne radar did much of the real work. Sources disagree on whether the Germans were ever the audience.
What we take from it
A nice story is not evidence. Ask for the source, and read the label first.
Sources
History, not health advice. A plant's past does not show what a supplement does. Images are illustrative.