Dambusters Blog

Pic: Trevor-Roper family 

The family of Flt Lt Richard Trevor-Roper DFM, who was the rear gunner in Guy Gibson’s crew on the Dams Raid, have kindly sent me a photograph taken when he was flying in the crew of Sqn Ldr Peter Birch in 50 Squadron in the winter and early spring of 1942-43. After doing some research, and consulting with colleagues, I believe that the seven men in the picture are (from left to right):

1. Sgt J M Hartman (rear gunner)
2. Flg Off E C Wood (bomb aimer)
3. Flt Lt W T Gray (navigator)
4. Sqn Ldr P C Birch (pilot)
5. Flt Lt R D Trevor-Roper (mid-upper gunner)
6. Flt Sgt S Allen (wireless operator)
7. Flt Sgt A Branch (flight engineer)
[List corrected February 2024]

Trevor-Roper’s first operation with Birch was on 22 November 1942, a trip to Turin, and the last was on 22 March 1943, a trip to St Nazaire. He was transferred to Scampton to join 617 Squadron shortly afterwards. The aircraft is probably ED482, painted with Peter Birch’s favourite nose art, which he liked to call ‘Sammy the Moke’.

A similar photo, which includes several ground crew, was posted on the Rootschat genealogy forum in 2009. I’m not including a link to that post because I think some of the information is wrong (although I believe the dog is called Nipper!) But of course, it’s perfectly possible that some of my identifications are still incorrect, in which case I’d welcome more information. Please get in touch either by leaving a comment below or by sending an email to charlesjfoster [AT] gmail.com