Author: dambusters

Sherburn memorial pays tribute at last

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Sherburn, a sometime colliery village in Co Durham, was the home of Flt Sgt Vivian Nicholson DFM, navigator of David Maltby’s aircraft AJ-J on the Dams Raid. Unlike most small communities in the UK it has never had a war memorial – for either World War. (Many of the dead from both wars, however, are commemorated on the wooden chancel screen in the village church, as I saw for myself last year when I was in the village researching Vivian Nicholson’s background.) 

This anomaly has now been rectified, and there is a handsome new memorial, surrounded by a small garden. It is largely the result of work by two local people, John Burrell and Kevin Stock – all respect to them for their dedication. It was unveiled on Remembrance Sunday last year, 2007.

As usual, it’s the sheer number of people commemorated that tells the main story. Forty-one men from this small community killed in the First World War, 20 more in the Second. In the First World War they came from my grandparents’ generation; in the Second, from that of my parents.

Some of the stories from those generations are heartbreaking. The Hellfire Corner website has dozens of accounts of men lost in “the war to end all wars”, including that of this ordinary Chatham woman who lost five of her sons. How lucky am I that my generation was not cut down in this way. And all I can do is hope that my children are as lucky too.

More Dambusters online

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My 12 year old daughter, to whom these kind of things matter, tells me that girls nowadays have several categories of ‘best friend’, including such acronyms as BFF, Best Friend Forever, and the less permanent-sounding BFFN, Best Friend For Now. I’m pleased to say that this blog has a new BFFN, in the shape of Mike Whitaker, who has kindly sent me a long list of additions to my Operation Chastise complete crew list. These were mainly links to websites which describe the fate of the aircraft used on the Dams Raid. I have added a new page to the Breaking the Dams website which uses all this information.

I’ve also added more online information to the PDF list about several other Operation Chastise aircrew including Henry Maudslay, Richard Bolitho, Lawrence Nichols, Donald Hopkinson and Jack Liddell. Liddell was the youngest airman in the Dambusters: he was only 18 when he was killed, flying as the rear gunner in Norman Barlow’s aircraft. He must have lied about his age when he joined up in May 1941. 

Links to two of the online exhibits at the RAF Museum, Mick Martin and Charles Brennan’s logbooks have also been added. If you look carefully at the Brennan exhibit you can see that the signature of the acting OC of 617 Squadron is that of David Maltby, doing the grisly job of signing off the logbooks of dead aircrew while Guy Gibson was on leave. 

You can find everything in the new list on the Breaking the Dams website.

Partly political

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Some politicians are as dull as ditchwater, but many have a genuinely wicked sense of humour and love an audience, however small. (I remember an evening in 1990 in a Bradford curry house with a lovely man called Derek Fatchett, a Labour MP who died far too young, who made the three or four of us present laugh so much that my head hurt. I can’t recall a single joke that he told, but it was one of those glorious nights, doubtless fuelled by lager and poppadoms, that you hope won’t end too soon.)

From the other side of the house comes Michael Gove, behind whose overgrown schoolboy looks is a mind which comes up with a stream of witty repartee. In the new, slightly risqué, Tory party he is a rising star, and is therefore allowed to write columns, like this one for The Times, which poke tongue-in-cheek fun at his colleagues. ‘Is your partner Tory enough?’, he wants to know, setting a quiz to find out. In the answer to Question No. 6, he states that if ‘The Dam Busters’ or ‘any film where Jerry gets it in the eye’ is your favourite you are ‘Simply Too Tory for words’ and need to be cossetted with copies of the Salisbury Review and bloater-paste sandwiches. 

For some reason, that sentence conjures up to me an image of someone not unlike the sainted Stephen Fry – but he bats for the other team in politics, as well as in his private life. I have no way of knowing the truth, but the great man always sounds as though he wears a smoking jacket in his rare moments of leisure. Last night, he was a guest team captain on ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’, next weekend he is going to be driving a taxi around the USA. Has he finished his work on the new Dambusters script is the question to which we all want to know the answer!

Gibbo’s four legged friend

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Last weekend’s Sunday Telegraph had a bit of a scoop which probably confirmed the worst suspicions of some Dam Buster film enthusiasts. Sir David Frost, who is producing the new film with Peter Jackson, told the newspaper’s diary writer, Mandrake, that they had reached a compromise on the name of Guy Gibson’s dog. The remake is unlikely to appear before 2011, and it will be called Nidge.

In the course of writing this blog I have spent a lot of time over the last six months reading various bulletin boards and discussion forums. In almost every thread that has been started about the remake of The Dam Busters someone raises the name of the dog within the first ten posts. A range of ‘jobsworths’ and ‘do-gooders’ are cited as being the people who won’t allow the original name to be used, with ‘the PC Brigade’ being the favourite culprit.

Well, if the decision has been made, it’s made. Time for everyone to move on, I think.

Dambusters: a complete list of everyone who took part in Operation Chastise

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Fly order tilted a-w 960px

All the 133 men who flew on Operation Chastise (the Dams Raid) are named in the document shown above, which was typed on the morning of 16 May 1943. For security reasons, it was titled “Night Flying Programme”.

The late G L (Johnny) Johnson’s name appears below in the Crew of AJ-T, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy.
Here is a link to his obituary which tells the story of his life: https://dambustersblog.com/2022/12/08/johnny-johnson-1921-2022/

Below is a complete list. Each name links to the relevant entry in the Dambuster of the Day feature on this blog.

Some raw figures extracted from this list:

  • 133 men took part in Operation Chastise (the Dams Raid); 19 crews each of 7 men.
  • Eight crews were lost; 53 men were killed, 3 were taken prisoner.
  • Eighty men survived the raid.
  • Of these, 22 were killed serving in 617 Squadron later in the war and 10 more were killed while serving with other squadrons.
  • Only 48 men who took part in the raid survived the war.

There is a biography and photograph of all the 133 men who flew on the raid in my book The Complete Dambusters, published by History Press in 2018.
Copies can be ordered from any bookshop or direct from the publishers.

AJ-G

Wg Cdr G P Gibson DSO & Bar DFC & Bar
Pilot AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded VC
Born Simla, India, 12 August 1918
KIA 20 September 1944  [Read more]

Sgt J Pulford
Flight engineer AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born Hull, 24 December 1919
KIA 13 February 1944  [Read more]

Plt Off H T Taerum
Navigator AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born Milo, Alberta, Canada, 22 May 1920
KIA 16 September 1943  [Read more]

Flt Lt R E G Hutchison DFC
Wireless operator AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded Bar to DFC
Born Liverpool, 26 April 1918
KIA 16 September 1943  [Read more]

Plt Off F M Spafford DFM
Bomb aimer AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born Adelaide, South Australia, 16 June 1918
KIA 16 September 1943  [Read more]

Flt Sgt G A Deering
Front gunner AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born Kirkintilloch, Scotland, 23 July 1919
KIA 16 September 1943  [Read more]

Flt Lt R D Trevor-Roper DFM
Rear gunner AJ-G
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born, Shanklin, Isle of Wight, 19 May 1915
KIA 31 March 1944  [Read more]

AJ-M

Flt Lt J V Hopgood DFC & Bar
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born Hurst, Berkshire, 29 August 1921 [Read more]

Sgt C C Brennan
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 22 February 1916, Calgary, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

Flg Off K Earnshaw
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born Bridlington, Yorkshire, 23 June 1918 [Read more]

Sgt J W Minchin
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 29 November 1915, Bourton on the Water, Gloucestershire [Read more]

Flt Sgt J W Fraser
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid. PoW.
Born 22 September 1922, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Died Saltery Bay, British Columbia, Canada, 2 June 1962 [Read more]

Plt Off G H F G Gregory DFM
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born Govan, Glasgow, 24 June 1917 [Read more]

Plt Off A F Burcher DFM
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid. PoW.
Born Vaucluse, Sydney, Australia, 15 March 1922
Died Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 9 August 1995 [Read more]

AJ-P

Flt Lt H B Martin DFC
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DSO
Born Edgecliffe, Sydney, Australia, 27 February 1918
Died London, 3 November 1988 [Read more]

Plt Off I Whittaker
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born Newcastle on Tyne, 9 September 1921
Died Wendover, Buckinghamshire, 22 August 1979 [Read more]

Flt Lt J F Leggo DFC
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded Bar to DFC
Born Sydney, Australia, 21 April 1916
Died Brisbane, Australia, 11 November 1983 [Read more]

Flg Off L Chambers
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born Karamea, New Zealand, 18 February 1919
Died Karamea, New Zealand, 1 March 1985 [Read more]

Flt Lt R C Hay DFC
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded Bar to DFC
Born Renmark, South Australia, 4 November 1913
KIA 13 February 1944 [Read more]

Plt Off B T Foxlee DFM
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born Queensland, Australia, 7 March 1920
Died Nottingham, 6 March 1985 [Read more]

Flt Sgt T D Simpson
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 23 November 1917
Died Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, 2 April 1998 [Read more]

AJ-A

Sqn Ldr H M Young DFC & Bar
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born London, 20 May 1915 [Read more]

Sgt D T Horsfall
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born Bramley, Yorkshire, 16 April 1920 [Read more]

Flt Sgt C W Roberts
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 January 1921, Cromer, Norfolk [Read more]

Sgt L W Nichols
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 17 May 1910, Northwood, Middlesex [Read more]

Flg Off V S MacCausland
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 1 February 1913, Tyne Valley, Prince Edward Island, Canada [Read more]

Sgt G A Yeo
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 9 July 1922, Barry Dock, Glamorgan [Read more]

Sgt W Ibbotson
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 18 September 1913, Netherton, Wakefield, Yorkshire [Read more]

AJ-J

Flt Lt D J H Maltby DFC
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DSO
Born 10 May 1920, Baldslow, Sussex
KIA 15 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt W Hatton
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 24 March 1920, Wakefield, Yorkshire
KIA 15 September 1943  [Read more]

Sgt V Nicholson
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 15 February 1923, Newcastle on Tyne
KIA 15 September 1943  [Read more]

Sgt A J B Stone
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 5 December 1920 Winchester, Hampshire
KIA 15 September 1943  [Read more]

Plt Off J Fort
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born 14 January 1912, Colne, Lancashire
KIA 15 September 1943  [Read more]

Sgt V Hill
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 6 December 1921, Berkeley, Gloucestershire
KIA 15 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt H T Simmonds
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 25 December 1921, Burgess Hill, Sussex
KIA 15 September 1943 [Read more]

AJ-L

Flt Lt D J Shannon DFC
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DSO
Born 27 May 1922, Unley Park, South Australia
Died 8 April 1993, London [Read more]

Sgt R J Henderson
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 17 June 1920, Tarbrax, Lanarkshire
Died 18 February 1961, Limassol, Cyprus [Read more]

Flg Off D R Walker DFC
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded Bar to DFC
Born 20 November 1917, Blairmore, Alberta, Canada
Died 17 November 2001, Blairmore, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

Flg Off B Goodale DFC
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 12 June 1919, Addington, Kent
Died 16 December 1977, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk [Read more]

Flt Sgt L J Sumpter
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 20 September 1911, Kettering, Northamptonshire
Died 30 November 1993, Luton, Bedfordshire [Read more]

Sgt B Jagger
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 9 November 1921, London
KIA 30 April 1944 [Read more]

Flg Off J Buckley
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 1 May 1919, Bradford, Yorkshire
Died 6 May 1990, Bradford, Yorkshire [Read more]

AJ-Z

Sqn Ldr H E Maudslay DFC
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 21 July 1921, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire [Read more]

Sgt J Marriott DFM
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 January 1920, New Smithy, Derbyshire [Read more]

Flg Off R A Urquhart DFC
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 2 August 1919, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada [Read more]

WO A P Cottam
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 29 August 1912, Jasper, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

Plt Off M J D Fuller
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 28 April 1920, Reigate, Surrey [Read more]

Flg Off W J Tytherleigh DFC
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 8 November 1921, Cambridge [Read more]

Sgt N R Burrows
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 31 August 1914, Liverpool [Read more]

AJ-B

Flt Lt W Astell DFC
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 1 April 1920, Knutsford, Cheshire [Read more]

Sgt J Kinnear
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 6 November 1921, Newport, Fife [Read more]

Plt Off F A Wile
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 17 April 1919, Scotch Village, Nova Scotia, Canada [Read more]

Flg Off D Hopkinson
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 September 1920, Royton, Lancashire [Read more]

Wrt Off A A Garshowitz
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 11 December 1920, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada [Read more]

Flt Sgt F A Garbas
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 13 July 1922, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada [Read more]

Sgt R Bolitho
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 January 1920, Derry, Ireland [Read more]

AJ-N

Plt Off L G Knight
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DSO
Born 7 March 1921, Camberwell, Victoria, Australia
KIA 16 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt R E Grayston
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 13 October 1918, Dunsfold, Surrey
Died 15 April 2010, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire [Read more]

Flg Off H S Hobday
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born 28 January 1912, Croydon, Surrey
Died 24 February 2000, Hindolveston, Norfolk [Read more]

Flt Sgt R G T Kellow
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 13 December 1916, Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
Died 12 February 1988, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada [Read more]

Flg Off E C Johnson
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born 3 May 1912, Lincoln
Died 1 October 2002, Blackpool, Lancashire [Read more]

Sgt F E Sutherland
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 26 February 1923, Peace River, Alberta, Canada
Died 21 January 2019, Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

Sgt H E O’Brien
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 15 August 1922, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died 12 September 1985, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

AJ-E

Flt Lt R N G Barlow DFC
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 22 April 1911, Carlton, Victoria, Australia [Read more]

Plt Off S L Whillis
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 18 October 1912, Newcastle on Tyne [Read more]

Flg Off P S Burgess
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 September 1922, Portsmouth, Hampshire [Read more]

Flg Off C R Williams DFC
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 March 1909, Townsville, Queensland, Australia [Read more]

Plt Off A Gillespie
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 16 November 1922, Hesket, Westmorland [Read more]

Flg Off H S Glinz
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 2 March 1922, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada  [Read more]

Sgt J R G Liddell
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 22 June 1924, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset [Read more]

AJ-W

Flt Lt J L Munro
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Born 5 April 1919, Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand
Died 4 August 2015, Tauranga, North Island, New Zealand [Read more]

Sgt F E Appleby
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 3 November 1921, Eastbourne, Sussex
Died 15 September 1996, Eastbourne, Sussex [Read more]

Flg Off F G Rumbles
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 14 September 1920, Kirtlebridge, Dumfriesshire
Died 26 February 1988, Port Elizabeth, South Africa [Read more]

Wrt Off P E Pigeon
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 3 June 1917, Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada
Died 25 March 1967, Williams Lake, British Columbia, Canada [Read more]

Sgt J H Clay
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 2 February 1911, North Shields, Tyne and Wear
Died 6 August 1995, Gosforth, Tyne and Wear [Read more]

Sgt W Howarth
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 29 August 1921, Oldham, Lancashire
Died 12 January 1990, Oldham, Lancashire [Read more]

Flt Sgt H A Weeks
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 10 December 1919, Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada
Died 22 March 1992, Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada [Read more]

AJ-K

Plt Off V W Byers
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 24 September 1919, Star City, Saskatchewan, Canada [Read more]

Sgt A J Taylor
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 December 1922, Alves, Morayshire [Read more]

Flg Off J H Warner
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 May 1914, Horncastle, Lincolnshire [Read more]

Sgt J Wilkinson
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 2 March 1922, Antrobus, Cheshire [Read more]

Plt Off A N Whitaker
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 8 September 1909, Blackburn, Lancashire [Read more]

Sgt C McA Jarvie
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 9 May 1922, Glasgow [Read more]

Flt Sgt J McDowell
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 13 August 1910, Glasgow [Read more]

AJ-H

Plt Off G Rice
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Born 4 January 1917, Hinckley, Leicestershire
Died 24 November 1981, Taunton, Somerset [Read more]

Sgt E C Smith
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 26 August 1919, Cambridge
KIA 16 September 1943 [Read more]

Flg Off R Macfarlane
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 12 December 1921, Glasgow
KIA 20 December 1943 [Read more]

Wrt Off C B Gowrie
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 14 April 1918, Tramping Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada
KIA 20 December 1943 [Read more]

Wrt Off J W Thrasher
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 30 July 1920, Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada
KIA 20 December 1943 [Read more]

Sgt T W Maynard
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 6 September 1923, London
KIA 20 December 1943 [Read more]

Sgt S Burns
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 27 December 1920, Dudley, Worcestershire
KIA 21 December 1943 [Read more]

AJ-T

Flt Lt J C McCarthy DFC
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DSO
Born 31 August 1919, Long Island, New York, USA
Died 6 September 1998, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA [Read more]

Sgt W G Radcliffe
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 24 September 1919, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Died 5 July 1952, British Columbia, Canada [Read more]

Flt Sgt D A MacLean
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 2 April 1916, Toronto, Canada
Died 16 July 1992, Toronto, Canada [Read more]

Flt Sgt L Eaton
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 16 March 1906, Manchester
Died 22 March 1974, Manchester [Read more]

Sgt G L Johnson
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 25 November 1921, Hameringham, Lincolnshire
Died 7 December 2022, Bristol [Read more]

Sgt R Batson
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 5 December 1920, Ferryhill, Co Durham
Died 25 November 2006, Leeholme, Co Durham [Read more]

Flg Off D Rodger
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 23 February 1918, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada
Died 1 September 2004, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, Canada [Read more]

AJ-C

Plt Off W Ottley DFC
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 4 March 1922, London [Read more]

Sgt R Marsden
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 8 May 1920, Scarborough, Yorkshire [Read more]

Flg Off J K Barrett DFC
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 9 September 1920, London [Read more]

Sgt J Guterman DFM
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 1 August 1920, Ramsgate, Kent [Read more]

Flt Sgt T B Johnston
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 19 July 1921, Bellshill, Lanarkshire [Read more]

Sgt H J Strange
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 25 April 1923, Birkenhead [Read more]

Sgt F Tees
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid. PoW
Born 16 June 1922, Chichester, Sussex
Died 15 March 1982, Letchworth, Hertfordshire [Read more]

AJ-S

Plt Off L J Burpee DFM
Pilot
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 5 March 1918, Ottawa, Canada [Read more]

Sgt G Pegler
Flight engineer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 27 September 1921, Ringwood, Hampshire [Read more]

Sgt T Jaye
Navigator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 3 October 1922, Crook, Co Durham [Read more]

Plt Off L G Weller
Wireless operator
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 1 September 1915, London [Read more]

Flt Sgt J L Arthur
Bomb aimer
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 3 July 1917, Toronto, Canada [Read more]

Sgt W C A Long
Front gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 11 September 1923, Eastleigh, Hampshire [Read more]

Wrt Off J G Brady
Rear gunner
Killed on Dams Raid
Born 16 April 1916, Ponoka, Alberta, Canada [Read more]

AJ-F

Flt Sgt K W Brown
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded CGM
Born 20 August 1920, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died 23 December 2002, White Rock, British Columbia, Canada [Read more]

Sgt H B Feneron
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 14 May 1920, London
Died 18 November 1993, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire [Read more]

Sgt D P Heal
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 5 August 1916, Portsmouth, Hampshire
Died 7 February 1999, Southampton, Hampshire [Read more]

Sgt H J Hewstone
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 24 July 1909, London
Died 28 May 1980, Havering, Essex [Read more]

Sgt S Oancia
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 5 March 1923, Stonehenge, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died 6 May 1999, Carleton, Ontario, Canada [Read more]

Sgt D Allatson
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 7 November 1923, Eastwood, Essex
KIA 16 September 1943 [Read more]

Flt Sgt G S McDonald
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 20 July 1921, Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada
Died 13 May 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada [Read more]

AJ-O

Flt Sgt W C Townsend DFM
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded CGM
Born 12 January 1921, Gloucestershire
Died 9 April 1991, Bromsgrove, Worcestershire [Read more]

Sgt D J D Powell
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 21 January 1922, Birmingham
KIA 16 September 1943 [Read more]

Plt Off C L Howard
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFC
Born 12 January 1913, Freemantle, Western Australia
Died 26 December 1989, Perth, Western Australia [Read more]

Flt Sgt G A Chalmers
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 12 February 1921, Peterhead, Aberdeenshire
Died 6 August 2002, Harrogate, Yorkshire [Read more]

Sgt C E Franklin DFM
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded Bar to DFM
Born 12 November 1915, London
Died 25 January 1975, Birmingham [Read more]

Sgt D E Webb
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 12 September 1922, London
Died 8 December 1996, Yarmouth, Isle of Wight [Read more]

Sgt R Wilkinson
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Awarded DFM
Born 1 September 1922, South Shields, Tyne and Wear
Died 27 July 1980, Noble Park, Victoria, Australia [Read more]

AJ-Y

Flt Sgt C T Anderson
Pilot
Survived Dams Raid
Born 9 December 1913, Wakefield, Yorkshire
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt R C Paterson
Flight engineer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 20 September 1907, Edinburgh
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt J P Nugent
Navigator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 9 August 1914, Stoney Middleton, Derbyshire
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt W D Bickle
Wireless operator
Survived Dams Raid
Born 6 March 1922, St Ann’s Chapel, Calstock, Cornwall
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt G J Green
Bomb aimer
Survived Dams Raid
Born 13 April 1922, Malling, Kent
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt E Ewan
Front gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 3 January 1922, Wolverhampton
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Sgt A W Buck
Rear gunner
Survived Dams Raid
Born 30 November 1914, London
KIA 23 September 1943 [Read more]

Dortmund Ems Canal Raids: 65th anniversary

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Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 September 1943 were dark, dark days in the history of the new 617 Squadron. It was almost exactly four months since its first operation, the raid on the German dams which had made those who took part famous. 

The squadron was then held back from other operations, apart from a short series of three raids against Italian targets, while RAF top brass decided what to do with it. Then, in late August, a new ‘light case’ 12,000lb bomb became available and 617 Squadron was detailed to use it to attack the Dortmund Ems canal on a low level raid.

It was not a success. On the first night, the raid was aborted due to poor weather conditions over the target and David Maltby’s Lancaster came down in the North Sea – an accident that may have been caused by a collision with a Mosquito from 139 Squadron ‘that shouldn’t have been there‘. All eight on board were killed, and only Maltby’s body was recovered. The following night a further 33 aircrew lost their lives when four further Lancasters crashed or were brought down.  Over the two nights, 13 of those lost were from the crews who had survived the Dams Raid. The rest were men who had missed the first raid through sickness or who had arrived on the squadron as replacements. In terms of casualties, it would be 617 Squadron’s second worst day of the war, after the Dams Raid itself. 

I will be writing more about the Dortmund Ems canal raids next week, but today I would like to give you advance warning of three events which will take place in Kent about the time of this sad 65th anniversary.

 

Waterstone's Canterbury
Waterstone

1. Friday 12 September, 6.30pm

I will be doing a talk at Waterstone’s bookshop, St Margaret Street, Canterbury on David Maltby and his crew. David had many connections with Kent, and I will be showing many photograph, a number of which were not included in my book.

2. Sunday 14 September, 11.30am

The annual event to commemorate David Maltby and his crew takes place on the anniversary of their last flight, at David Maltby’s grave in St Andrew’s Church, Wickhambreaux, Kent. This is organised by the East Kent branch of the Aircrew Association. Members of the Maltby and Hatfeild families also attend each year. Visitors are welcome.

3. Sunday 14 September, all day

A fly-in is being held at Manston Airport, Kent, at which there will be a number of aerial and static displays, other attractions and bookstalls, including one run by your Humble Scribe. If you are in the area, please come and say hello. This event was postponed from the Spring Bank Holiday weekend because of the downpour that took place that day. Let’s hope for better weather this time!

Dams raid: a German eyewitness account

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This moving account of what it was like on the night in May 1943 when 19 Lancaster bombers brought the war to a valley in the Ruhr has been recently published in a New Zealand magazine. The people who still live in the village below the Möhne Dam hold an annual church service, and have published a brochure with personal stories of what happened to them when the dam was breached.

The dignified way in which many Germans continue to remember this particular event, and many others, contrasts with the puerile approach to the war’s key moments which are taken by many Brits. For instance, a recent episode of the BBC Top Gear programme spiced up a motoring competition with its German equivalents with countless references to the war. The series of races were held “in that traditional location for Anglo-German disagreements – Belgium”, the British presenters arrived in three Spitfires, named the teams in one of the races as the “Allies” and the “Axis” and generally behaved like a bunch of upper class football hooligans. 

I await the comments, which I’m sure will come, accusing me of having no sense of humour. Not true… there’ve been many things on TV about the war which I’ve found funny. The classic Carling lager ad is an obvious example, because it’s clever and has a lovely final twist when the flight engineer removes his oxygen mask and speaks. But it isn’t it time we called a halt to boorish remarks about who won the war, especially from people who are too young to have experienced it directly?

Bruce Hosie: any pictures out there?

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I’ve recently been contacted by New Zealander John Saunders, the great-nephew of a 617 Squadron airman from later in the war, Flg Off Bruce Hosie RNZAF. 

Just to say how much I’ve enjoyed your recent book – ‘Breaking the Dams’ – just neat neat stuff. I have read a few of the 617 & Dambusters books but this one has something special – the personal touch I think. Congratulations !
I’m trying to track down a photo of my great-uncle, Bruce Hosie. Bruce was a young Wireless Operator/Gunner on 617 Sqn in 1944 but was killed on the Oct 44 raid on the Kembs Dam down near Basel. He was my grandmother’s younger brother … and is still remembered back home in NZ. He had done a previous tour on 75 Sqn (NZ) and was posted to 617 in Jan 44 – and did most of his time on Jimmy Cooper & then Bob Knight’s crews…he did the first of the Tirpitz raids…then came back from leave to end up on a scratch crew for the Kembs deal. He was shot by the local Nazi Chief after their aircraft crashed in Rheinwheiler and is buried near Metz. 

The Kembs Dam was on the Rhine in the very south of Germany, near a threeway border with both France and Switzerland. The plan was to attack it with the giant Tallboy bombs from both low and high level. Bruce Hosie’s aircraft, which was piloted by Sqn Ldr Wyness, was badly damaged and he ditched in the Rhine, hoping to reach the safety of the Swiss bank. They did not make it, however, and four of the crew were captured. In what was a clear abuse of the Geneva convention all of them were shot by local Nazi chiefs, and their bodies dumped in or near the river.

Unsung heroes

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This article about the man, C H Wood, who supplied night-flying simulation equipment for the Dams Raid, made me think about the dozens of other people, besides Barnes Wallis’s staff and RAF groundcrew, who were involved in Operation Chastise. Roy Chadwick and the Avro staff, for one, Wg Cdr Dann and his bombsight, for another. There were more, and I’d be grateful for any suggestions as to who else deserves credit. The article in the Ilkley Gazette is over a year old, which makes me hope that David Wood has found a satisfactory home for his father’s material.