Dams Raid crews

The Dam Busters: an almost complete picture

charlesfoster9 Comments

BBC pictureboard

Greig Watson and his colleagues at BBC online have been slaving away for the last few weeks trying to get a complete pictureboard of all 133 aircrew who took part in the Dams Raid.
Believe it or not, a display of this type has never been published before, and they deserve huge credit just for taking on the work.
However there are a few gaps, and the Beeb is very keen to find a relative somewhere who can help find a picture of the missing aircrew. All of them are British, so there should be a good chance that together we can complete the jigsaw.
Here are the missing photos:
David Horsfall (Now found!)
John Marriott (Now found!)
Michael Fuller (Now found!)
John Kinnear (Now found!)
Alan Gillespie (Now found!)
Robert Marsden (Now found!)
Jack Barrett (Now found!)
Thomas Johnston (Now found!)
Harry Strange (Now found!)
Daniel Allatson (Now found!
Dennis Powell (Now found!)
Norman Burrows (Now found!)

If you are related to any of these men, or know of a source for a picture of them, please let me know (leave a comment below or send me a private email) , or log onto the BBC site and send them the details.

(I can claim a modest part in this work, having helped the BBC with some of the picture research.)

The Dams Raid: complete list of all participants

charlesfoster9 Comments

Grantham 0003 fly order small

During the next nineteen weeks I will be publishing an article about each one of the 133 aircrew from 617 Squadron who took part in the Dams Raid (Operation Chastise) on 16/17 May 1943, at the rate of one a day. These will be titled ‘Dambuster of the Day’.

Above is shown the order for the operation as it appeared on squadron noticeboards on the morning of the raid. For security reasons it was merely titled ‘Night Flying Programme’. The typed programme was kept by Squadron Adjutant Flt Lt Harry Humphries, and is now in the possession of Lincolnshire Libraries.

Each article will include links to other material online about each man, and I hope that readers will add further links in the comments on each piece. In that way, the blog entries will serve as a tribute to all the people who took part, in this the 70th anniversary year.

A complete list of the 133 also appears below.

The names appear in the order of the three designated ‘waves’: the first tasked to attack the Möhne and Eder dams, the second to attack the Sorpe, and the third the mobile reserve. Each aircraft in the wave is then listed in the order it finally took off, which differs slightly from the list in the programme above.

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  [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]

All smiles at Avro

charlesfoster1 Comment

Sometime in late 1943 or early 1944, a number of 617 Squadron aircrew flew up to the Avro works near Manchester. A historic picture taken in the boardroom has recently come to light.

All of the 617 Squadron personnel were in Mick Martin and Joe McCarthy’s Dams Raid crews. They have been identified by Alex Bateman in a post on the RAF Commands forum. Only some of the Avro staff have been identified, including the fitter, Mr Hickson, whose son inherited the photograph. It looks as though the fitters involved were not given much notice as they all appear to be in their working clothes.

Left to right: John Fielding (Avro research manager), Tammy Simpson, Toby Foxlee, Don MacLean, Dave Rodger, Teddy Fielding (Avro production director), (unknown Avro worker), Bill Radcliffe, Joe McCarthy, Mr Hickson (Avro fitter), Ivan Whittaker, (unknown Avro worker), (unknown Avro worker), Mick Martin and (unknown Avro worker). The two Fieldings at Avro were unrelated.

Please get in touch if you can identify any of the unknown Avro personnel.

Photo credit: Ken Hickson via Peter Cunliffe, author A Shaky Do – The Skoda works raid 16/17th April 1943

The race to smash the German dams

charlesfoster5 Comments

James Holland’s film, shown on BBC2 last Tuesday night, is available for UK viewers to watch again on iPlayer until Saturday 19 November. Follow this link.

So far, I can’t find any reviews posted online, but I have come across an interesting preview article in the New Statesman in which Guy Walters argues that Holland completely counters the “revisionist” view that the Dams Raid actually achieved very little. According to Walters:

The raid was in fact a triumph, and did an enormous amount of damage. After studying the German archives, Holland shows that: “…not only were two major dams completely destroyed, so too were seven railway bridges, eighteen road bridges, four water turbine power stations and three steam turbine power stations, while in the Ruhr Valley alone, eleven factories were completely destroyed and a further 114 damaged, many severely. Vast tracts of land had also been devastated by the tidal waves that had thundered up to eighty miles from the dams.”
Such damage can hardly be considered “little of substance”.
Furthermore, Holland completely skewers the argument that as the dams were quickly rebuilt, the damage was therefore not that great. The whole point of their swift reconstruction “underlines just how important they were to Germany”, and the men and material required had to be diverted from elsewhere.
Holland also argues that the destruction of the dams struck a huge psychological blow against the Germans, as these were structures that were venerated as triumphs of the country’s might and technical knowhow. In short, the raid was indeed a catastrophe for Nazi Germany, and a triumph for the British.
Holland’s analysis will no doubt draw its detractors, perhaps inspired by a politically fashionable thinking that seeks to denigrate just about every British success during the Second World War. Of course, there was much that we got wrong, but we also got many things spectacularly right.

In my view, Holland’s programme was a well researched and presented documentary. There were interviews with three of the four surviving Dambusters – Les Munro, Grant McDonald and George “Johnny” Johnson – and a good use of far flung written source material, such as Charlie Williams’ letters, which are in archives in Queensland, Australia.

Perhaps the point that came across most strongly was the airmanship involved. Flying a 30 ton aircraft a thousand miles through hostile territory just 100 feet above the ground required enormous concentration, exceptional skill and tremendous luck. When you consider the odds it is no real surprise that eight of the 19 aircraft failed to return. And no surprise, either, that this tactic was only used sparingly in the rest of the war.

With so much already written and broadcast about the Dams Raid it is not surprising that little new information emerged. But that shouldn’t detract from what was a thorough film, mercifully lacking most of the frills and tricks which many documentary directors nowadays feel it necessary to add. Catch it again on iPlayer while it is still available!

Dambuster mothers in 1955

charlesfoster1 Comment

I mentioned in an earlier post the Pathé newsreel shot at the premiere of The Dam Busters in 1955. Four middle-aged women are shown being presented to Princess Margaret, and are identified only as the mothers of four aircrew who died on the Dams Raid. I’ve now done a screengrab of each of these, in the hope that someone out there may be able to identify a grandmother or great aunt.

Please get in touch if you recognise any of these.

Great turnout for Kent Dambuster salute

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Crowds at the graveside of Sqn Ldr David Maltby. Photo: Ady Kerry

The country’s only flying Lancaster couldn’t make an appearance, but a couple of hundred people were not deterred, and made Saturday’s tribute to the crew of Dams Raid Lancaster AJ-J in Wickhambreaux, Kent, a very special occasion.

The village churchyard contains the grave of pilot David Maltby, whose body was the only one recovered from the North Sea when the aircraft he was flying crashed on 15 September 1943. Every year, local people gather to commemorate David and the rest of his crew, who have no known grave. This year, we were privileged to be joined by representatives of the families of three of other crew members, John Fort (bomb aimer), William Hatton (flight engineer) and Victor Hill (front gunner).

As well as the graveside tribute, a small exhibition took place in the Village Hall, which was opened by the Sheriff of Canterbury, Cllr Hazel McCabe.

Obviously, people were disappointed that the Lancaster was prevented from flying by high winds (foreshadowing Monday’s gales in the wake of Hurricane Katia) but that did not prevent a very impressive turnout, and a poignant and moving service, led by the Vicar, the Revd Chris Wilkinson.

Many thanks to all who came, and to Revd Chris Wilkinson, the Wickhambreaux Parish Council, the Village Hall Committee, the Sheriff of Canterbury and the Rose Inn for their help.

Peter Fort, great nephew of Flg Off John Fort, his two daughters, and Rene Hopkins, sister of Sgt William Hatton.

Valerie Ashton, daughter of Flt Sgt Victor Hill.

George Foster, nephew of Sqn Ldr David Maltby. Photo: Ady Kerry

The Vicar of Littlebourne, Revd Chris Wilkinson, conducting the graveside tribute. Photo: Ady Kerry

Charles Foster, nephew of Sqn Ldr David Maltby. Photo: Ady Kerry

Read all about it, North American style

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My friend Dominic Howard sent me these pictures a while back and I have been so busy I forgot to post them on the blog! Better late than never, so here they are. They are original editions of the Winnipeg Free Press and Baltimore News-Post newspapers from May 1943, containing the first reports of the Dams Raid. You can see high resolution scans of both newspapers in Dom’s Photobucket pages — here for Winnipeg and here for Baltimore.

Dom is the great nephew of Cyril Anderson, the pilot of AJ-Y on the Dams Raid. Cyril had been transferred from 49 Squadron to 617 Squadron on 25 March, along with his crew. On the raid, his aircraft AJ-Y was part of the third wave, the mobile reserve, and was eventually dispatched to the Sorpe Dam. He encountered heavy flak en route and had a problem with a malfunctioning rear gun. So at 0310, with dawn approaching and the valleys filling with mist, he turned back while still short of the target. He landed at Scampton at 0530, with his mine still on board.

Guy Gibson was not pleased with the fact that he had returned without dropping the mine and, taking no notice of the other extenuating circumstances, sent Cyril and his crew back to 49 Squadron.  Many researchers now feel that Gibson was unfair on Cyril, and that he was poorly treated by being removed from 617 Squadron.

Cyril and his crew completed another 15 operations in 49 Squadron until on a raid on Mannheim on 23/24 September 1943 they were shot down by a German night fighter and killed. The night fighter pilot was Lt Heinz Grimm, who was himself killed a few weeks later.

Dominic has an account of this final operation to Mannheim, and his trip to Germany to investigate the crash on his website, www.lancasterbombers.com

Hello, good evening and welcome

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If this is your first visit to the only Dambusters blog on the interwebnet, you are very welcome. You may well have arrived here after watching the Channel 4 documentary on Monday 2 May, in which modern engineers rebuilt a working ‘bouncing bomb’. This was previewed in various articles, one of which you can see here from the Daily Telegraph.
This blog tries to keep people up to date with Dambusters news from around the world. And because WordPress tells me the search questions which people have asked to arrive at the blog I know that there are two subjects which are likely to be uppermost in your mind.

1. What is happening to the remake of The Dam Busters?
Back in 2006 the producer Peter Jackson announced that he was to remake the classic 1955 film, The Dam Busters. A director, Christian Rivers, was assigned to the project, and a script was commissioned from British national treasure Stephen Fry. Jackson and several other sources have said several times that the project is still ongoing. The script is finished, at least one full size model Lancaster has been built, and test filming has been undertaken. But the Jackson team, based in his native New Zealand, are currently preoccupied with several other projects, notably The Hobbit, and it is now quite obvious that The Dam Busters is lower down the schedule than they have let on.

Lancaster full size model, shown to the press in July 2009

2. How many of the original Dam Busters are still alive?
I am happy to report that four of the aircrew who took part in the raid in May 1943 are alive and well. One, Grant MacDonald, who lives in Vancouver, Canada, visited the Windfall Films/Channel 4 team while they were making the documentary last October. He was the rear gunner in Ken Brown’s crew in AJ-F. Also living in Canada is Fred Sutherland, front gunner in the crew which dropped the bomb which broke the Eder Dam, Les Knight’s AJ-N. The only pilot still with us is Les Munro, who captained AJ-W on the raid. He lives in his native New Zealand, and has been reported as being involved in the Jackson remake project as a technical advisor. And finally, of course, there is George (“Johnny”) Johnson, bomb aimer in Joe McCarthy’s AJ-T, who lives in Devon and who was interviewed for the C4 documentary..

My own involvement in the Dambusters story is that my uncle, David Maltby, was the pilot of AJ-J on the raid, and dropped the fifth ‘bouncing bomb’ which made the final breach in the Möhne Dam. He and his entire crew were killed four months later, returning from an aborted attack on the Dortmund Ems Canal. David is buried in St Andrew’s Church in Wickhambreaux, Kent. You can read more about David and his crew on my other website, or in my book, Breaking the Dams, which was published in May 2008.

Flog It flayed by Dambuster son

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Flg Off Brian Goodale was the wireless operator in David Shannon’s crew on the Dams Raid. As were most of Shannon’s crew, he was a bit older and more experienced than his pilot, and already had a DFC for completing a tour of operations. He had an unusual nickname, which is explained the first time he appears in Paul Brickhill’s 1951 book, The Dam Busters: ‘Brian Goodale, the wireless op, was so tall and thin and bent he was known universally as “Concave”.’ (p.80).

He makes other appearances in the book, most notably as the victim of a debagging prank in the train to London, the day before the 33 aircrew decorated for the Dams Raid received their awards at Buckingham Palace. To preserve his modesty in the presence of several WAAF officers, the partially dressed Goodale was shut in a train lavatory while the adjutant Harry Humphries persuaded the men playing cards in another compartment to return his trousers.

Brian Goodale stayed on in the RAF after the war, rising to the rank of Squadron Leader. He was a frequent attender of 617 Squadron reunions, and his copy of The Dam Busters became a treasured possession, containing the autographs of many of his erstwhile comrades.

When he left the RAF in 1961, he worked first for Plessey. In the late 1960s he became sales manager of the aircraft and armaments manufacturer, Short Brothers and Harland, who were based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. This necessitated a family move to this small town, 10 miles from Belfast at the top of the picturesque Strangford Lough.

Before this move took place, Brian Goodale stayed at a small hotel in the town called the Devonshire Arms. At some point in this stay, he lent his signed copy of The Dam Busters to the landlord. As his son, Simon Goodale, says: ‘My father was always lending the book to people who were interested in it, but up till then they always gave it back.’

The Goodale family – Brian, his wife and their two teenage boys – settled into a house in the town and Simon went to a local school. According to Simon, when his father went back to the hotel to look for his book: ‘The landlord at first said that he had lent it to somebody else and then said that he had lost it.’ He went back several more times in the years that followed, but each time the landlord told him the same story.

Years passed. The Goodales moved back to England, after five years living in Newtownards, and then in 1977 Brian Goodale died of cancer aged just 57. Simon assumed that the book was lost and never thought about it until one day recently a colleague told him that he had seen a TV programme about his father. He dismissed this information at first, thinking that he was talking about a rerun of The Dam Busters film, or something similar, but the colleague persisted, telling him that his father was mentioned by name.

The programme turned out to be a repeat of an episode of the auction-based series ‘Flog It’ where BBC experts ‘invite the public to have their ‘antiques and family heirlooms valued for free at one of our valuation days. If you’re interested in selling them, our experts will consider putting them into auction and flogging them for you. You could end up on television and with a tidy sum in your pocket.’

On this particular episode a woman called Vanessa Farnham turned up with the ‘lost’ signed copy of The Dam Busters, and told the interviewer that she had known ‘Concave’ Goodale when he had stayed at her parents’ hotel in Northern Ireland. He had left the book behind, she said, when he went off without paying his bill. She had had the book for sometime, but had now decided to sell it. The experts advised her that it was certainly worth several hundred pounds.

The book duly went for auction in September last year, as I noted on this blog at the time. Vanessa Farnham had contacted the blog to tell us about the auction, saying that the book ‘was owned by Brian Goodale’. She wrote again after the auction saying the book had sold for £900, less commission. She was sad to see it go, she said, because she had just got to know it. ‘However,’ she added ‘our little story of Concave is now “out there” ’.

When Simon Goodale saw the repeat of the programme, he was greatly concerned that his father was portrayed as someone down on his luck who had left a hotel bill unpaid. He points out that the family lived in Newtownards for five years, and that Brian Goodale had an important job with a well known local firm. The local press had carried several articles about him, so the idea that he could not be traced about an unpaid bill was absurd. He also knew that his father had been annoyed that his book, which he had lent to the landlord in good faith, had apparently been mislaid.

Simon has now persuaded the BBC to remove the Flog It episode from the iPlayer facility and is seeking an apology from the newspapers which ran a similar story about his father. However, he accepts that he is unlikely to get the book back, since it was bought in good faith by a collector in Deal.

UPDATE, 5 April 2011: I informed Vanessa Farnham that I was publishing this story, and she sent me the following comments: ‘This is obviously a difficult situation as it is one person’s version of events against another’s… I was about 17 when Brian Goodale stayed in our Hotel and have a distinct memory of him. As I said in the programme he was a very “special chap”. I remember he was returning to collect his family to return to N. Ireland. However he did leave and did not take his belongings nor did he settle his bill. I clearly remember standing in his room thinking how strange as I had really liked him and I remember thinking how big his shoes were as I packed his stuff… We never saw Brian again! the book stayed on the bookshelves of our subsequent hotels and certainly wasn’t “mislaid” and has a stamp from the Gull Cottage Hotel clearly visible in the front cover. So anyone could have taken it over the years. My Dad was not a literary man, nor a war hero, but he was a well known and respected Businessman in Newtownards, he was President of the local Rugby Club and a member of the Lions Club, the book was never secreted. The fact that Brian returned “again and again” is not as I remember it as I was fond of him and would have recalled this.It was no way implied that Brian was down on his luck, just that it was a Mystery. I am very sad that this has happened.’

FURTHER UPDATE, 7 April 2011: In her earlier email, Mrs Farnham also informed me that her brother is the same age as Simon Goodale, and was in the same form at school.
Simon Goodale has written to me again, commenting on her statement. He says: “As I have stated before there is no reason why my father would have not paid the bill — he was a well paid businessman and if the story was really true why didn’t Mrs Farnham’s father alert the police? After all it was during the troubles and my father was in the armoured car business. Aren’t landlords supposed to alert the police if somebody goes missing from a hotel? The last time my father stayed in the hotel was when I and my mother stayed there while waiting for our furniture to arrive from England, not as she is saying. I do recall Mrs Farnham’s brother being at the same school, but surely this just supports my side of things that my dad did not disappear, and he was known to be in Newtownards. Nobody in their right mind would have left this very personal book behind, it just doesn’t add up and simply would not, and did not, happen in the way Mrs Farnham says.”
Mrs Farnham’s comment in the earlier update would indicate that the so-called “unpaid bill” incident refers to the time that Brian Goodale stayed on his own in the hotel, before his family came over to Newtownards from England. However, as Simon says, his mother and father and himself all stayed there again some time later, when they had moved over to Northern Ireland, but were waiting for the furniture to arrive.
Mrs Farnham has no explanation as to what happened to the book while the Goodale family were in the hotel on a second visit. Nor can she say why her father failed to contact Mr Goodale about his uncollected belongings, when he must have known he was working for one of the town’s big employers.
This story has caused great distress to the Goodale family, and an apology for this would seem to be the least that should be offered.

Guilty as charged!

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Well, I might as well admit it. I noticed a posting over on the RAF Commands forum about some confusion over the number of the Lancaster flown by Sqn Ldr Melvin Young on the Dams Raid. The writer asked why it was numbered ED877 when he thought this was the aircraft from 156 Squadron in which his uncle was killed when it was shot down on 5 May 1943.
He was soon advised of the correct information – Young’s aircraft was in fact number ED887/G. As the original poster noted, a glance at Google shows that there are many hundreds of references to the wrong number all over the interwebnet – and many of them are down to me.


Oh dear. I had better confess to the mistake.  All I can say in my defence is that I took the number from the list in John Sweetman’s magisterial book, The Dams Raid. Other authors have made the same mistake, I notice. I shan’t name them, but I will note that the earliest source I could have consulted, Bruce Robertson’s Lancaster – the Story of a Famous Bomber, is of course correct. And so is the list in Alex Bateman’s No 617 Squadron (Osprey, 2009) – although you would expect nothing less from such a meticulous researcher as Alex.