Flt Sgt Stanley Henderson DFM

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I’ve only recently been informed about the death of another 617 Squadron veteran from the latter part of the Second World War, Stanley Henderson. He was the flight engineer in Plt Off Castagnola’s crew on a number of operations with 617 Squadron, including the successful attack on the Tirpitz in November 1944. His daughter Alison sent me this notice from the Canadian press:

HENDERSON, Stanley James. November 01, 1921-September 27, 2010. It is with great sadness that we, the family of Stanley (known as Chick to his family and friends), announce his passing on September 27, 2010 after a very long and courageous battle with cancer. Stan is survived by his loving wife of 58 years and best friend, Pearl; his son Peter Henderson (Monica); his two daughters Alison Zawada (Ron), and Janine Henderson; his two grandsons, Tyler and Colby Zawada; and other family members and friends. Born in England, Stan was a distinguished member of the famed RAF 617 Squadron (Dambusters) and a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Medal. After retiring from the RAF, and emigrating to Canada in 1963, he worked for many years for the Canadian Tire Corporation. Then, after his second retirement, and moving to British Columbia, Stan took on the role of the President of the British Columbia Aviation Museum. Stan loved his time spent there and the camaraderie that came with this role. Stan was an extremely devoted husband and father, who lived for his family, always putting them first in everything he did. They were his life, and he their rock. Stan will be greatly missed by all of his family, and all of those who came to know and love him. The family would like to thank everyone at Saanich Peninsula Hospital, the Cancer Clinic, Dr. Spencer and Dr. Cuthburt for helping him through the fight of his life. A service in remembrance of Stan will be held 2 p.m. Thursday, 07 October 2010 at the British Columbia Aviation Museum, Sydney, BC. The family would appreciate that donations in his memory, in lieu of flowers, be made to the Saanich Peninsula Hospital or the British Columbia Aviation Museum.

Radio surprise

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Pic: Vintage Radio Australia

Well, this is extraordinary! A radio adaptation of Paul Brickhill’s The Dam Busters in 26 half hour episodes, produced by ‘Australasian Radio’ in 1954, and introduced by Brickhill himself. I have to say that I never even knew this existed. As, at the moment, I don’t have 13 hours to spare to listen to every episode I’m unable to tell you a whole lot more, but stabbing around, I discovered that the raid itself is covered in Episode 6. The raid is observed almost entirely from inside Gibson’s aircraft, and the Möhne Dam is breached by the third aircraft attacking, so you could say that a certain amount of latitude has been taken with what happened in real life. There are other scenes back at Grantham and Scampton, with Air Marshal Harris’s attempts to ring the White House treated as a series of comic turns with hapless switchboard operators and annoyed hotel proprietors. The sound quality is however excellent, so I’d be fascinated to know in which vaults this has been lying for over 50 years.
[Hat tip to Oggie at Lancaster Archive, who also cites Wings Over New Zealand, although I can’t find any mention there.]

Downhill all the way

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Sad decline in standards at the Daily Express. Here is a paper which once seemed never to have left the Second World War period, but which now employs writers (or sub-editors) who don’t have its essential facts and figures at their fingertips. Above is a screengrab from a preview article for a TV programme which appeared over the Christmas period, under the byline of one Adam Edwards. One problem, Mr Edwards – the RAF never had a 633 Squadron. The number was used for a fictional squadron, in a film of the same name, which was made in 1964… Perhaps you got the music muddled up?

Tony Iveson on Desert Island Discs

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The first Desert Island Discs castaway of 2011 was an old friend of this blog, Sqn Ldr Tony Iveson. Now aged 90, he has recently been involved in the campaign for a permanent memorial for the 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew who died on active service during the war. In fact his first wartime operations were in Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain. He later retrained as a bomber pilot and joined 617 Squadron a few months after the Dams Raid. He took part in three attacks on the Tirpitz, including the final one in November 1944, where the battleship was sunk after three direct hits from the Barnes Wallis-designed Tallboy bombs, dropped by crews from both 617 and 9 Squadron.
Just over a year ago, Tony Iveson flew again in a Lancaster, courtesy of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, and took the controls for a while. (I blogged about it at the time, reproducing the fine article which appeared in the Daily Telegraph.)
He discussed this experience on the radio, and told many other anecdotes about his fascinating and full life. You have until Sunday 9 January to listen again on the BBC Desert Island Discs web page, so take a look.

Happy New Year!

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As usual, I saw in the New Year in the company of Jools Holland and his merry band of Hootenayers. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that there weren’t quite the usual range of old R’n’B stars belting out catchy soul numbers. However, towards the end of the evening the ‘sound artist’ Henry Dagg performed a familiar tune on a previously unknown instrument. (Courtesy of Youtube)

Er, yes, I think it is…

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One of the humdrum tasks in writing a blog is checking and deleting the spam which WordPress’s Akismet software has flagged up as ‘possible’. This is normally a tedious task. No thank you, I don’t want any of your organ enhancement projects, nor do I want to meet a new Russian lady friend. But occasionally they make me laugh, which is what happened today. Step forward a gentleman by the name of Mister Pikavippi, who wanted to tell me:

I have infer from a scarcely any of the articles on your website trendy, and I definitely like your fashionableness of blogging. I added it to my favorites net age list and disposition be checking assist soon. Will report register into public notice my orientation as well and fail me conscious what you think. Thanks.

I couldn’t have expressed it better myself.

Just the thing for the cold snap

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At the moment, Britain and Ireland are both experiencing the second bout of severe weather conditions in ten months, with temperatures some nights down to -19C. If you have a flat roof, you could be running the risk of water damage as and when the thaw comes. What you need is a Dambuster Deicer, available right now from the manufacturer, in Sicklerville, New Jersey, USA, or usual stockists. A good Christmas present for that uncle who likes DIY?

 

Shorty’s key raises £1750

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It’s a completely unique artifact, of course, but you do wonder what the lucky purchaser is going to do with it… It’s the key which was used to unlock the mechanism on the only ‘live’ practice flight with the bouncing bomb, which was undertaken by Sqn Ldr M V (‘Shorty’) Longbottom on 13 May 1943.
Longbottom was an experienced RAF pilot who at that time was attached to Vickers Armstrong for test flying. He was killed in a flying accident in January 1945, while testing a new aircraft for Vickers.
His medals, and a lot of other archive material, was recently sold by Dominic Winter Auctions.
This is how Longbottom’s successful test of the Upkeep weapon is described in John Sweetman’s The Dambusters Raid (Cassell, 2002, p.94.):

Abandoning Reculver for security reasons, [Longbottom] flew south-west to north-east and dropped a Torpex-filled and fully armed Upkeep from 75ft five miles off Broadstairs. Spinning at 500rpm, it bounced seven times over ‘almost 800 yards’ without deviation. For this trial the theodolite camera was positioned ashore on the North Foreland almost broadside to the aircraft’s track, and Handasyde [another test pilot] flew the other Lancaster at 1,000ft and 1,000 yards away from Longbottom, with two cameramen aboard to operate the normal-speed camera. Handasyde had Gibson as observer, and Wynter-Morgan flew in Longbottom’s rear turret to watch the behaviour of the mine after release as it slowed to 55mph behind the aircraft.
The film of this test showed that the water-spout when the mine exploded rose to about 500ft above Handasyde’s aircraft, and the estimated depth of detonation was about 33ft. For all concerned the day was eminently successful.

New 617 Squadron memorial at Woodhall Spa

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The 617 Squadron Aircrew Association has asked for the following press release to be posted on this blog:

NEW MEMORIAL FOR DAMBUSTERS SQUADRON
In the centre of Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire, wartime home of No. 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force, “The Dambusters”, stands a memorial in the form of a breached dam, commemorating the names of those members of the Squadron who gave their lives during the Second World War
Since the end of that conflict over 30 additional members of the Squadron have died serving their country either with the Squadron or other units.
To commemorate these post-WW II servicemen, the No. 617 Squadron Aircrew Association will erect a second memorial on a site adjacent to their wartime memorial.
The memorial will take the form of a 3 metre high black granite pyramid, its form echoing the wing form of two of the aircraft flown post-war by the Squadron – the Vulcan and Tornado.
A projecting triangular pediment will carry the Squadron badge and the inscription “In Memory of all members of No. 617 Sqn RAF who gave their lives since 1945 in the service of their country.  We will remember them”
The polished side faces of the pyramid will contain inset red glass lightning flashes, the symbol carried today on the Squadron’s Tornado aircraft, and will be inscribed with the Squadron’s post-war Battle Honours of  “Gulf 1991” and  “Iraq 2003”
The Memorial has been created by Sylvia Waugh, a local Lincolnshire designer, winner of a competition organised for final year students by the University of Lincoln and will be constructed by a Lincolnshire-based monumental mason.
Planning permission has been obtained and the No. 617 Squadron Aircrew Association is now launching a public appeal to raise the £25,000 required to bring this project to completion.
Donations may be made to ‘No. 617 Squadron Aircrew Association’ and sent to Group Captain D G Robertson, Chairman, 617 Sqn Aircrew Association,8 Thorold Way, Harmston, Lincoln LN5 9GJ