Cooper - Beyond The Dams To The Tirpitz The Later Operations of the 617 Squadron

Number 617 Squadron had been formed in March 1943 specifically to train for a raid on, and then finally to attack, four dams in the Ruhr Valley. This one operation, which gave undying fame to the squadron and captured the imagination of both civilian and serviceman alike, took place on the night of 16/17 May 1943.

The details of this raid I covered in detail in my first book, The Men who Breached the Dams. On that night a force of nineteen specially adapted four-engined Avro Lancasters, flew to Germany, lost eight of their number but smashed two of the dams, the Mhne and the Eder, and damaged the Sorpe. Fifty-three aircrew died that night while three others were taken captive.

Few other single operations flown by squadrons of Bomber Command are remembered so vividly as this one. The men and the squadron became known universally as The Dam Busters. For 617 Squadron, however, the dams were to become just the first of several special targets that needed special treatment.

The squadron had been formed under the leadership of Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, DSO & bar, DFC & bar. When given the task he had just completed a third tour of operations, two on bombers and one on night fighters. The Dams Raid had been his 74th bombing mission since the war began.

Following the euphoria of their successful attack, 617 Squadron were stood down from operations and Guy Gibson informed that he had done enough. The award of the Victoria Cross was his reward for his superb leadership and heroism during the raid itself. He was still only twenty-four years old and now the most highly decorated operational pilot in the Royal Air Force.

The squadron had been manned by a number of men who had just completed or had nearly completed bomber tours or recently begun second tours, plus a few who had, on average, almost a third of a tour under their belt. It was obvious that with such a nucleus of experienced men with success just behind them, 617 would not be immediately disbanded and its men returned to their former units, or go off to begin instructing at Operational Training Units. The majority stayed. However Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson and his crew decided to return to 49 Squadron on 3rd June. They did not locate their target the Sorpe Dam and had flown home with their Special Bomb. They were replaced by Flying Officer W.H. Kellaway, DSO, in from 149 Squadron at the end of the month.

The survivors of the Dams Raid who stayed on with 617 were an experienced bunch, Micky Martin, at twenty-five, held the DSO and DFC and had flown a total of 36 bombing operations since late 1941, with both 455 and 50 Squadrons. David Maltby, DSO, DFC, aged twenty-three, he and his crew had completed a tour with 106 and 97 Squadrons. Les Knight, an Australian like Martin, had a DSO and a tour with 50 Squadron behind him. He was twenty-two Another Australian was Dave Shannon, whose youthful looks belied his twenty-one years of age, (he had been only twenty on the Dams Raid, his 21st birthday occurring on 27th May, ten days later) his DSO and DFC, with a tour with Guy Gibsons 106 Squadron a tour of 36 ops.

Joe McCarthy, a member of the RCAF was in fact an American, from New York, was twenty-three, and also held the DSO and DFC. He had flown on the first 1,000 Bomber raids while still at OTU, then gone on to complete a tour with 106 Squadron, then started a second tour with 97 Squadron before being picked to fly with 617. Geoff Rice, DFC, twenty-six, had flown his tour with 57 Squadron but on the Dams Raid had had the misfortune to lose his bomb when he hit the sea on his way out to the enemy coast and had to abort. Les Munro, DSO, DFC was a New Zealander aged twenty-four. A member of the RNZAF he flew his tour with 97 Squadron. Bill Townsend, aged twenty-two, from Gloucester, had won the DFM with 49 Squadron, and been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Medal for the Dams attack, and had recently been commissioned. Ken Brown, a Canadian, had also won the CGM for the Dams Raid. He was twenty-two and had only just begun a tour with 44 Squadron before coming to 617. Two pilots who had missed the actual raid, had been Harold Wilson, who had joined the squadron from 57 Squadron and who was twenty-eight, and 23-year-old Bill Divall, also in from 57 Squadron.