After the Flood

Page 37

by John Nichol

62 http://www.smh.com.au/comment/obituaries/bomber-pilot-captured-tirpitzs-demise-20110816-1iw9r.html#ixzz2vwI8GmM9

63 Arthur Ward, ‘With Tait to the Tirpitz’, Après Moi!, Summer 2010

64 Frank Tilley, interview with the author

65 Private papers of J. B. Tait, quoted in Patrick Bishop, Target Tirpitz

66 ibid.

67 Bob Barry, quoted in Colin Burgess, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’

68 Bernard ‘Barney’ Gumbley, letters supplied by John Gumbley

CHAPTER 14 THE LAST CHRISTMAS?

1 Arthur Joplin, interview with the author

2 Frank Tilley, interview with the author

3 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

4 Benny Goodman, interview with the author

5 Ken Gill, personal letters supplied by his son Derek Gill

6 Tony Iveson, Lancaster: The Biography

7 ibid., and interview with the author

8 Murray Vagnolini, interview with the author

9 John Pryor, Bergen, 12 Jan 1944, personal account supplied by Rob Owen, Official 617 Squadron Association Historian

10 Colin Cole, interview with the author

11 Quoted in Ken Delve and Peter Jacobs, The Six-Year Offensive

12 ibid.

13 Karel Margry, ‘The Bielefeld Viaduct’, After the Battle, No. 79, 1993

14 ibid.

15 John Langston, interview with the author

16 Colin Cole, interview with the author

17 John Langston, interview with the author

18 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

19 Murray Vagnolini, interview with the author

20 ‘Dropped 10-Tonner on Huns’, Illustrated London News, 24 March 1945

21 Murray Vagnolini, interview with the author

22 H. E. Wakefield DFC, IWM Documents 15411

23 Karel Margry, ‘The Bielefeld Viaduct’, After the Battle, No. 79, 1993

24 Axel Frick, Bielefeld Viaduct Civilian Accounts

25 H. E. Wakefield DFC, IWM Documents 15411

26 Don Day, quoted in Colin Burgess, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’

27 Benny Goodman, interview with the author

28 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

29 Colin Burgess, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’

30 Werner Buhner, Civilian Accounts of the Bombing of the Arnsberg Viaduct

31 ibid.

32 Bob Barry, quoted in Colin Burgess, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’

33 Letter, Air Secretary to L. Gumbley, 7 January 1949

34 John Gumbley, letter to Sydney Grimes, 2005

35 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

CHAPTER 15 THE FINAL DAYS

1 http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007390

2 Email correspondence with Michelle Callan

3 Bob Barry, quoted in Colin Burgess, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’

4 ibid.

5 Email correspondence with Michelle Callan

6 Murray Vagnolini, interview with the author

7 David R. Ware, IWM Sound 24932

8 ibid.

9 Boleslaw Henryk Drobinski, IWM Sound 12892

10 Tony Iveson, interview with the author

11 Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt, The Bomber Command War Diaries

12 Les Munro, interview with the author

13 Chris Ward, Dambusters: The Forging of a Legend

14 http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/commandlosses.html

CHAPTER 16 COUNTING THE COST

1 Frank Tilley, interview with the author

2 Hansard, 6 March 1945

3 Henry Probert, Bomber Harris

4 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

5 Colin Cole, interview with the author

6 George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, interview with the author

7 ‘Major Nick Knilans’, obituary, Daily Telegraph, 27 June 2012

8 Correspondence with Jan Cheney

9 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/ottawacitizen/obituary.aspx?n=donald-cheney&pid=172298644

10 Don Cheney, interview with the author

11 Fred Sutherland, interview with the author

12 http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/05/17/a-real-suicide-run-70-years-after-the-dambusters-raid-an-airman-tells-remarkable-tale/

13 Sydney Grimes, interview with the author

14 Derek Gill, correspondence with the author

15 George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, interview with the author

16 Lawrence Wesley Curtis, IWM Sound 92111

17 Letter from Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris, 18 April 1980, RAF Museum, Hendon

Sources and Bibliography

(IWM: Imperial War Museum)

PERSONAL INTERVIEWS WITH THE AUTHOR

John Bell

Don, Gladys and Jan Cheney

Colin Cole

David Fellowes

Basil Fish

Lawrence ‘Benny’ Goodman

Sydney and Iris Grimes

Gerry Hobbs

Tony Iveson

George ‘Johnny’ Johnstone

Arthur Joplin

John Langston

Les Munro

Klaus Rohwedder

Fred Sutherland

Frank Tilley

Murray Valentine (Vagnolini)

Russell ‘Rusty’ Waughman

PERSONAL PAPERS AND DOCUMENTS

Air Secretary to L. Gumbley, 7 January 1949, 5/2/5451 PRS

Brookes, Mrs M., ‘A WAAF’s Tale’, 2 July 1993, IWM 93/22/1

Buhner, Werner, Civilian Accounts of the Bombing of the Arnsberg Viaduct

‘Damn Busters’ dinner menu, RAF Museum, Hendon, AC 96/12

Frick, Axel, Bielefeld Viaduct Civilian Accounts

Gill, Ken, letters and correspondence with relatives

Gumbley, Bernard ‘Barney’, letters and correspondence with relatives

Gumbley, John, letter to Sydney Grimes, 2005

Harris, Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’, letter to 617 Squadron Reunion, 18 April 1980, RAF Museum, Hendon

Hebbard, Loftus, correspondence with relatives

Hobbs, G. H., IWM Documents 1839

Holt, A. A., IWM Documents 8597

Knilans, Nick, ‘A Yank in the RCAF’, private memoir, RAF Museum

Muirhead, Campbell, diary

Pryor, John, personal recollections supplied by Robert Owen, Official 617 Squadron Association Historian

Wakefield, H. E., DFC, IWM Documents 15411

Walsh, J., IWM Documents 12812

Wilshire, Cyril ‘Charlie’, correspondence with relatives

AUDIO RECORDINGS

Bickley, Wilfred George, IWM Sound 14588

Briars, Ralph Algernon, IWM Sound 13924

Curtis, Lawrence Wesley, IWM Sound 92111

Cheshire, Geoffrey Leonard, IWM Sound 9861

Drobinski, Boleslaw Henryk, IWM Sound 12892

Hamilton, Malcolm Lennox, IWM Sound 18264

Hobday, Harold Sydney, IWM Sound 7298

Johnson, Edward Cuthbert, IWM Sound 8204

Kearns, Richard Stansfield Derek, IWM Sound 9302

Knights, Robert Edgar, IWM Sound 9208

Munro, John Leslie, IWM Sound 33077

Poore, Arthur Frank, IWM Sound 20261

Reid, William ‘Bill’, IWM Sound 4993

Sanders, John Aelred, IWM Sound 14803

Shannon, David John, IWM Sound 8177

Tait, James Brian ‘Willie’, IWM Sound 2519

Ware, David R., IWM Sound 24932

Watts, Frederick Henry Arthur, IWM 21029

PERIODICALS

Après Moi! is the 617 Squadron Association newsletter

Memorial Flight is the journal of Lincolnshire’s Lancaster Association

Allett, Tom, ‘The Bright Sparks’, Memorial Flight, Spring 2007

Allett, Tom, ‘First Op Ti
rpitz’, Memorial Flight, Spring 2009

‘Bill & Ben, Mosquito Men’, Memorial Flight, 2009

Bennett, Tom, ‘Operation Taxable’, Flypast, No. 40, November 1984

Burgess, Colin, ‘617 Squadron: The Later War Operations’, Transit Magazine, Australia 1986

Chorlton, Martin, ‘A Home for Heroes’, Memorial Flight, Spring 2009

Cooper, Dennis, ‘A Visit to Wartime Russia or Tirpitz Ahoy!’, Après Moi!, Winter 2009/10

Cotterell, Anthony, ‘Did I Ever Tell You about My Operation?’, War: Frankfurt Revisited, Army Bureau of Current Affairs, No. 62, 22 January 1944, London

Daily Telegraph, 19 May 1943

‘Dam-buster Gibson to Get VC’, Daily Mirror, 27 May 1943

‘Dropped 10-tonner on Huns’, Illustrated London News, 24 March 1945

Eeles, Ron, ‘My Recollections of a Night bombing Raid upon Mailly le Camp, France’, www.49squadron.co.uk

Everyone’s War: The Journal of the Second World War Experience, No. 22, Autumn/Winter 2010

Gellhorn, Martha, ‘The Bomber Boys’, Collier’s Weekly, 17 June 1944

Goodman, Benny, ‘RAF Against the E-Boats: Rotterdam 29 December 1944’, Après Moi!, Winter 2009/10

Goulding, Ossian, ‘Heart of Berlin is Paralysed’, Daily Telegraph, 25 November 1943

Hobbs, Gerry, ‘Glad to be Back’, Après Moi!, Spring 2008

Hobday, Sidney, ‘Two Months in Occupied Europe’, Lloyds’ Log, October 1946

‘A Home for Heroes: The History of Woodhall Spa’, Memorial Flight, 2009

‘Major Nick Knilans’, obituary, Daily Telegraph, 27 June 2012

Margry, Karel, ‘The Bielefeld Viaduct’, After the Battle, No. 79, 1993

Morris, Richard, ‘The Legacy of the Dambusters’, BBC History Magazine, May 2013

Morris, Richard, ‘Prosopography – A Special Group of Men’, Après Moi!, Summer 2011

Munro, Les, ‘A Rude Awakening’, Après Moi!, Spring 2007

Noble, Vernon, ‘They Call This Man “Killer”’, Daily Mirror, 22 May 1943

Poore, Arthur, ‘Personal Recollections’, Après Moi!, Summer 2010

Shortland, Jim, ‘Tirpitz Survivors Recall Raids’, Après Moi!, Autumn 2006

‘Sinking of Tirpitz’, New Zealand Press Association, 28 November 1944

‘Specsavers 62 Years On!’, Après Moi!, Autumn 2007

‘Squadron Leader Tony Iveson’, obituary, Daily Telegraph, 10 November 2013

Stopes-Roe, Mary, ‘Memories’, Après Moi!, Summer 2013

Storey, Ron, ‘Mailly le Camp, “Like Falling off a Log”’, People’s War, BBC, Article ID A4292804

‘“Tallboy” Wallis’, Daily Express, 15 November 1944

Trevor, Hugh, ‘Blockhouse Buster’, Flypast, October 2010

Ward, Arthur, ‘With Tait to the Tirpitz’, Après Moi!, Summer 2010

‘Warrant Officer Tom McLean’, Daily Telegraph, 15 August 2011

Welden, Yvonne, ‘Mailly le Camp – Sidney Lipman’, People’s War, BBC, Article ID A6660371

Whitehead, Chris, ‘Knights of the Air’, Aviation News, November 2003

Zuba, Alfred, ‘Tirpitz: A German Sailor’s Eyewitness Report’, Après Moi!, Winter 2009/10

BOOKS

Barbier, Mary, D-Day Deception: Operation Fortitude and the Normandy Invasion, Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, 2007

Bennett, Tom, 617 Squadron: The Dambusters at War, Patrick Stephens, Wellingborough, 1987

Bishop, Patrick, Target Tirpitz, Harper Press, London, 2012

Blundell, Harold M. ‘Nobby’, They Flew from Waddington! 463-467 Lancaster Squadrons, Royal Australian Air Force: A Brief History, 463-467 Squadrons Association, NSW Tour Committee, Sydney, 1975

—, 463-467 Squadrons R.A.A.F., 463-467 Squadrons Association, 1995

Boyle, Andrew, No Passing Glory: The Full & Authentic Biography of Group Captain Cheshire, Collins, London, 1955

Chandler, Chan, Tail Gunner: 98 Raids in World War II, Airlife Publishing, Bury St Edmunds, 2001

Cooper, Alan, Beyond the Dams to the Tirpitz, William Kimber, London, 1983

—, The Dambusters Squadron: Fifty years of 617 Squadron RAF, Arms & Armour Press, London, 1993

Currie, Jack, Battle under the Moon, AirData Publications, Wilmslow, 1995

Delve, Ken, and Peter Jacobs, The Six-Year Offensive, Arms & Armour 1992

Eaton, E. A., Two Friends: Two Different Hells, ReCall Publications, Northallerton, 2002

Foster, Charles, Breaking the Dams: The Story of Dambuster David Maltby and His Crew, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2008

Grayling, A. C., Among the Dead Cities, Bloomsbury, London, 2006

Hastings, Max, Bomber Command, Pan, London, 1999

Heathcote, Blake, Testaments of Honour, Doubleday, London, 2002

Hesketh, Roger, Fortitude, Overlook Press, New York, 2000

Higgs, Colin, and Bruce Vigar, Voices in Flight, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2013

Hobday, Sydney, Two Months in Occupied Europe (publisher/date unknown)

Humphries, Harry, Living with Heroes: The Dambusters, The Erskine Press, Eccles, Norwich, 2003

Iveson, Tony, Lancaster: The Biography, André Deutsch, London, 2009

Kellow, Bob, Paths to Freedom, Kellow Corporation, Winnipeg, 1992

Lambert, Max, Night after Night, HarperCollins, New Zealand, 2007

Le Maner, Yves, Mimoyecques: Site of ‘London Cannon’ (1943–1945), La Coupole Editions, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, 2011

Levine, Joseph, Operation Fortitude, Collins, London, 2012

Middlebrook, Martin, and Chris Everitt, The Bomber Command War Diaries, Midland Publishing, Birmingham, 1985

Morris, Richard, Cheshire: The Biography of Leonard Cheshire, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 2001

—, Guy Gibson, Viking, London, 1994

Murray, Iain R., Dam Busters: Owners’ Workshop Manual, Haynes Publishing, Yeovil, 2011

Nichol, John, The Red Line, William Collins, London, 2013

Nichol, John and Tony Rennell, Tail-End Charlies, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 2005

Pasmore, Anthony, and Norman Parker, Ashley Walk: Its Bombing Range, Landscape and History, New Forest Research & Publication Trust, Lyndhurst, 2006

Probert, Air Commodore Henry, Bomber Harris, Greenhill Books, Barnsley, 1998

Rowley, Clive, Dambusters: The Most Daring Raid in the RAF’s History, Mortons Media Group, Horncastle, 2013

Russell of Liverpool, Lord, Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes, Greenhill Books, Barnsley, 2005

Simpson, Tom, Lower than Low, Libra, Victoria, 1995

Ward, Chris, Dambusters: The Forging of a Legend, Pen & Sword, Barnsley, 2009

Zaloga, Steven J., German V-Weapon Sites 1943–45, Osprey, Oxford, 2007

TELEVISION PROGRAMMES

The Dambusters’ Great Escape, Channel 4, broadcast Sunday 30 March 2014

What the Dambusters Did Next, Channel 5, broadcast Monday 26 May 2014

WEBSITES

Kevin James Biltoff ID Number S01771 http://static.awm.gov.au/audio/S01771--1-.mp3

Marc Buggeln (transl. Stephen Pallavicini), The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945 (Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum) http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007390

http://histru.bournemouth.ac.uk/Oral_History/Talking_About_Technology/radar_research/fooling_the_enemy.html

http://www.flyingbombsandrockets.com/storeys_summary.html

Charles Foster, Dambusters Blog, 30 January 2014 http://dam bustersblog.com/category/fred-sutherland/

http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/commandlosses.html

Picture Credits

The author would like to thank the following for generously supplying a number of the photographs reproduced in this book: John Bell, Jan Cheney, Colin Cole, Charles Foster, Benny Goodman, Sydney Grimes, John Gumbley, Gerry Hobbs, Johnny Johnson, Klau
s Rohwedder, John Saunders, Mary Stopes-Roe, Fred Sutherland, Frank Tilley and Rusty Waughman. Other photographs are from the author’s private collection and the following sources:

INTEGRATED

Robert Owen, Official 617 Squadron Association Historian: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here

National Archives, Kew: here

Popperfoto/Getty Images: here

PICTURE SECTION

Robert Owen, Official 617 Squadron Association Historian: here, here, here, here, here

Anna Gowthorpe/PA Press/Press Association Images: here

Index

The page numbers in this index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.

617 Squadron

1980 reunion 326–7

aftermath 321–6

attractions of joining 27–8

awards given to members of 6, 10, 12, 23, 61, 99, 121, 144, 157, 213, 216, 225, 231–2, 273, 274, 300, 302, 322

Bomber Harris’s congratulatory note to 326–7

casualties 7–8, 9, 12, 13, 14–15, 16–18, 22, 36, 40–2, 44–7, 48, 85, 86, 87, 153, 155–6, 167, 169–70, 184–6, 189, 212, 221–2, 231, 232, 281, 283, 289–90, 304–6, 314, 316

celebrate anniversary of Dams raid 120–1

deals with loss of comrades 17–18, 18, 22–3, 48, 69, 87, 184, 283

death and destruction due to 11, 21–2, 35, 41, 87, 214, 260, 261–7, 310–11

destruction of V-weapons 137–43

final operations 307–14

forbidden to operate at low levels 47

given post-war ‘Cook’s Tour’ of key wartime targets 316

increased accuracy in bombing 58

industrial raids 74–5, 76–8, 95, 99–100, 103–6, 223, 307–12

involved in Operation Overlord 122–6

involved in Operation Taxable 114–20

issued with pistols and Sten guns 121

Italian action 34

known as ‘The One-op Squadron’ 29, 46, 48

known as ‘The Suicide Squadron’ 48, 67, 73, 220

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