A day of remembrance for the Dambusters and Royal Flying Corps

‘Runners awoke in Belgium, having travelled under cover of darkness like their predecessors from RAF Scampton.

As it was Armistice Sunday morning, the day began with a visit, before breakfast, for the support crew to pay their respects to the ten members of the Royal Flying Corps, and subsequent Royal Air Force, who perished near the Belgian town of Nieuwpoort during WW1:-

• Harold Thomas Mellings DSC and Bar DFC 22/7/1918
• Maurice Graham English 16/7/1918
• Private Cosier 23/10/1918
• Horace Claudian Smith 11/9/1917
• Second Lieutenfant Aitken 28/9/1918
• Walter Percy Bartlam 23/10/1918
• David Beynon Davies 11/09/1917
• Air Mechanic Smith 3/09/1917
• Lieutenant Budd 11/09/1917
• Lieutenant Ashfield 16/07/1918

All cars were ready to roll for a day of commemoration, and eager for a day of great driving together across the Dutch polder and around the Benelux countries as part of their Dambusters commemoration.

Their first sortie fo the day was to head deep into in Holland, to deliver a 617 Squadron wreath to the grave of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who died at the age of 26, the leader of the ‘Dambusters’.

On 19th September 1944, an order came through from Bomber Command for No. 5 Group to prepare for an attack on Bremen. Planes from No. 5 Bomber Group would be responsible for all aspects of the operation, including target illumination and marking and control of the raid.

As the day progressed the weather forecast changed, and at 16:45 an order came through to change to the reserve targets at Rheydt and Muechen-Gladbach.

Wing Commander Gibson was tasked to illuminate the targets in a Mosquito assigned to him from RAF Woodhall Spa, for the purpose.

The raid Gibson was marking for, on Munchen-Gladbach, concluded at 21:58 on 19th September 1944.

The time of Gibson's departure from the target is unknown. It is possible that he loitered in a wide, high orbit to assess the outcome and left around 22:00. One crew from No. 61 Squadron claimed they heard him say he had a damaged engine.

Gibson's aircraft crashed in the Netherlands at around 22:30. Witnesses heard an aircraft flying low, saw that its cockpit was illuminated and then it crashed. At first, Gibson's and Warwick his navigator's failure to return to Woodhall Spa was not considered out of the ordinary, as it was assumed he had landed at Coningsby. Likewise at Coningsby there was no immediate concern as there was fog and it was assumed he would have landed elsewhere. However, it soon became apparent he had not returned. The rumour spread rapidly around No. 5 Group that he was missing.

He was not posted officially as missing until 29 November, although Prime Minister Winston Churchill was informed on 26 September:

The local deputy mayor, Mr Herbers, wanted to give the men a proper funeral.

They hired a horse-drawn hearse, the coffin was draped with the flag of the Netherlands and was laid to rest in the Roman Catholic cemetery, and not a military one.

The funeral was attended by the Roman Catholic priest, Father Verhoeven and the Protestant Pastor van den Brink. As they did not know the men's religion they performed the funeral between them.

Father Verhoeven read the psalm, De Profundis and Pastor van den Brink spoke the Lord's Prayer in English. A cross was erected over the grave with Warwick's full rank and name with the name "Guy Gibson" underneath. When it was later confirmed who "Guy Gibson" was, a new cross was constructed with Gibson's rank, name and decorations.

A memorial now exists in the local park to the crash, and the RAF Benevolent Fund maintain the grave site. ‘Runners observed a one minute silence at the grave and laid a wreath on behalf of all those involved in this years event, and of course Gibsons labrador, wearing their 617 Squadron insignia with pride.