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Dambusters 65th Anniversary
To mark the 65th anniversary of the Dambusters Raid, Poppy Travel held a 4-day tour from 15-18 May 2008. For those who wanted to “get in the mood”, there was an optional briefing day at the RAF Museum in London, to inspect the equipment and original documents from the raid.
Officially titled Operation Chastise, it set out to cripple German steel production by destroying the water supply for the foundries in the Ruhr Valley. A newly formed squadron of specially selected crews carried out demanding low flying teamwork to drop the famous bouncing bomb and burst the dams. Of the 19 aircraft and 133 men that took off from RAF Scampton, 56 did not come back.
Our tour was based in Nijmegen, just across the border from the Reichswald and Rheinberg Cemeteries where many of the Dambuster crews are buried, and included visits to the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams with a wreath laying on the Mohne Dam to the casualties of all nations.
Included in the tour group was Mr Arthur Perkins who had an eventful war, serving in the middle east and Burma before returning to the UK in 1944. His party had arrived after a long flight from Egypt and were sent immediately to report to RAF Scampton. There was no water on the train from Kings Cross and they arrived unshaven and dishevelled. The Duty Sergeant immediately put them on a charge and they were marched in front of Station Commander Guy Gibson the next day. Gibson read the charges and tore the charge sheet up. Guy Gibson was the commanding officer of the Dambusters Raid and although he survived, that operation, he crashed over Holland in 1944 and is buried in Steenbergen. One of the highlights of the trip for Arthur, was to be able to pay his respects to Guy Gibson and leave a short message on the grave - “Thank you for letting me off the charge.”
Mrs Joyce Wells accompanied by her younger brother Michael, visited the grave of her husband Roy. Michael was only six when Joyce and Roy married but still remembered some of the men who attended their wedding and lay in the graves adjacent to Roy. Michael served in the RAF in the 1960s and is a keen member of the Bomber Command Association.
Another RAF veteran with a purpose was Thomas Elrod, who served in the RAF in the 1960s. He came to visit the grave of his uncle, Lance Corporal Robert Stewart Elrod, of 1st/6th Battalion Northumberland Fusiliers and who died in a German Prisoner of War Camp two weeks after the First World War ended. Tom only found out about his relative after another family member had traced their family genealogy and thinks he was the first person from his side of the family to visit the grave at Neiderzweringen near Kassel.
One of the highlights for many was to experience the feeling of the aircrew’s view of the raid via a Lancaster flight simulator specially created by Simon from Nottingham for the tour. Everyone who tried the simulator gained a real respect for the skill and judgement of those who flew these heavy aircraft low to the ground. This is best appreciated from the Schloss Waldeck overlooking the Edersee, and realising how the pilot must drop down a steep slope, picking up speed, then make a sharp left turn and level out in a matter of a few seconds.
It’s not only the British who pay their respects to the fallen aircrew. Twice during the Pilgrimage we met local Germans keen to mark the crash sites and ensure that the actions of the two world wars are not forgotten.
The Pilgrimage concluded at the Commonwealth Memorial to Missing Aircrew at Runnymede with a service by Father Glyn Williams an RAF Chaplain from RAF Odiam and accompanied by the pipes of David Clark.
Poppy Travel can arrange a similar tour if you have a group interested in doing something similar at another time, call Poppy Travel on 01622 716729 or 01622 716182 to see what can be arranged. We'd love to be of assistance.