Dambusters Yesterday!

[Dave Homewood]

I didn't realise that Bernard Gumbley's nephew was there. That is great to hear that another 617 Sqn member is alive in Christchurch. So with Les Munro, Arthur Joplin, Frank Cardwell and Bill Hilder, and possibly others, the squadron is still well represented in NZ.

[Dave Homewood]

OK, a bit more research hunting through the No. 617 Squadron ORB and I have produced this list of twelve names, just as Tony Iveson had mentioned:

Sqn Ldr Richard Stansfield Derek Kearns DSO, DFC, DFM (pff) NZ405572 - Pilot
Sqn Ldr John Leslie "Les" Munro DSO, DFC NZ413942 - Pilot
Flt Lt Leonard 'Len' Chambers DFC - NZ403758 Wireless Op
Flt Lt Bernard Gumbley DFM - NZ414614 - Pilot - KIA on the Tirpitz raid
F/O William John Muir Low Barclay DFC, DFM (pff) NZ404454 - Navigator
F/O Bruce James Hosie NZ412882 - Wireless Op, KIA
F/O Arthur W. Joplin NZ424044 - Pilot
P/O Ronald Florence NZ41577 - Air Bomber, KIA
W/O Maxwell Graham Frame Dowman DFM (pff) NZ411747 - WOp/AG
W/O Frank Cardwell NZ422096 - Navigator
W/O L. 'Lofty' Hebbard NZ427280 - Air Bomber
F/Sgt Symes NZ425751 - Navigator

Interestingly, Kearns, Barclay and Dowman all crewed together!

And later Arthur Joplin and Lofty Hebbard also crewed together!

Can anyone add full names to Joplin, Symes and Hebbard please?

[Dave Homewood]

By the way you can read the wartime ORB for No. 617 (Dambusters) Squadron here:
www.dambusters.org.uk/docs/recordbook.pdf

[errolmartyn]

"Can anyone add full names to Joplin, Symes and Hebbard please?"

F/O Arthur William Joplin NZ424044 - Pilot
W/O Loftus 'Lofty' Hebbard NZ427280 - Air Bomber
F/Sgt Harvey Hugh Symes NZ425751 - Navigator

Errol

[Dave Homewood]

Thanks Errol.

[praxis]

Flt Lt Bernard (Barney) Gumbley from Hastings did take part in the raid on 12 November 1944 that sank the Tirpitz with the 6 ton Tallboy bombs. However, he returned safely from that operation. He was killed 4 months later on 21 March 1945 when hit during the run-in to bombing the Arnsberg bridge with a Tallboy. The bomb detonated when the aircraft crashed and all 5 crew on board were killed. They have no grave and as a result their names are commemorated at Runnymede. The reduced crew complement arose because Barney's Lancaster was specially modified to carry the 10 ton Grand Slam bomb and this required the deletion of the W/Op and Mid Upper gunners positions.

[phil82]

Just a note to say that Sqn Ldr G Iveson who was shot down in a Harrier GR3 in the Falklands on 28th May 1983 , and recovered four days later, is Tony Iveson's son.

[southlander]

Les Davidson lived in Roxburgh Central Otago. He was the owner of Cental Aviation Pty Ltd. The history is that of the Southern Districts Aero Club (now known as the Gore Aero Club). Les was a close friend of my Father. When I was a schoolboy, Les told me of his experience of being shot down over the Rhine and his subsequent time in a POW camp in Poland. My Father said it was only the second time in 30 years he had known him ever to speak of the war.

[ngatimozart]

Welcome to the forum Southlander. Nice to see another Southlander lifting the IQ and the moral standing of the place The Southern Districts Aero Club was where I started an unfinished PPL many jam seasons back. I have a cuzzie who I think is still a member.

[bhebbard]

There were no crew killed on the final attack on the Tirpitz although Coster (NZ) with 9 Squadron crash landed in Sweeden.
PD117 was hit by heavy flak on the 21/3/45 at Okel about 12 miles from Bremen on the way to the Abergen railway bridge. As a B1 Special it contained a 5 man crew. Barney Gumbley and his colleagues were all killed. No remains were ever found and their names are perpetuated on the Runnymede War Memorial where the names of the 20,000 airmen with no known graves are recorded.

[pjw4118]

Our records of New Zealanders with 617 Squadron have been updated with a lot of input from others

[Ian Warren]

bhebbard, that is another story that is very interesting, chasing up on the Bismark's sister, and how they caught it out after so many attempt's, and amazing the bombers few one way course due the load and returned later, everyone had a go at the Tirpitz, we all no that, but the that 617 raid is something I honestly have not researched in-depth, getting the crew listings - another one hell of a story.

Well with all this Dambusting and 617, I could not help myself and watched the movie again last night, now what ever happened to that farmer and his chickens.

[Ian Warren]

May 5, 2014 17:39:50 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

Our records of New Zealanders with 617 Squadron have been updated with a lot of input from others

I do have the entire group or personal tho its old, cross reference will be a project.

One thing that stuck in brain case, As famous as 617, why did not the RNZAF keep a token flight/group keeping RNZAF No.75 active following the tradition and the history, personal I thought that would have been the least that could have be done.

[errolmartyn]

"There were no crew killed on the final attack on the Tirpitz although Coster (NZ) with 9 Squadron crash landed in Sweeden."

Coster, captain of the aircraft (Lancaster LM448) was NZ426166 Fg Off David Arthur COSTER, RNZAF
He had flown 22 ops with 9 Sqn. Repatriated to UK 24 Nov 1944.

Two other New Zealanders were also on board:

Navigator NZ4213145 Flt Sgt (later Wt Off) Clifford William BLACK.
Repatriated to UK 23 Nov 1944.

Air bomber NZ422099 Flt Sgt (later Wt Off) James Henderson BOAG, RNZAF.
He had flown 16 ops with 9 Sqn. Repatriated to UK 23 Nov 1944.

The aircraft was hit by flak in its starboard wing during the run in to the target. Coster feathered the starboard outer engine and carried on to drop his bomb, afterwards making for Sweden, where a crash landing was carried out on soft and muddy ground in the vicinity of the village of Vännäsberget near Överkalix.

There is a good account of the event in 'Making for Sweden . . .' by Rolph Wegmann and Bo Widfeldt (pub by Air Research Publications, 1997).

Errol

[errolmartyn]

Thought I had posted this here previously, but apprently not.\:

From my For Your Tomorrow - A record of New Zealanders who have died while serving with the RNZAF and Allied Air Services since 1915 (Volume Two: Fates 1943-998):

Wed 21 Mar 1945
BOMBER COMMAND
Attack on the Arbergen railway bridge in SE Bremen, Germany (by 20 Lancasters - 1 lost)
617 Squadron, RAF (Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire - 5 Group)
Lancaster I (Special) PD117/L - took off at 0745 carrying a 12,000lb ‘Tallboy’ bomb and received a direct hit by flak on approaching the target area at 2000 feet, falling in flames to crash at 1004 some 12km SSW of the bridge in a field belonging to farmer Herr Lippmann at Okel, 5km NE of Syke. About 10 minutes later the Tallboy exploded and ‘shook the entire countryside’, leaving a crater some 20 metres deep by 30 metres across. The five crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. (PD117 was one of a small number of Lancaster Is specially modified to carry unusually heavy bombs up to the 22,000lb ‘Grand Slam’. Stripped of some armament and other equipment, they were operated with a reduced crew of five.)
Captain: NZ414614 Flt Lt Bernard Alexander GUMBLEY, DFM, RNZAF - Age 29. 1392hrs. 51st op.
Lost on his 18th op with the Squadron, Gumbley previously completed a tour with 49 Sqn, RAF.
-------------------------------

Missing Research and Enquiry Service papers that survive on Gumbley's RNZAF service record show that, despite the obvious obliterating effect of the Talboy's blast, an extraordinary effort was made to follow up various leads regarding the possible location of any crew remains, but without success.

Errol

[bhebbard]

May 5, 2014 17:39:50 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

Our records of New Zealanders with 617 Squadron have been updated with a lot of input from others

[bhebbard]

Frank Cardwell's pilot at the latter part of his service was F/LT Anning

[errolmartyn]

Jun 14, 2014 18:15:30 GMT 12 bhebbard said:

May 5, 2014 17:39:50 GMT 12 pjw4118 said:

Our records of New Zealanders with 617 Squadron have been updated with a lot of input from others

Gents,

A small nitpick. Florence should have his number prefixed NZ, just like the others who are on the list.

Errol

[baronbeeza]

Another small error I have noticed. The service numbers for Chambers and Gumbley have been transposed. Dave's post of 17 Jan has the numbers correct.

[Dave Homewood]

Arthur was NOT the last wartime No. 617 Squadron member still alive, John Bell is alive and well and he turned 100 on the weekend, but the Herald always insists on getting something wrong in their articles.

Last World War II Dambusters squadron pilot in the world dies in Auckland

By Kurt Bayer
27 Mar, 2023 05:13 PM


The funeral for Arthur Joplin, the last wartime pilot of Bomber Command's famed 617 (Dambusters) Squadron, was held in Auckland today. Photo / Supplied

The world’s last surviving pilot of the famed World War II “Dambusters” squadron, who helped sink one of Hitler’s prized battleships, has died.

Auckland-born Arthur “Joppy” Joplin died peacefully at Edmund Hillary Retirement Village in Remuera last Tuesday, aged 99.

Joplin had volunteered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) in early 1943 while war raged in Europe and across the Pacific and after training as a pilot was posted directly to Britain as a 20-year-old on active service.

Together with fellow New Zealander bomb aimer Lofty Hebbard, he was posted to Bomber Command’s elite 617 Dambusters squadron, one of only six crews to do so.

When he turned up, Joplin was overwhelmed by “all the medal ribbons, high rankers and famous names”.

“Here I was in the flash Petwood Hotel with the stars of Bomber Command,” he recalled.

On seeing Joplin’s bare ribbon patch, his ground crew made a mock DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross) from perspex and wire, saying, “Everyone else has a gong and you now have one too”.



Arthur Joplin's wartime crew. Photo / Supplied

Joplin, who would be awarded the Legion of Honour by the French Government for his wartime service, flew his first operational mission on August 17, 1944 to bomb the U-boat base at La Pallice, in southwestern France.

It was after the famous, audacious raids in Germany’s Ruhr Valley, which used revolutionary bouncing bombs to strike devastating blows behind Nazi lines.

On October 29 1944, Joplin and his crew flew against the Nazi battleship Tirpitz for the first time.

After the loss of sister ship Bismarck, Tirpitz had been moved to the security of fjord anchorages in Norway.

Even while moored and being refitted, the vessel represented an ever-present threat to the Arctic and Atlantic convoys.

To have enough fuel to do the round trip, the Lancaster’s mid-upper turret, the front guns, the armour plating around the pilot and half the ammunition for the rear turret were removed. Extra fuel tanks were fitted inside the fuselage and MK24 Merlin engines with paddle props were installed.

Even so, carrying a 12000lb Blockbuster bomb, the flight of more than 12 hours was at the edge of the Lancaster’s range.

With the Tirpitz still afloat, a further operation was mounted on November 12. This time they got a clear view of the ship and bombed from 15,200 feet (4600m).

Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill described the sinking of the Tirpitz as the most significant naval success of the war.

The crew flew a further three operations before joining a visit to Politz on December 29 – the first night raid undertaken by Joplin’s crew.

On returning, they were advised that their base at Woodhall Spa and other Lincolnshire airfields were fogged in and they should divert to Ludford Magna, an airfield equipped with FIDO (Fog Investigation and Dispersal Operation).

But the device had not been lit for the returning aircraft and with no visibility for landing, Joplin’s Lancaster crashed, killing two crewmen. Joplin broke both legs and never returned to flying.

Fellow pilot Benny Goodman, who had joined the squadron on the same day as Joplin, would later say, “Give my regards to Joppy and tell him the crash was not his fault.”

After the war, Joplin returned to New Zealand to work in his father’s knitwear business.

In 1953 he married Bette (Betty), who died in 2014. They have no descendants.

A death notice posted in the Herald at the weekend paid tribute to the “loved husband of the late Betty” and “dear friend to many, always remembered with love and laughter. Rest in peace”.

Around 6000 New Zealanders served as volunteers in Bomber Command. One in three did not survive, with Bomber Command having the highest casualty rate of all the Allied services.

www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/last-world-war-ii-dambusters-squadron-pilot-in-the-world-dies-in-auckland/DDPZFV3B35GT7AA6STJRRHJ7JA/