207 SQUADRON ROYAL AIR FORCE HISTORY

207 Squadron members on 617 remembered at the
617 Sqn Memorial, Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

Fifteen members of 207 Squadron were posted to 617 Squadron and flew on the Dams Raid.

Warner Ottley & crew were all ex-207.  Almost all did not survive the war.

On Sunday 8th September 1996, members of the Association attending the 1996 207 Reunion at Woodhall Spa took the opportunity to pay their respects to the 14 former members of 207 Squadron who were posted to 617 Squadron and flew on the Dams Raid of 16/17 May 1943.
source: Haslam

A wreath was laid at the 617 Squadron ‘Dam’ Memorial in Woodhall Spa on behalf of the Association by two members, Trevor Muhl, Air Gunner 8/42 - Bomb Aimer 10/44 representing aircrew, and ‘Joe’/'Beck' Parsons, Electrician 3/41-3/43 representing ground crew, both of whom also served with 617 Squadron. The brief ceremony was conducted by Frank Haslam jnr, Newsletter Editor and our President David Dick led us in the Act of Remembrance.

In addition to the 14, Rear Gunner Sgt Austin Williams served on 207 February-March 1943 and was due to fly on the Dams Raid but did not go because his crew, F/O WG Divall’s, was stood down because of illness. He was killed on 16.9.43 with Divall’s crew on the Ladbergen/Dortmund-Ems Canal Raid and is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

Those commemorated were:-

Gibson’s crew

F/Eng Sgt John Pulford DFM; served on 207 Sqn October 1942; died in an accident 13.2.44

Hopgood’s crew

F/Eng Charles Brennan; served on 207 Sqn October 1942; kia 17.5.43

Maltby’s crew

F/Eng Sgt William Hatton, Navigator Sgt Vivian Nicholson, B/Aimer P/O John Fort DFC, W/Op Sgt Antony Stone. All served on 207 Sqn Feb-Mar 1943.

Maltby’s crew made the final attack on the Möhne Dam. They were eventually lost on 15.9.43 on recall from the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Ladbergen, carrying a 12,000lb HC bomb . For reasons unknown they crashed into the sea 8 miles off Cromer. Sqn Ldr Maltby’s was the only body recovered and the rest of the crew are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.

McCarthy’s crew

W/Op Sgt Leonard Eaton DFM served on 207 Sqn August-September 1942. He died in 1974.

Ottley’s crew

Pilot P/O Warner Ottley DFC, F/Eng Sgt Ronald Marsden, Navigator P/O Jack Barrett DFC, Bomb Aimer F/Sgt Thomas Johnston, W/Op Sgt Jack Guterman DFM, Front Gunner Sgt Harry Strange and Rear Gunner F/Sgt Frank Tees. With the exception of Ottley, who served with 207 Sqn during Oct-Nov 1942, all served on 207 Sqn for some of 1942 and until April 1943.

On the Dams Raid Ottley was to bomb the Lister Dam but was hit by light flak, crashing on 17.5.43 at 0235, at Heessen, 3km NNE of Hamm, where a cross now marks the spot at which ED910/AJ-C came down. The sole survivor, Sgt Frank Tees, died in 1982 and his ashes were taken to Germany to lie alongside the graves of his crew in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

Shannon’s crew

F/Eng W/O Robert Henderson DFM served on 207 as ground crew Dec 1940-Nov 1941, and as aircrew April-June 1942. He survived the war but has since died.

Those who died on 617 are also listed in our Roll of those who were post-207 casualties.

acknowledgments: Raymond Glynne-Owen and the work of authors Alan Cooper and Bill Chorley for the information on which the commemoration was based.
last updated 6 Dec 2007: 23 Dec 13