At the outbreak of World War II Guy Gibson was a pilot with 83
Sqdn. and was awarded the DFC during Bomber Command's first raid
of the war. After completing his first tour of duty he avoided
his rest period by transferring to Fighter Command, where as
a night-fighter he obtained four kills and a bar to his DFC.
Promoted to Wing Commander in April 1942 at the age of 23, Gibson
rejoined Bomber Command, flying 172 operations as commander of
106 Sqdn.
In March 1943 he was chosen to command the newly formed 617 Squadron,
created specially to destroy the Ruhr dams, using Barnes Wallace's
unique new weapon, the bouncing bomb, more accurately it was
a mine, code named 'Upkeep'. Leading 617 Squadron on the successful
dams raid earned Gibson the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest
military award.
After a brief lecture tour of the USA, Gibson returned to operational
flying in July 1944, but on September 19th he and his navigator
both lost their lives when their Mosquito crashed in the Netherlands
while leading a raid as master bomber. |