Operation Garlic
15 September 1943 — Dortmund–ems Canal
- Date
- 15 September 1943
- Target
- Dortmund–ems Canal, Germany
- Force dispatched
- 8 aircraft
- Aircraft lost
- 5
Narrative
In September 1943 No. 617 Squadron — the Dam Busters — was sent against the Dortmund–Ems Canal near Ladbergen, a vital inland waterway for German barge traffic, carrying new 12,000 lb ‘thin-case’ bombs. The first attempt, on the night of 14/15 September, was recalled in bad weather, but not before David Maltby, a pilot of the dams raid, was lost when his Lancaster went down in the North Sea. The squadron tried again the following night: eight Lancasters attacked at low level through fog and intense flak. The canal banks held, and the cost was crippling — five of the eight aircraft failed to return, among them that of the commanding officer, Wing Commander George Holden, with several of Guy Gibson’s former crew aboard. It was a stark lesson in how lethal low-level precision raids had become.
Squadrons: No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters)
Order of battle
8 aircraft. Each crew links to the men who flew it; each airman to their own record.
| Aircraft | Type | Squadron | Pilot | Crew | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EE131 | Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | G Rice | 1 aircrew → | Returned |
| JA898 | Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | Harold Sydney Wilson | 1 aircrew → | Failed to return |
| JB144 | Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | Leslie Gordon Knight | 1 aircrew → | Crashed outbound |
| JA874 | Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | William George Divall | 1 aircrew → | Failed to return |
| EE130 | Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | Ralf Athelsie Pole Allsebrook | 8 aircrew → | Failed to return |
| ED929 AJ-L |
Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | D J Shannon | 1 aircrew → | Returned |
| ED909 AJ-P |
Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | H B Martin | 1 aircrew → | Returned |
| EE144 AJ-S |
Avro Lancaster | No. 617 Squadron (Dambusters) | George Walton Holden | 8 aircrew → | Failed to return |
The fallen
130 airmen in this archive died on 15 September 1943 or the day that followed. For a raid of this kind these are overwhelmingly the night's losses, though a death-date match is not by itself proof an individual flew this operation.
- Flying Officer James Affleck (23)
- Sergeant Daniel Allatson (19)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Sydney Francis Allcorn (21)
- Flight Lieutenant Ralf Athelsie Pole Allsebrook (23)
- Flying Officer Alan Roy Bradford Ball (34)
- Flying Officer Kendall Bell Begbie (26)
- Pilot Officer Dennis Harvey Belcham (28)
- Flight Sergeant David Bennett (22)
- Sergeant Ernest Cecil Allan Blake (24)
- Aircraftman 1st Class Arthur Howard Boon (22)
- Pilot Officer Norman Arthur Botting (30)
- Flight Sergeant Lorne Graham Boyd (22)
- Flying Officer James Reid Bradley
- Aircraftman 2nd Class James Arthur Bridge (21)
- Flight Sergeant Robert William Calvert
- Flight Sergeant Alexander James Chabara (25)
- Flight Sergeant Alexander Chibanoff (22)
- Flight Sergeant Roy Richard Clegg (27)
- Flying Officer Joseph Darie Louis Cloutier (23)
- Sergeant David Richard Coe (19)
- Flying Officer George Henry Coles
- Flight Sergeant John Colhoun (25)
- Sergeant Frederick George Cowler (34)
- Flying Officer Neville Frank Crisp (21)
See all 130 who died on 15 September →
Source: Wikipedia — Operation Garlic →