William Astell

Flight Lieutenant William ‘Bill’ Astell was born in Knutsford, Cheshire, on 1 April 1920. He had already flown operationally — including a spell of overseas service and a tour with No. 57 Squadron at RAF Scampton early in 1943 — when his crew was transferred to the newly formed No. 617 Squadron in March 1943 for the secret operation that became the Dams Raid. On the night of 16/17 May 1943, flying Lancaster ED864 ‘B for Baker’ in the first wave bound for the Möhne Dam, Astell’s aircraft struck high-tension electricity cables and a pylon near Marbeck in Germany and crashed; he and all six of his crew were killed. He is buried in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.