John Pulford

John Pulford was born on 24 December 1919 in Sculcoates, Hull, the second of four children, and worked as a motor mechanic before joining the Royal Air Force as ground crew shortly before the outbreak of war. He retrained as a flight engineer, served with 97 Squadron at Coningsby, and on 4 April 1943 transferred to the newly formed 617 Squadron, where he was assigned to Wing Commander Guy Gibson’s crew. On the night of 16/17 May 1943 he flew as flight engineer aboard Lancaster ED932/G (“AJ-G”), Gibson’s aircraft, which led the first wave against the Möhne Dam during Operation Chastise, the celebrated “Dams Raid”; for his part in the operation he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (London Gazette, 25 May 1943). After Gibson left the squadron, Pulford continued operations with other crews. On the night of 12/13 February 1944, returning from an attack on the Antheoer railway viaduct in southern France, his Lancaster put down at Ford airfield in Sussex and crashed into high ground near Upwaltham while taking off again for RAF Woodhall Spa; Pulford, aged 24, was killed along with most of the crew. He is buried in Hull Northern Cemetery, Yorkshire (Compartment 263, Grave 77). (Note: the decoration recorded for him by every reliable source is the Distinguished Flying Medal, not a DSO; as a non-commissioned Flight Sergeant the DFM was the appropriate award, and the cited 25 May 1943 Gazette is the Dams Raid honours list.)