James Herbert Warner

James Herbert Warner was born on 19 May 1914 in Horncastle, Lincolnshire, the son of Harry and Janetta Warner, and was British. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1940; first earmarked for pilot training, he was switched to the observer scheme and qualified as a navigator in September 1942, receiving a commission on completing his training. After a posting to No. 467 Squadron in February 1943, he transferred to the newly formed No. 617 Squadron on 24 March 1943, where he flew as navigator in the crew of Pilot Officer Vernon Byers aboard Lancaster ED934, coded AJ-K. On the night of 16/17 May 1943, during Operation Chastise, AJ-K took off from Scampton at around 21:30 in the second wave, detailed against the Sorpe Dam; flying low across the Dutch coast, the aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire from the island of Texel and crashed into the sea late on 16 May, making Byers and his crew the first loss of the Dams Raid. As a Flying Officer, Warner was the senior member of the crew by rank, and all seven men aboard were killed. His body was never recovered, and he is commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial (Panel 130).