Guy Gibson
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Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC DSO and bar DFC and bar RAF (12 August 1918 – 19 September 1944), was the first CO of the RAF's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid (Operation Chastise), in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area. He was killed later in the war.
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[edit] Early life and career
Gibson was born in Simla, India, during the British Raj, the son of Alexander James Gibson and Norah Gibson. He moved with his family to Porthleven, Cornwall, England in 1921 aged three. He was educated at St Edward's School, Oxford.
In 1936 he joined the RAF and by the outbreak of the Second World War was a bomber pilot with 83 Squadron, flying the Handley Page Hampden. In July 1940 he won the Distinguished Flying Cross. After completing his first tour of duty of 27 operational sorties, Gibson volunteered for Fighter Command, avoiding the normal six-month rest from operations at a flying training establishment. As a night fighter pilot flying the Bristol Beaufighter with 29 Squadron he claimed four kills in 99 sorties and won a bar to his DFC. Promotion to Wing Commander followed and at the age of 23 he was posted back to Bomber Command in 1942. During the next 11 months he led 106 Squadron now flying the Avro Manchester and then the Avro Lancaster, personally completing 46 sorties. He was remembered by his subordinates as a tough, brash and often aloof, a disciplinarian who bore a professionalism and arrogance derived from his position as one of the most experienced bomber pilots in the RAF.
After several operational sorties with 106 Squadron he considered two members of his allotted crew sub-standard and had them replaced. However, when a visiting Air Ministry team considered his 5' 11" tall rear-gunner (Pilot Officer John Wickens) too tall to be a Lancaster gunner, Gibson told them to forget the rules, as his gunner was staying.
[edit] Operation Chastise
In 1943 he was selected to command the newly formed 617 Squadron who were tasked to destroy dams in the Ruhr area. To accomplish this they were provided with the bouncing bomb designed and developed by Barnes Wallis. The bombs had to be dropped from 60 feet from a predefined distance to skip across the water into the dam face and then roll down it to explode at predefined depth. To stand any chance of success the mission had to be flown at night.
Flying at such a low level at night was deemed difficult by even the most experienced pilots. Altimeters (using air pressure) were unreliable in the mountainous terrain so close to the ground. To achieve the correct height they fixed two spotlights to the nose and tail of the Lancaster and directed their beams downwards so that they crossed 60 feet under the craft. The navigator would direct the pilot up or down until the spots touched, forming a figure 8. The bomb aimer found the correct distance from the dam by looking through a simple hand-held wooden triangle with dowel markers. When the dowels lined up with the towers on the dam he released the bomb.
On the night of May 16, 1943, despite the full moon, both Bomber Command and Fighter Command flew a number of sorties which were spread widely over Germany and the Low Countries. As 617 Squadron needed a full moon to carry out their mission, it was thought that the only way they could penetrate German anti-aircraft defences was to fly the whole mission as close to the ground as possible. The 19 Lancasters carried one bomb each. It took five attempts to breach the Moehne Dam. Gibson then led the three remaining Lancasters to attack and breach the Eder Dam. Two other dams were attacked but not breached. Only 11 of the bombers survived the mission; 53 crew members died in the raid.
The devastation caused by the raids was extensive but the Germans managed to rebuild and recover much more quickly than was expected. However they were forced to use assets to protect key installations like dams to a greater extent than they had before. These assets would have been useful on other fronts. The propaganda boost given to the allied war effort was considerable.
[edit] Victoria Cross
After the Dams raid, Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross in recognition not just of the raid, but his leadership and valour demonstrated as master bomber on many previous sorties.
- Wing Commander Gibson, whose personal courage knew no bounds, was quickly recognised to be an outstanding operational pilot and leader. He served with conspicuously successful results as a night bomber pilot and also as a night fighter pilot, on operational tours. In addition, on his "rest" nights he made single-handed attacks on highly defended objectives such as the German battleship Tirpitz. Wing Commander Gibson was then selected to command a squadron formed for special tasks. Under his inspiring leadership this squadron executed one of the most devastating attacks of the war - the breaching of the Moehne and Eder dams. Wing Commander Gibson personally made the initial attack on the Moehne dam. Descending to within a few feet of the water, he delivered his attack with great accuracy. He then circled very low for thirty minutes, drawing the enemy fire and permitting as free a run as possible to the following aircraft. He repeated these tactics in the attack on the Eder dam. Throughout his operational career, prolonged exceptionally at his own request, he has shown leadership, determination and valour of the highest order.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Royal Air Force Museum (Hendon, England).
[edit] After the Dams Raid
After receiving his VC Gibson wrote an account of his wartime career, Enemy Coast Ahead and was sent on a lecture tour of the United States by the government, partly to keep the new hero safe. The tour was "at a time when the first American airmen were coming home 'tour expired' after 25 operations. During questions one young lady asked `Wing Commander Gibson, how many operations have you been on over Germany?' 'One hundred and seventy-four.' There was a stunned silence." [From Sir Robert Thompson's autobiography Make for the Hills].
[edit] Return to Operations
Gibson returned to operational duties in 1944, after pestering Bomber Command, and was killed on a bombing raid on Rheydt operating as the Master Bomber, when his de Havilland Mosquito crashed near Steenbergen, the Netherlands, on 19 September 1944. It was assumed for many years that he had been shot down, but following the discovery of the wreckage of his plane, it was found that a fault with the fuel tank selector had meant that the aircraft had simply run out of fuel.
Barnes Wallis described Gibson best of all by saying:
- For some men of great courage and adventure, inactivity was a slow death. Would a man like Gibson ever have adjusted back to peacetime life? One can imagine it would have been a somewhat empty existence after all he had been through. Facing death had become his drug. He had seen countless friends and comrades perish in the great crusade. Perhaps something in him even welcomed the inevitability he had always felt that before the war ended he would join them in their Bomber Command Valhalla. He had pushed his luck beyond all limits and he knew it. But that was the kind of man he was…a man of great courage, inspiration and leadership. A man born for war…but born to fall in war.
"Bomber" Harris described him as "As great a warrior as this island ever produced"
[edit] Other
Gibson's grave and a memorial are in Steenbergen en Kruisland R.C. Churchyard, the Netherlands.
He was survived by his wife, Eve Mary Gibson of Westminster.
Gibson was played by Richard Todd in the film The Dam Busters.
[edit] References Books
- Enemy Coast Ahead (Guy Gibson, 2003)
- British VCs of World War 2 (John Laffin, 1997)
- Dam Buster: the Life of Guy Gibson, VC (Susan Ottaway, 1996)
- The Dam Busters (Paul Brickhill, 1983)
- Enemy Coast Ahead (Guy Gibson, 1984)
- Enemy Coast Ahead (Guy Gibson, 1946)
- Monuments to Courage (David Harvey, 1999)
- The Register of the Victoria Cross (This England, 1997)
[edit] External links
- Guy Gibson biography from UK educational site
- Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson (39438) (detailed biography and military service record)
- The Dambusters (Website in Dutch)
