WING COMMANDER GUY GIBSON

He was only 24 years old when Commander-in-Chief Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris chose him to lead the raid on the Ruhr dams. Gibson had been looking forward to leave in Cornwall after a third tour of duty. He’d flown a total of 173 trips and already been awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Distinguished Flying Cross for his missions in Bomber and Fighter Command since gaining his wings in 1937. His first job was to put together 21 crews - 147 men - for the brand new 617 squadron, whose motto was to be ‘Apres moi le deluge’ (After me the flood). They had just two months to train for low-level flying at night over water on a mission kept secret until the day before. Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and continued to fly but was killed when his Mosquito aircraft crashed in Germany on September 19, 1944.