| Sergeant
Richard Bolitho was serving as Rear Gunner on board Lancaster Mk.III
ED-864 coded AJ-B during Operation Chastise on May 16/17, 1943.
The aircraft left
Scampton at 2159 hours as part of the final section of the first
wave of Operation Chastise to bomb the Mohne Dam.
Along
with Pilot Officer Knight and Squadron Leader Maudslay and crews,
they proceeded into Germany. The other two crews altered course but
F/L Astell became slightly off course and on reaching a canal
crossing, which was actually the correct place, turned South down
the canal as though to search for the correct position. ED864
crashed into a high-tension mast carrying 1000,000-volt wires,
bursting into flames and crashing into fields behind some
farmhouses; it’s bomb on fire, rolled onwards before exploding. At
the same time machine guns continued to fire into the burning
aircraft. Eyewitnesses who ran to the crash scene were unable to get
close owing to the ammunition still discharging. A very deep bomb
crater about 12 meters wide was left. Many buildings nearby had
roofs torn off and windows smashed but miraculously a statue of
St.Joseph holding the baby Jesus, on the edge of the crater remained
untouched. A memorial stone and plaque lie as a permanent memorial
to Flight Lieutenant Astell and his crew.
The crew consisted of:
|
Name |
Service |
Trade |
Hometown |
Age |
|
F/L William
Astell - DFC |
RAFVR |
Pilot |
Manchester |
21 |
|
Sgt. John
Kinnear |
RAFVR |
Flight
Engineer |
East Newport,
Fife |
21 |
|
P/O Floyd Wile |
RCAF |
Navigator |
Truro, Nova
Scotia |
24 |
|
F/O Don Hopkinson |
RAFVR |
Bomb Aimer |
Royton, Lancs. |
22 |
|
Sgt. Abram
Garshowitz |
RCAF |
W/Op/AG |
Hamilton,
Ontario |
20 |
|
F/Sgt Francis
Garbas |
RCAF |
Front Gunner |
Hamilton,
Ontario |
20 |
|
Sgt Richard
Bolitho |
RAFVR |
Rear Gunner |
Londonderry, N.
Ireland |
23 |
All of the crew lie in Reichswald Forest War Cemetary.
Sergeant Richard "Dickie"
Bolitho RAFVR (1211045) was born in 1920 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland and was the only child of William, a
commercial traveller in seeds, and Jeanie (Cuthbertson). Richard was
brought up at Jeanie’s family home, "Braehead" in
Londonderry. In 1927 the family moved to England, buying a hotel on
Castle Boulevard in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire and Richard moved
in with his aunt Emily who owned a fruit and vegetable shop. He
attended the Church Hill School.
Service History
Joined
RAF in 1940
No2
RC 25.11.1940
No
4 RC. (.12.1940
RAF
Calshot.10.1.1941
No
1 RW.26.4.1941
No7
ITW.10.5.1941
51
Group Pool.28.6.1941
ADRC.5.8.1941
RDU.6.10.1941
No
14 ITW.10.1.1942.
No9.AGS.5.6.1942
No19.OTU.27.8.1942
No1654.CU.15.10.42
9
Squadron.23.12.1942
57
squadron.22.1.1943
617
squadron.25.3.1943.
His last leave was spent with P/O Wile, W/O Garshowitz
and Sergeant Kinnear at home in Kimberley, Nottinghamshire.
Richard and the rest of the crew were to fly their first operation
with Flight Lieutenant Astell on the 25th of January
1943.
Richard Bolitho’s
name is inscribed on the war memorial for Kimberley,
Nottinghamshire and in 2008 a special plaque was commissioned.
 |
|
The
Original Crew. L to R (front) A. Garshowitz, R.Bolitho (Back)
F.Wile, M.Stephenson, D. Hopkinson |
|
