| Flight Sergeant
Francis Garbas was serving as Front 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. Abram Garshowitz and Frank
Garbas both came from Hamilton, Ontario and were friends prior to
enlisting.
|
