| Pilot Officer
Floyd Wile was serving as Navigator 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.
Pilot
Officer Floyd Wile RCAF was born in 1919 in Scotch village, Nova
Scotia, the son of Harris and Annabelle Wile. He had six siblings,
Arnold, Ada, Leslie, Dorothy, Raymond (served overseas with the
Princess Louise Fusiliers in Italy) and Donald.
After
he left high school he worked in farming and the lumbar business.
A keen sportsman, he enjoyed skiing, skating and swimming. He
attended No 5 Initial Training School and No 8 Air Observer School
and was noted for being very quiet and hard working. By the time
he had attended No 9 Bombing and Gunnery school he had gained in
confidence and was commended as outstanding by his commanding
officer. After graduating from No 2 Air Navigation School in 1941,
he was commissioned as a Pilot Officer and left 1654 HCU Wigsley
in December 1942. Posted to 9 Squadron at Waddington, Floyd and
the rest of the crew were piloted by Sergeant M.W.Stephenson, who
it is believed to have been killed acting as Flight Engineer on a
raid to Duisberg on 8/9th January 1943. Floyd and the
rest of the crew were to fly their first op.with Flight Lieutenant
Astell on the 25th of January 1943.
 |
|
The
Original Crew. L to R (front) A. Garshowitz, R.Bolitho (Back)
F.Wile, M.Stephenson, D. Hopkinson |
|
