Guy Penrose Gibson

At just 24 years old, Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson had already completed more than 170 operational sorties against the enemy. Within weeks he would lead nineteen specially modified Avro Lancasters into Germany at little more than treetop height, attack the Möhne Dam himself, and then deliberately remain over the target to draw anti-aircraft fire away from the crews following him. That night, Operation Chastise, better known as the Dambusters Raid, made Gibson one of the most famous Royal Air Force officers of the Second World War and brought him the Victoria Cross. He would not survive the war. By the time of his death in September 1944, aged only 26, the RAF Museum records that he had flown 177 operational sorties.

Guy Penrose Gibson was born on 12 August 1918 at Simla, British India, to English parents. He was raised and educated in England, attending schools in Cornwall and Kent before going to St Edward's School, Oxford. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1936, received his commission in 1937, and was posted to No. 83 Squadron, where he became a Handley Page Hampden bomber pilot. When Britain entered the Second World War in September 1939, Gibson was already positioned at the beginning of what would become an extraordinarily intensive operational career.

With No. 83 Squadron he flew bombing, minelaying and anti-shipping operations, including attacks associated with the campaign against invasion barges assembled in occupied European ports. His willingness to fly difficult missions and operate in poor conditions quickly established his reputation. On 9 July 1940, Flying Officer Gibson was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Importantly, the London Gazette announcement of this first DFC carried no narrative citation, so it is historically safer not to attribute the award to one specific sortie. It recognised the operational record he had built with No. 83 Squadron rather than a single published act of gallantry.

Gibson was not content to leave operational flying when his bomber tour ended. He volunteered for night-fighter service and joined No. 29 Squadron, flying Bristol Beaufighters during the increasingly technical struggle to intercept Luftwaffe bombers at night. RAF Museum research records that he flew about 80 night-fighter sorties during this period. His success brought a Bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross, gazetted on 16 September 1941. The official citation stated that he had shown the "utmost courage and devotion to duty", had destroyed three enemy aircraft and damaged a fourth, and singled out his destruction of a Heinkel He 111 during an interception in July 1941.

After a period as an instructor, Gibson returned to Bomber Command in April 1942 and took command of No. 106 Squadron. He initially flew the Avro Manchester and then the Lancaster as the squadron converted to the new four-engined bomber. His operational record continued to grow rapidly, with attacks against some of the most heavily defended targets in occupied Europe and Germany.

On 20 November 1942, Gibson was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. This time the London Gazette published a detailed citation. It recorded his daylight operation against Danzig, an attack on Gdynia, and his low-level attack on the transformer station near Le Creusot, where he bombed and machine-gunned from about 500 feet. It also referred to operations against Genoa and Milan and described him as a "most skilful and courageous leader" whose example inspired those under his command.

Only a few months later came another distinction. On 2 April 1943, Gibson was awarded a Bar to the Distinguished Service Order. The official citation recorded that he had already completed 172 operational sorties. During the preceding two months he had flown six attacks against heavily defended targets, including Berlin. It particularly highlighted a mission against Stuttgart in March 1943 when engine trouble developed on the outward flight. Gibson continued to the target and attacked from low level rather than abandon the operation. The citation praised his determination, leadership and disregard for danger, stating that his example had inspired the squadron he commanded.

By then Gibson had completed three demanding operational tours, but he still resisted being removed from combat. In March 1943 he was selected to command a new special unit, No. 617 Squadron, formed at RAF Scampton for a mission unlike anything the RAF had previously attempted. The target was a group of major German dams, and the weapon was Barnes Wallis's specially designed UPKEEP mine. To use it successfully, Lancaster crews had to approach their targets at extremely low altitude and release the weapon from approximately 60 feet above the water. Gibson and his crews trained intensively for the task.

On the night of 16-17 May 1943, nineteen Lancasters carrying 133 aircrew took off for Operation Chastise. Gibson led the first attack against the Möhne Dam. He brought his Lancaster down to extremely low level, flew directly into the dam's defensive fire and released his weapon. His own attack did not breach the dam, but instead of leaving the target area Gibson remained overhead. As successive aircraft came in to attack, he deliberately exposed his Lancaster to the defences in an effort to draw fire away from them. The Möhne was eventually breached. Gibson then led surviving aircraft towards the Eder Dam and again attempted to distract the defences while other crews attacked. The Eder was also breached, while the Sorpe Dam was damaged.

The achievement came at a severe cost. Of the nineteen Lancasters dispatched, eight were lost. Of the 133 aircrew who took part, 53 were killed and three became prisoners of war. The raid nevertheless became one of the most famous precision operations conducted by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War.

For his leadership of the raid and the exceptional operational career that preceded it, Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross. The award was announced in the London Gazette on 28 May 1943. Significantly, the citation was not based only on the Dams Raid. It traced his record from his early bomber operations, through night-fighter service, his return to Bomber Command, and finally his command of No. 617 Squadron. It noted his attacks on targets including Berlin, Cologne, Danzig, Gdynia, Genoa, Le Creusot, Milan, Nuremberg and Stuttgart. It also recalled that he had repeatedly asked to remain on operations when entitled to a rest.

The central part of the Victoria Cross citation described Gibson making the initial attack on the Möhne Dam, then circling at very low level for around thirty minutes to draw enemy fire from the aircraft following him. At the Eder he again exposed himself to the defences while the attack developed. By that stage he had completed more than 170 sorties and over 600 hours of operational flying. The citation concluded that throughout an operational career prolonged at his own request, Gibson had demonstrated "leadership, determination and valour of the highest order."

The Dams Raid made Gibson internationally famous. He accompanied Winston Churchill to North America and undertook speaking engagements intended to explain the work of the RAF and strengthen Allied morale. While in the United States he was awarded the Legion of Merit in the degree of Commander. On 3 December 1943, the London Gazette recorded that the King had granted Gibson unrestricted permission to wear the American decoration, which had been conferred in recognition of valuable wartime services. Unlike his British gallantry decorations, the British Gazette notice did not publish a detailed American action citation.

Gibson's verified medal entitlement also included the 1939-1945 Star, the Air Crew Europe Star with France and Germany Clasp, and the War Medal 1939-1945. These campaign and war medals did not carry individual gallantry citations, but they form part of his documented service entitlement and complete the ribbon rack associated with his wartime record.

Away from operations, Gibson and his wife Eve had a London home at 32 Aberdeen Place, St John's Wood. English Heritage records that they shared the flat from the summer of 1942 and that Gibson wrote much of his memoir, Enemy Coast Ahead, there. The book was published posthumously in 1946. The house now carries an English Heritage blue plaque identifying Gibson as the pilot and leader of the Dambusters Raid.

Fame did not lessen Gibson's desire to return to combat. After staff duties and repeated efforts to regain operational flying, he was permitted to fly again. On the night of 19 September 1944, he acted as Master Bomber for an attack on Mönchengladbach and Rheydt, flying a de Havilland Mosquito with navigator Squadron Leader James Brown Warwick DFC. The operation was completed, but Gibson's Mosquito crashed in the Netherlands on the return flight. Both men were killed. Gibson was 26 years old, and the precise cause of the crash has never been established with certainty. They were buried at the Roman Catholic Cemetery at Steenbergen-en-Kruisland.

Guy Gibson's career lasted only a few years, but its intensity was exceptional. He flew bombers and night fighters, commanded Nos. 106 and 617 Squadrons, destroyed three enemy aircraft and damaged another during night-fighter operations, completed 177 operational sorties, and repeatedly sought a return to combat when he could have remained in safer appointments. His DFC and Bar, DSO and Bar, Victoria Cross, and Commander of the Legion of Merit chart the progression of that career, but the official citations reveal something more important than the number of decorations. Again and again they describe the same qualities: determination to reach the target, willingness to share the danger faced by his crews, aggressive leadership in the air, and an extraordinary determination to remain operational.

Today, Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar remains inseparable from the history of No. 617 Squadron and the Dambusters Raid, but Operation Chastise was only one chapter of his service. His Victoria Cross citation itself made that clear. The raid crowned an operational career that had already carried him through Bomber Command, Fighter Command and three operational tours before he ever took off for the Ruhr dams. His death at 26 ended a career of remarkable brevity, but not the legacy that followed it.