617 Dambuster Squadron At War by Chris Ward

Author:Chris Ward
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781783035168
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2013-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Shannon was just twenty years old when he joined 106 Squadron at Coningsby in June 1942, although he looked much younger. His first operation was as second pilot to S/L John Wooldridge, officer commanding B Flight, on the occasion of the third and final thousand-bomber raid on the night of the 25/26th of June. Wooldridge was one of the great characters of Bomber Command, and a man who preferred to compose classical music and write plays rather than carouse his off duty nights away with his squadron colleagues.The target for Wooldridge and his young charge on this night in June 1942 was the city of Bremen in north-western Germany, which had been a regular destination for Bomber Command almost since strategic bombing began in the summer of 1940. 960 Bomber Command aircraft were dispatched, along with 102 from Coastal Command, the latter on the personal orders of Churchill, and a moderately effective operation ensued. The 5 Group effort at Bremen, amounting to 142 aircraft, was directed entirely at the city’s Focke-Wulf aircraft factory, and although it was not destroyed, an assembly shop was wrecked and six other buildings were severely damaged. Gibson had been absent from the squadron when Shannon arrived, and had not yet undertaken a Lancaster operation. His first, against Wilhelmshaven on the night of the 8/9th of July, was flown with Shannon as second pilot. Unlike many, Shannon was not overawed by Gibson’s personality, and an unshakable bond formed between the two men. Shannon’s next four operations were flown as second dickey, and these included the daylight raid by 5 Group on the distant port of Danzig on the 11th of July, when he again flew with Gibson. Shannon did not operate at all during August, and when he undertook his first sortie as captain, a gardening expedition on the 4/5th of September, it proved to be something of an anticlimax, after W/T failure forced him to return early. Towards the end of November he was recommended for the non-immediate award of the DFC in recognition of his operational career thus far. For whatever reason Shannon’s crew, with the exception of his navigator Danny Walker, opted not to accompany him to 617 Squadron, but he would gather around him excellent replacements, including bomb-aimer Len Sumpter, a former guardsman, who was older than most, and had completed thirteen operations with 57 Squadron by the time of his posting to 617 Squadron at the start of April.

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