In the late afternoon of 24 June 1944, eighteen aircraft from 617 Squadron, led to fame by Wing Commander Guy Gibson during the attack on the dams raid in May 1943, took off from their base at Woodhall Spa. Their target was the vast V2 rocket site at Wizernes in the Pas de Calais. Known today as La Coupole, this bunker complex had been built to serve as a reinforced launch site for the V2s that Hitler hoped would terrorise the British population.Once their target had been marked, the Lancasters dropped Tallboy bombs. Bomb bursts were recorded all around the target. The Dambusters, however, did not go unchallenged. One of the attackers, Lancaster DV403, flown by Flight Lieutenant John Edward DFC and coded KC-G, was hit by flak. The flight engineer, Flying Officer W.J. King DFC, died instantly. One of the Lancaster’s engines stuttered and the aircraft began to burn.Edward valiantly tried to hold course long enough for the rest of the crew to answer the ‘Abracadabra’ call to bale out. A Resistance worker saw crew members falling ‘like candles’ below their parachutes.Moments later DV403 hit the growing crops in nearby French fields. The Lancaster carried, unusually, eight crew. The pilot and all three gunners were dead.In the chaos of the moment, the courage of one member of the French Resistance, undertaker André Schamp, stood out. He assisted a wounded crewman, while also checking for other survivors.The story of DV403 has been recently honoured in France on the 80th anniversary, with an exhibition, lectures and a wayside interpretation board compiled by the authors, who have encouraged strong involvement of crewmen’s families in the evolving narrative. This is the story of their fate that night, as well as of 617 Squadron’s attack on the V2 site as a whole.
