Alden Preston Cottam (abt. 1913 - 1943)

Died 17 May 1943 at about age 30 in Emmerich Klein-Netterden

Biography

Alden was born about 1913 son of Edwin A. and Margaret A. Cottam, of Jasper Park, Alberta, Canada. ^[1]

Alden joined the Royal Canadian Air Force and was one of the airmen selected to join the top-secret 617 Squadron flying out of RAF Scampton, which had been specially formed on 21 March 1943 for a secret mission under Wing Commander Guy Gibson. There followed rigorous low level night flying exercises while they practiced highly accurate dropping of Barnes Wallis' novel bouncing bomb flying Lancasters.

It was only at the pre-flight briefing that the crews learned they were to attack the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany in an effort to cripple the Ruhr industrial area. There are pictures of all the crews at Dambuster Heroes. Alden flew as navigator on ED937/G call sign AJ-Z with pilot Henry Maudsley the other members of the crew being John Marriot, Robert Urquhart, Michael Fuller, William Tytherleigh and Norman Burrows. ^[2]

They flew in the first wave which arrived at the Möhne Dam just after midnight on 17 May 1943. Gibson made the first run and scored a hit on the dam which held steady. Hoppy Hopgood's plane was next and was hit by flack on the run in dropping her bomb with an engine on fire. The bomb overshot, the plane managed to climb to about five hundred feet before crashing to the ground. The fifth plane was the one that succeeded and the planes that still had their bombs headed for the Eder dam. This attack was more difficult and though they succeeded in dropping their bomb it was too late. The bomb hit high on the dam and the resulting explosion damaged the aircraft which staggered away and headed for home. They were shot down just after 2.30am crashing at Emmerich Klein-Netterden. Everyone on board was killed. ^[3]

His remains were re-buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in 1946. ^[4]

Sources

1. ↑ Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Alden Preston Cottam
2. ↑ 617 Squadron crew list
3. ↑ http://www.dambusters.org.uk/the-dam-raids/the-raid-first-wave/
4. ↑ Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Alden Preston Cottam