Harry John Strange (abt. 1923 - 1943)

Died 17 May 1943 at about age 20 in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Biography

Harry was born about 1923 son of Margaret Elizebeth Strange, and stepson of Robert William Lynn, of Holloway, London. ^[1]

Harry joined the Royal 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. ^[2]

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. Harry was assigned to fly as tail gunner with Bill Ottley flying ED910/G call sign AJ-C. The other members of the crew were Ronald Marsden, Jack Barrett, Jack Guterman, Thomas Johnson, and Frank Tees. However he and Frank Tees changed places and Harry flew as front gunner. ^[3]

They were assigned to the third wave as back up, taking off a couple of hours after the first wave. Approaching Hamm they were engaged by gun fire. The starboard inner engine was quickly hit and burst into flame and the hydraulic system was knocked out. The aircraft plunged to the ground and, apart from Fred Tees, who was thrown clear, they were all killed. ^[4] Harry was 20 years old. He was re-buried at Reichswald Forest War Cemetery in 1946. ^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Harry John Strange
2. ↑ Wikipedia: Operation Chastise
3. ↑ 617 Squadron crew list
4. ↑ http://www.dambusters.org.uk/the-dam-raids/the-raid-third-wave/
5. ↑ Commonwealth War Graves Commission: Harry John Strange