On the night of 16 -17 May 1943, 133 brave men set off from Lincolnshire in 19 Lancaster bombers to carry out one of the most audacious and dangerous bombing raids of WW2, the Dambusters. 56 out of the 133 did not return from their mission. Amongst them was Sergeant John Wilkinson, born and bred in Antrobus. Less than 2 weeks before the raid, he had returned home to Antrobus on leave to celebrate his 21st birthday.
John had made an extraordinary journey in his short life, from Antrobus lad and farm worker to be selected by Guy Gibson, as one of the best wireless operators in the RAF, to join 617 Squadron.
Antrobus Upbringing
John was born on 2 May 1922 in Antrobus to Thomas and Ethel Wilkinson. He lived at Antrobus House Farm. Sadly his mother died of TB when he was very young. His father employed a housekeeper, Nora Steel, to enable him to keep the family together and in 1934 he married her. The family were close and happy – John had an older brother Tom and sister Phyllis. They went to Antrobus Village School and Tom and John sang in the choir at St Mark’s Antrobus. Later Thomas and Nora had a son, Geoffrey, who joined the RAF in the 1960s and became a Squadron Leader.
After leaving school at 14, the brothers started farm work. John was 17 at the outbreak of war in 1939. He had always been interested in flying and soon volunteered for the RAF. His brother Tom volunteered for the Army, but was instructed to stay in Antrobus in farming as a reserved occupation – Britain was to suffer terribly when its merchant shipping was blockaded and farmers were essential to keeping the country fed. So Tom remained in Antrobus, a quiet hero struggling to farm, like many others, without adequate “manpower”, and also joined the Home Guard.
John joins the RAF
John meanwhile was accepted into the RAF, ultimately for Bomber Command. He trained at RAF Padgate and must have shown an aptitude for wireless work. It was often said that you could either do Morse or not, some just could not master it. John clearly did!
John must have performed very well on his missions. The RAF was just about the most dangerous place you could serve in the war and the attrition rates were terrible. 617 Squadron was formed especially for the raid – the Air Force Marshall, Sir Arthur Harris, instructing Air Vice Marshall Ralph Cochrane to form the squadron using highly experienced crews – “the best of the best”.
617 Squadron
In late March 1943 the crews arrived at RAF Scampton for training. 22 crews were formed with a wide range of nationalities and 19 were eventually deployed on the raid. John’s crew. Crew AJ-K (“King”), flying ED 934/G, were:
- Pilot Officer Vernon W Byers (Canada)
- Flight Engineer Sergeant Alastair J Taylor
- Navigator Flying Officer James H Warner
- Bomb Aimer Pilot Officer Arthur N Whitaker
- Front Gunner Sergeant Charles Jarvie
- Rear Gunner Flight Sergeant James McDowell (Canada)
John himself was Wireless Operator and Air Gunner. Vernon Byers was particularly experienced in low flying, a crucial skill for this mission. The crews embarked on intense training for low flying over water, initially over The Wash and then over inland waters such as Lake Bala and Ladybower Reservoir. John’s log shows evidence of this and later spotlight training, using two spotlights to enable the aircraft to fly at exactly the right height to release the bouncing bombs.
21st Birthday In Antrobus
The crews had no idea what they were training for. John told his family when he came home for his 21 st that it was “something big”, though he did not know what. John was given leave to return home for his 21 st and the two Canadians in his crew, also on leave and not able to go home, came with him. One can only imagine the journey on blacked out wartime trains from Lincolnshire to Antrobus!
The family remember John’s leave very fondly, spending time together, going out into the countryside and showing the Canadians round. In the light of John’s tragic death only days later, this was very special time. Doug Burgess, still living in Antrobus and a member of the Home Guard with Tom Wilkinson, remembers sitting in fields with them and just chatting away.
The Raid
John and his fellow crew members reported back for duty at RAF Scampton and the final stage of training began. The crews dropped inert bombs (filled with concrete). 19 aircraft were to be used in 3 waves, so three crews were stood down. AJ-K was to be in the second wave, which unlike waves 1 and 3 (the reserve wave), was to fly by a northerly route, leaving Scampton and flying straight out to sea just south of Mablethorpe, and over the North Sea to the Dutch coast.
The men were briefed as to their targets at the latest possible moment and on the morning of 16 May, the aircrew were able to do a final check of their equipment. John would have been busy checking the wireless and his guns. After a final briefing, waves 1 and 2 were taken out to their aircraft. After completing the pre-flight checks, wave 2 started to take off at 21.28 and AJ-K took off at 21.30. After crossing the Dutch coast, the plan was to turn south, flying over Vlieland, eventually turning to port at Rees and following the track of the first wave to the dams.
Sadly at about 22.56 AJ-K was shot down by anti-aircraft guns in the region of Texel on the northwest coast of Holland. The aircraft seems to have been hit by a small calibre Flak Gun of 10 .5 or 20 mm suggesting that it was at very low altitude and probably a very unlucky hit due to the hosing effect of flak at this height. The aircraft crashed into the Waddenzee and only one body (James McDowell) was ever recovered, being washed ashore later. This loss was the first of many that night – 56 men were lost. It is thought that for some reason the Upkeep Bomb on board AJ-K did not explode. Had the Germans known the secret value of the weapon, they would no doubt have tried to recover it. It is claimed (though accounts vary) that this was then prevented as some 4 weeks later it exploded, possibly due to the depth detector being armed at the time of the impact and then the correct amount of sea cover causing it to go up on a high tide.
The family hear of John’s loss
As a whole the raid was very successful and caused immense disruption to the German factories in the Ruhr. But for a family in Antrobus, it brought the telegram that they had feared. The family still have the wonderful letter that Wing Commander Guy Gibson,
Squadron Leader, wrote to them subsequently. He assures them of his confidence that the pilot, Vernon Byers, was very experienced and would have done all he could to save his crew. He also comments on John’s own experience. No one at that point knew whether any on board might have survived and Gibson tells them that the International Red Cross would eventually advise them should the crew be found in enemy territory. One can only imagine the gradual loss of hope as months went by without word.
This year marks 75 years since John’s 21 st birthday in Antrobus and the raid on the dams. The Village is rightly proud of all its sons who died for their country in both the World Wars – and there is a special place in their hearts for their Dambuster.
With grateful thanks to the Wilkinson family for their permission to tell
John’s story and their help in doing so.
The History of Antrobus 