The High Peak Dambuster

Sergeant Jack Marriott DFM

Frank Pleszak

• Publisher: Air World
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9781399097499
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

Operation Chastise, the audacious attack on the dams in the Ruhr valley, is arguably one of the most famous airborne attacks in history. During the night of 16/17 May 1943, 133 men in nineteen specially-adapted Lancasters – the famous Dambusters – set off to attack six dams deep in the heart of Germany. Eight of the bombers, and 56 of the aircrew, did not come home. Three of the aircrew who took part were from the High Peak region of Derbyshire. Flight Lieutenant Bill Astell, the pilot of ED864 who hailed from Coombs near Chapel-en-le-Frith, was killed after flying into electricity pylons on the way to the dams. The navigator in ED924, Sergeant John Nugent, from Stoney Middleton, survived the Dambusters Raid but was killed later in the war. The third High Peak Dambuster, on whom this biography concentrates, is the little-known Sergeant Jack Marriott from Chinley, the flight engineer on Lancaster ED937 during the attack. Marriott's Lancaster, Z-Zebra, reached the Möhne Dam, only to discover that it had been breached, some five bouncing bombs already having been released at it. The crew, led by Squadron Leader Henry Maudslay DFC, then flew on to the Eder Dam where their 'bouncing bomb' exploded beneath the Lancaster after hitting the parapet of the structure. The damaged Lancaster struggled homeward, but was shot down on the Dutch border; Jack, together with his crew, was killed in the crash. In this autobiography, Frank Pleszak explores Jack's life, his RAF service prior to joining 617 Squadron, and then the events leading up to and during Operation Chastise itself. But for Jack, one the immortal Dambusters, his story continued on after that historic night – particularly during the filming of the 1955 epic Dam Busters in which his aircraft features.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Booktitle
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Preface
• Introduction
• Jack Marriott
• Norma Bagshaw
• Joining the Royal Air Force
• Flight Engineer Training
• Joining an Operational Squadron
• Avro Lancaster Crew
• First Tour of Duty
• Squadron X
• 12 May 1943 – Reculver: Trials and Tribulations
• 15 May – One Day to Go
• Sunday 16 May: Up to Boarding
• Jack and AJ-Z Prepare for Take-Off
• Jack and AJ-Z Taxi for Take-Off
• Jack Takes Off
• Route to the Dams
• Attacking the Möhne Dam
• McCarthy’s Sorpe Attack
• Attacking the Eder Dam
• Jack’s Return Flight
• Brown’s Sorpe Attack
• Townsend’s Ennepe Attack
• The End of Operation Chastise
• The Morning After and the Following Weeks
• Confirmation of Death
• More 617 Squadron Activity and Losses
• More 617 Squadron Deaths
• Jack’s Decoration, but not for Operation Chastise
• What Became of the Dambuster Lancasters and Upkeeps?
• Reburial
• The Story Continues and the Legend Grows
• Norma’s Pride
• Memorials and Mysterious Memorials
• Appendix 1 Abbreviations
• Appendix 2 RAF Ranks, Wings and Brevets
• Appendix 3 Operation Chastise Aircrew Names
• Appendix 4 Avro 693 Lancaster B.III
• Appendix 5 Avro 693 Lancaster B.III Flight Engineer’s Panel
• Appendix 6 Fate of the Lancasters Used by 617 Squadron
• Appendix 7 Vickers Type 464 Upkeep
• Appendix 8 Medals and Decorations
• Appendix 9 Phonetic Alphabet
• Appendix 10 Operation Chastise Codewords
• Appendix 11 The Dams
• Appendix 12 Jack Marriott’s RAF Service Record
• Appendix 13 Avro Lancaster ED933 and ED937 RAF Record Cards
• Appendix 14 Book References
• Appendix 15 Transcriptions of Letters and Telegraphs
• Endnotes
• Other Works by Frank Pleszak
• Index