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Dudley Percy Heal - Aircrew Details - Aviation Directory

Dudley Percy Heal



Dudley Heal

Name : Dudley Percy Heal
Died : February 1999

Awards :
Distinguished Flying Medal

Sergeant Dudley Heal Navigator AJ-F, born 1916 Hampshire.
RAF 1940
Uxbridge 29.3.1940
Reserve 30.3.1940
Uxbridge 8.5.1940
4 RC 14.5.1940
Wyton 1.6.1940
Southampton 20.6.1940
53 OTU 10.3.1941
1 RW 10.5.1941
8 ITW 17.5.1941
PTC,Toronto,Canada 19.7.1941
31 PD 18.11.1941
Moncton
31 PD 9.5.1942
3 PDC 18.5.1942
3 (O) AFU 20.6.1942
19 OTU 18.8.1942
434 Squadron 22.12.1942
44 Squadron 4.2.1943 (6 ops)
617 Squadron 25.3.1943
navigator
award DFM (28.5.1943) (Dams)
29 OTU 26.3.1944
214 Squadron 8.2.1945
2 Embarkation Unit,Southampton 11.9.1945
released 11.3.1946
worked at Southampton Docks in the 1970's. Is thought to have passed away in Southampton around February 1999. He was Navigator on Lancaster ED918 AJ-F on the Dambusters Raid. The aircraft shot up a train on the way to the target which was the Sorpe dam. The Lancaster successfully dropped its mine and hit the dam, but the solid earthen dam was never breached.

Known Service Details :

Squadron

Rank

Start of Service

End of Service

Known Dates

Aircraft

Airframes

Notes

No.214 Sqn RAF

8th February 1945

11th September 1945

No.434 Sqn RCAF

22nd December 1942

4th February 1943

No.44 Sqn RAF

4th February 1943

25th March 1943

No.617 Sqn RAF

Sergeant

25th March 1943

26th March 1944

Lancaster

ED918

Artwork signed by this Pilot or Aircrew



Breaching the Dams by Nicolas Trudgian. (C)

Artwork with companion print(s) featuring the mounted signature of this Pilot or Aircrew



The Dambusters - Last Moments of the Möhne Dam by Robert Taylor. (C)


On Course for the Möhne Dam by Richard Taylor. (B)

Photos Submitted Through Our Directory



Dudley Heal




Squadrons :
No.617 Sqn RAF
Pilots or Aircrew :
Kenneth William Brown
Harry Basil Feneron
Dudley Percy Heal
Harry J Hewstone
Stefan Oancia
Daniel Allatson
Grant S MacDonald
T V O'Shaughnessy
A D Holding
G A Kendrick
A Ward
Historical Notes :
30-04-1943 - Joined No.617 Sqn with code AJ-F.
16-05-1943 - Took part in the Dambusters Raid. Part of the third wave, the aircraft dropped its mine on the Sorpe dam, but the dam held firm. The gunners had shot up a train en route to the target. The aircraft returned to base safely. Crew : Flight Sergeant Kenneth William Brown (Pilot), Sergeant Harry Basil Feneron (Flight Engineer), Sergeant Dudley Percy Heal (Navigator), Sergeant Harry J Hewstone (Wireless Operator), Sergeant Stefan Oancia (Bomb Aimer), Sergeant Daniel Allatson (Front Gunner), Flight Sergeant Grant S MacDonald (Rear Gunner).
20-01-1944 - Crashed on a training flight. Flight Lieutenant T V O'Shuaghnessy killed, Flying Officer A D Holding killed, Flying Officer G A Kendrick injured, Flying Officer A Ward injured.

Known Individual Aircraft :

Type

Serial

Codes

First Flew

Squadron History

Aircrew History

History Notes

Engine

Factory

Lancaster

ED918

AJ-F

-

details

details

details




Aircraft for : Dudley Percy Heal
A list of all aircraft associated with Dudley Percy Heal. A profile page including a list of all art prints for the aircraft is available by clicking the aircraft name.
AircraftInfo

Lancaster



Click the name above to see prints featuring Lancaster aircraft.

Manufacturer : Avro
Production Began : 1942
Retired : 1963
Number Built : 7377

Lancaster

The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' Operation Gomorrah in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992.



Squadrons for : Dudley Percy Heal
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Dudley Percy Heal. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
SquadronInfo

No.214 Sqn RAF

Country : UK
Founded : 1st April 1918
Fate : Disbanded 28th January 1977
Federated Malay States

Ulter in umbris - Avenging in the shadows

Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.214 Sqn RAF

No.214 Sqn RAF

The squadron was originally formed at Coudekerque, near Dunkirk, on 28th July 1917, as No. 7A Squadron, RNAS, and from the beginning its role was heavy night bombing. On the 9th December 1917, it reformed as No. 14 Squadron; RNAS, and on 1st April 1918, the same day the Royal Air Force was formed, 200 was added to its number "14" and it became No. 214 Squadron, RAF. Equipped with Handley Page twin-engined bombers, they flew from coastal airfields in France, mainly engaged in night attacks against naval and army targets in Belgium, but also bombed targets in France. At the start it operated under the Dunkirk Naval Command, then from March to June in the 7th Brigade under the control of the Army, and lastly, from 4th June to the Armistice in the 82nd Wing, again under the Naval Command. In April and May 1918, it assisted in the Naval blocking operations at Zeebrugge and Ostend. An interesting event during its wartime career was the night of 24/25th July 1918, when it dropped the RAF's first 1,650-lb. bomb on the enemy. (see note A) Posted to Egypt in 1919, No. 214 disbanded the following year. Post war the squadron was moved to Egypt but it was disbanded on 1 February 1920 with its crew and aircraft merged into No. 216 Squadron RAF. On 16 September 1935 'B' Flight of No. 9 Squadron RAF was used to create a new 214 Squadron. Again a bomber squadron it had the Vickers Virginia Mk. X night-bombers at RAF Boscombe Down. y the outbreak of the Second World War it had re-equipped the Vickers Wellington which were replaced in 1942 with the larger Short Stirling, having moved to RAF Stradishall. At a time when Stirling losses led to the aircraft being withdrawn from bombing Germany the squadron transferred to RAF Downham Market in December 1943.[3] In January 1944, the squadron was converted to special operations, joining No. 100 Group RAF for electronic countermeasures in support of the main bombing operations. The squadron used the Boeing Fortress Mk II and Mk III and Stirlings. They used the jamming system codenamed "Airborne Cigar" (ABC) to block German night fighter communications. German speaking radio operators would identify and jam the ground controllers broadcasts and also pose as ground controllers themselves with the intention of steering the night fighters away from the bomber streams. At least some of 214 Squadron's B-17s were equipped with 'Piperack' which countered the Germans' Lichtenstein SN-2 aerial intercept radar It operated the Vickers Valiant from RAF Marham, from 21 January 1956 until 28 February 1965. Leonard Trent, a Victoria Cross winner, was the first CO of the Valiant squadron. The Valiant was at first active as a V bomber but was then converted to tankers. Disbanded in 1965 it reformed the following year with the Handley Page Victor tanker and continued until disbanded finally in 1977.

No.434 Sqn RCAF

Country : Canada
Founded : 13th June 1943
Fate : Disbanded 5th September 1945
Bluenose

In exelcis vincimus - We conquer the heights

Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.434 Sqn RCAF

No.434 Sqn RCAF

Full profile not yet available.

No.44 Sqn RAF

Country : UK
Founded : 15th April 1916
Fate : Disbanded 21st December 1982
Rhodesia

Fulmina regis justa - The Kings thunderbolts are righteous

Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.44 Sqn RAF

No.44 Sqn RAF

Full profile not yet available.

No.617 Sqn RAF

Country : UK
Founded : 23rd March 1943

Apres mois, le deluge - After me, the flood

Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.617 Sqn RAF

No.617 Sqn RAF

Full profile not yet available.




Last edited : 11:45, May 24, 2013
Last editor : kc

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