Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

An original Dambuster and Guy Gibson's Bomb Aimer on the Dams raid

Son of James Bourke Spafford and Vida Muriel Spafford. Nepew of Walter John Spafford of 150 Park Terreace, Wayville South Australia

Australian Dictionary of Biography

Frederick Michael Spafford (1918-1943), air force officer, was born on 16 June 1918 in North Adelaide, only child of James Michael Burke (d.1923), tannery foreman, and his wife Vida Muriel, née Spafford (d.1926), both South Australian born. Little evidence survives of Fred's childhood and education. On 19 September 1929 he was adopted by his maternal grandfather Frederick Blaker Spafford, a 70-year-old ironworker, and given his surname. In time, he worked as a fitter.

On 14 September 1940 Spafford enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force. His grandfather had died on 25 March that year and Fred named his uncle Walter James Spafford (1884-1962), South Australia's director of agriculture, as his next of kin. After training in wireless at Ballarat, Victoria, and in air gunnery at Evans Head, New South Wales, he arrived in England, under the Empire Air Training Scheme, in August 1941 as a sergeant air gunner.

Sent to No.5 Bomber Group, Royal Air Force, in the East Midlands, Spafford spent short periods with a number of units. In May 1942 he was posted to No.50 Squadron, R.A.F., with which he flew in Manchesters and later Lancasters as a specialist bomb-aimer. The four-engined Lancaster bomber became the principal weapon in Britain's air offensive against Germany by night. Following fifteen sorties, Spafford was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal in October for his skill and 'praiseworthy example'. He was commissioned in January 1943. Having survived his tour of thirty operations, he could have expected a respite from combat, but in March he was invited to join an elite R.A.F. squadron, No.617, being formed for a special mission against dams in the Ruhr and Weser valleys. (Sir) Barnes Wallis had designed a new type of mine or 'bouncing bomb' able to skip over defensive torpedo-nets and explode at depth against the wall of a dam.

On the night of 16 May Spafford flew with Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led a formation of nineteen Lancasters in attacks on the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams. Bombs had to be released at the dangerously low height of 60 ft (18 m) at a set speed, line and distance from the wall of each targeted dam. Gibson regarded Spafford (whose nickname was 'Spam') as 'the best bomb-aimer there is'. The Mohne and Eder dams were successfully breached, flooding a large stretch of country. The daring and spectacular 'Dam Buster' raid was acclaimed as a triumph, boosting allied morale. Interviewed by the press and on the radio, Spafford described the secrecy and hazards of No.617's training for low-level flying, the elaborate briefings, and the attack which was carried out in bright moonlight against enemy fire. Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross and, among the other decorations presented at Buckingham Palace, Spafford received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Five ft 8½ ins (174 cm) tall, stockily built and square shouldered, with a fair complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair, he had an open face and wore his cap at a rakish angle. Crew mates spoke of his nonchalance in the face of danger.

Despite high losses in the dams raid—nine of the Lancasters which had set out did not return—No.617 Squadron was kept in commission for similar tasks. On the night of 15/16 September 1943 the British attacked the Dortmund-Ems Canal, using substantially the same tactics. In patchy fog and poor visibility, and against alert defences, five of the eight attacking aircraft were shot down. Hit by flak, Spafford's plane caught fire, crashed, and blew apart on the ground. There were no survivors. Spafford was posthumously promoted flying officer.

Citation details
Eric Fry, 'Spafford, Frederick Michael (1918–1943)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/spafford-frederick-michael-11737/text20985, published first in hardcopy 2002, accessed online 29 April 2016.

This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 16, (MUP), 2002

Biography written by Eleanor Humphrey St Peter's Girl's School, SA attached as a document. Winning entry for 2021 Premier's Anzac Spirit School Prize.

80th Anniversary of the Death of a Dambuster

16 September 1943

Flying Officer Fred ‘Spam’ Spafford, DFC, DFM.

In 2023 we celebrated the 80th anniversary of the famous 617 Squadron ‘Dambusters raid’ which took place on the night of 16/17 May 1943, where nineteen 617 Squadron Lancasters, containing 133 aircrew, were led by Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson, VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, on Operation Chastise, involving attacks against the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in the Ruhr valley.

Fred ‘Spam’ Spafford, DFC, DFM, was the bomb-aimer in the crew of Lancaster ED932 (AJ-G) ‘G for George’, flown by Wing Commander Gibson, who referred to Fred ‘Spam’ Spafford as ‘the best bomb-aimer there is.’

Operation Chastise was probably the most celebrated operation in aviation history.  However, the breaching of the Möhne and Eder dams and superficial damage to the Sorpe came with a cost of eight out of 19 Lancasters lost, 53 aircrew dead and three becoming POWs. 

It was to be four months before 617 Squadron Lancasters returned to Germany, this time to attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal, a 160-mile waterway linking the Ruhr valley with eastern Germany and the ports of the Baltic and North Seas, making it a vital artery feeding Germany’s war industries with strategic materials and for the transportation of finished products ranging from arms and munitions to prefabricated U-boat sections.  The canal was seen as most vulnerable north of Műnster where it ran in twin aqueducts over the River Glane.  Either side of the aqueducts the canal was carried in embankments that were raised above the level of the surrounding land.  The intention was to employ newly developed light case 12,000 lb High-Capacity (HC) ‘blockbuster’ bombs.

Following an aborted attempt on 14 September 1943, with one aircraft lost, the operation against the Dortmund-Ems canal was rescheduled for the following night (15 September 1943).  Eight crews in two sections of four Lancasters took off from Coningsby, led by Gibson’s replacement, Wing Commander George Holden, flying Lancaster EE144 (AJ-S), the crew of which contained four members of Gibson’s original crew, including Fred Spafford. 

The operation was a total disaster.  Including the aircraft lost when turning back after being recalled the first night, a total of five Lancasters and their crews were lost for a nil result.  Losses included Lancaster EE144 (AJ-S), flown by Wing Commander Holden, with the crew containing Fred Spafford and three other members of Gibson’s original crew.

If you want to know more about the raid on the Dortmund-Ems canal and to read the newly posted SA Aviation Museum profile on Fred ‘Spam’ Spafford, please visit the Links and Documents Section of this entry.

Gary Petts

SA Aviation Museum History Group

September 2023