Roberts, Charles Walpole

Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:: January 19th, 1921 (Northrepps/Norfolk, England)
Date of death:: May 17th, 1943 (Castricum aan Zee, Netherlands)
Buried on:: Dutch War Graves Protestant Cemetery Bergen op Zoom
Plot: II. Row: E. Grave: 17.
Service number:: 1269945
Nationality:: British

Biography

On January 19, 1921, Charles Walpole Roberts was born in the Norfolk village of Northrepps, which is close to Cromer. Charles Augustus and Dorcas Roberts had only one son. Raised by his mother and grandmother, Roberts attended the village school before enrolling at the adjacent Paston School.

In 1940, Roberts joined the RAF and was chosen to undergo pilot training. He was dispatched to an Elementary Flying Training School in Rhodesia for training. In the end, he became a navigator.

Following his training, Roberts was deployed to 57 Squadron at Scampton on March 13 and to 10 Operational Training Unit at RAF Abingdon in July 1942. In anticipation of the Dams Raid, he was reassigned to 617 Squadron on March 25.

On May 16, 1943 at 9:47 PM, the Avro Lancaster III ED887 of the 617 Squadron took off in Lincolnshire to take part in the attack on the Möhne Dam. At 2:58 am the Lancaster was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire and crashed in the surf near Castricum.

The entire crew died.

Roberts washed ashore near Castricum on May 17, 1943.

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