• Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:

March 6th, 1922 (St Ann’s Chapel, Calstock/Cornwall, United Kingdom)

Date of death:

September 23rd, 1943

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Cemetery Reichswald Forest
Plot: 18. Row: A. Grave: 14.

Service number:

1380667

Nationality:

British

William Douglas Bickle was born in St Ann’s Chapel, Cornwall, on March 6, 1922. His father was a farmer.

Joining the RAF in October 1940, he trained as a wireless operator/air gunner before posting to 25 Operational Training Unit and later 1654 Conversion Unit. In February 1943, he joined 49 Squadron, flying his first mission on March 12. After two operations, he was assigned to 617 Squadron but remained with 49 Squadron for three more missions, including two over Berlin.

Following the Dams Raid, Bickle returned to 49 Squadron, continuing operations with an attack on Krefeld on June 21. He flew 14 more missions before his aircraft was shot down on September 23, 1943, after a successful attack on Mannheim.

Shortly before his final mission, he married Violet Bickford in Wembury, Devon, on August 9, 1943. She later remarried and moved to Liverpool.

Originally buried in Offenbach Cemetery, Bickle and his crew were exhumed and reburied in Rheinberg War Cemetery. He is commemorated on the Albaston war memorial in Cornwall.

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• - CWGC
  - Dambusters

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