Sumpter, Leonard Joseph

Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:: September 20th, 1911 (Kettering/Northamptonshire, United Kingdom)
Date of death:: November 30th, 1993 (Luton/Bedfordshire, United Kingdom)
Service number:: 655673 / 149045
Nationality:: British

Biography

Leonard Joseph Sumpter, born on 20 September 1911 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, was the son of Joseph and Mary Ann Sumpter. After two stints in the Grenadier Guards, serving as a boy soldier in 1928, he transferred to the RAF in 1941. Following training in England and Canada, he joined 57 Squadron at Scampton in September 1942 as a bomb aimer, completing 13 missions.

Hearing of a new squadron forming at Scampton, Sumpter volunteered with 617 Squadron and earned the DFM for his accurate bombing of the Eder Dam during the Dams Raid. He continued flying on 617 Squadron operations, earning a commission in June 1943.

In 1944, Sumpter became Shannon’s observer when Mosquitoes were introduced to the squadron. He received the DFC that year but later returned to Lancasters under Flt Lt I.M. Marshall, ultimately flying 35 operations. Sumpter participated in 617 Squadron's final wartime mission, targeting Berchtesgarten on 25 April 1945.

Demobbed after the war, Sumpter rejoined the RAF in 1946 in the Physical Fitness branch, serving until 1950. He had a son, Leonard, with his first wife, Marjorie MacLean, whom he met during training in Canada, and a daughter, Jacqueline, with his second wife, Hilda Rose, from England.

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Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Flight Sergeant
Unit:: No. 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Awarded on:: May 28th, 1943
Awarded for:: Operation Chastise

Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

Period:: Second World War (1939-1945)
Rank:: Flying Officer
Unit:: No. 617 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Awarded on:: June 9th, 1944

"Since being awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal, this officer has participated in many sorties, and has continued to display high qualities of courage and devotion to duty. He is a skillful bomb aimer whose determination to ensure accuracy in the face of the heaviest opposition has been most commendable. He has set a fine example to all."