• Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:

August 31st, 1914 (Liverpool, United Kingdom)

Date of death:

May 17th, 1943 (Emmerich am Rhein, Germany)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Cemetery Reichswald Forest
Plot: 5. Row: C. Grave: 2.

Service number:

1503094

Nationality:

British

Norman Rupert Burrows, born on 31 August 1914 in Toxteth, Liverpool, was the second of three children of Norman and Jane Burrows. His father worked as a carter. Joining the RAF in June 1941, Burrows qualified as an air gunner in 1942 and was posted to 50 Squadron at Skellingthorpe on 30 September.

Flying with Henry Maudslay for the first time on 27 January 1943, Burrows became his regular rear gunner, completing nine more operations. On a raid to Cologne on 2 February, his guns froze due to extreme cold. The crew transferred to 617 Squadron on 27 March 1943.

During Dams Raid training, Maudslay’s crew practiced with dummy Upkeep mines. On 12 May, while flying Lancaster AJ-X (ED933), a low-altitude drop caused water and shingle to damage the tailplane, shaking Burrows. The damaged aircraft returned to Scampton but was replaced by Lancaster AJ-Z (ED937) for the raid.

After being hit at the Eder Dam, AJ-Z reached Emmerich near the Dutch-German border before being shot down. Burrows’ body, separated from the fuselage, was individually identifiable. Initially buried in Düsseldorf North Cemetery, he and the crew were reinterred in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery after the war.

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• Photo 1: Findagrave
• - CWGC
  - Dambusters/

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