• Operation Chastise (Dambusters Raid)

Date of birth:

October 18th, 1912 (Newcastle on Tyne, United Kingdom)

Date of death:

May 16th, 1943 (Haldern, Germany)

Buried on:

Commonwealth War Cemetery Reichswald Forest
Plot: 5. Row: C. Grave: 6.

Service number:

144619

Nationality:

British

Samuel Leslie Whillis, born in 1912 in Newcastle upon Tyne, was the second son of Charles and Edith Whillis. He worked as a commercial traveller before joining the RAF at the outbreak of the war, initially serving as ground crew. In 1942, he trained as a flight engineer at St Athan in Wales, qualifying before being posted to 16 OTU. Whillis progressed to 1654 Conversion Flight and then to 61 Squadron, flying his first operation to Turin on 20 November 1942.

Whillis missed some missions in January 1943, possibly due to illness, completing 22 operations by the end of the tour. On 13 May 1943, he was commissioned, a rarity for flight engineers at the time.

Whillis married Gladys Cooper in 1941. O the night of the Dams Raid, Whillis and his crew crashed near the Rhine after hitting a pylon, killing all onboard. Initially buried in Düsseldorf North Cemetery, they were later reinterred at the Reichswald Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery.

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• Photo 1: Findagrave
• - CWGC

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