Alan Gillespie, born on 16 November 1922 in Hesket, Westmorland, was the second of four children of Robert and Margaret Gillespie. After attending local schools and Appleby Grammar School, he worked as a clerk in a solicitor’s office before joining the RAF in 1940. Selected for aircrew, he trained in Canada starting in September 1941.
Returning to the UK, Gillespie trained further at 16 OTU in July 1942. He joined 61 Squadron in September 1942, completing his first mission over the Alps to Turin on 20 November. By March 1943, Gillespie had completed his tour.
When Barlow assembled his 617 Squadron crew, Alan Gillespie and Leslie Whillis, his long-time training partners, were natural choices. Both were commissioned just two days before the Dams Raid, though it remains unknown if they transitioned from the Sergeants' to the Officers' Mess.
Alan Gillespie met his end as a newly commissioned Pilot Officer, flying in the nose of the Lancaster at treetop level. He may have glimpsed the pylon near Haldern moments before impact. Initially buried in Düsseldorf, he and his crew were later reinterred in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery. Gillespie's DFM, awarded weeks earlier, was posthumously presented to his family, with the notice published alongside Charlie Williams' in the July 1945 London Gazette.
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