George A Deering DFC RCAF
Wireless Operator / Air Gunner - 103 Squadron - 1941/1942
617 Squadron - Dambusters - Guy Gibson VC - Front Gunner on the Dams Raid.
George Andrew Deering was born in Kirkintilloch, Scotland on 23 July 1919. He was the only boy in the family of the four children of Samuel and Martha Deering. The family emigrated to Canada when he was quite young and his mother died shortly afterwards. His oldest sister Charlotte then became the family housekeeper.
Deering went to Essex public school in Toronto and then trained on a correspondence course in aircraft designing and mechanics while in employment as a shoe worker. He joined the RCAF in July 1940 with ambitions of becoming a pilot however he ended up qualifying as a wireless operator/air gunner and arrived in England in April 1941.
Deering spent 6 months with 103 Squadron at RAF Elsham Wolds mostly in the crew of F/O D W Peck and completed a full tour of operations as shown below :-
Peck’s crew - George Deering 3rd from left
Deering flew 32 operations 24 with the Peck crew, 6 with Clive Saxelby and 2 with Ken Wallis.
11-Sep-41 - Le Havre – Wellington – R1445 – F/O DW Peck
16-Sep-41 – Karlsruhe – Wellington – R1445 – F/O DW Peck
20-Sep-41 – Frankfurt – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck - General recall because of worsening weather at base. Bombed secondary.
30-Sep-41 – Hamburg – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck - Combat. Attacked by night fighter. Escaped into cloud. Repeatedly hit by flak
12-Oct-41 – Bremen – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck
13-Oct-41 – Dusseldorf – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck
17-Oct-41 – Duisburg – Wellington - R1344 – F/O DW Peck
20-Oct-41 – Emden – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck
24-Oct-41 – Frankfurt – Wellington – R1395 – F/O DW Peck - Made second attack on Haamstede airfield
31-Oct-41 – Hamburg – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck – Early return- Generator unserviceable.
26-Nov-41 – Emden – Wellington – R1667 – F/O DW Peck
16-Dec-41 – Wilhelmshaven – Wellington – W5664 – P/O KH Wallis
28-Dec-41 - Wilhelmshaven – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
06-Jan-42 – Brest – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Hit by flak
10-Jan-42 – Wilhelmshaven – Wellington- X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Landed at Swanton Morley
15-Jan-42 – Hamburg – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Bombed search light and railway track north of target
21-Jan-42 – Bremen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
25-Jan-42 – Brest – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
28-Jan-42 – Munster – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
14-Feb-42 – Mannheim – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
21-Feb-42 - Mannheim and others – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck - Wireless transmitter and heating system Unserviceable
03-Mar-42 – Paris – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
08-Mar-42 – Essen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
09-Mar-42 – Essen – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
13-Mar-42 – Cologne – Wellington – X9666 – F/O DW Peck
2-Apr–42 – Poissy – Wellington – X9666 – F/L CK Saxelby
5-Apr–42 – Cologne – Wellington – X9666 – F/L CK Saxelby
8-Apr–42 – Hamburg – Wellington – DV697 – F/L CK Saxelby
10-Apr–42 – Essen – Wellington – DV679 – F/L CK Saxelby
12-Apr–42 – Essen – Wellington – DV679 – F/L CK Saxelby
14-Apr-42 – Dortmund – Wellington – DV697 – F/L CK Saxelby
18 - Apr-42 - Hamburg - Wellington - Z8843 - Sgt G A Deering replaced Sgt Stockfield. Up 2256 Down 0537. Unable to turn on nacelle fuel tanks so abandoned primary and bombed the port of Cuxhaven. Front turret doors blew open in slip stream and turret became unserviceable
George Deering right and Sgt Loder both of Peck’s crew
He was then posted to an Operational Training Unit as an instructor and was commissioned in February 1943, although this information didn’t seem to reach 617 Squadron until after the Dams Raid.
How Deering arrived on 617 Squadron and was then allocated to Gibson’s crew is a bit of a mystery. In Enemy Coast Ahead, Gibson wrote that he was a novice but this is far from the truth:
‘In the front turret was Jim [sic] Deering from Toronto, Canada, and he was on his first [sic] bombing raid. He was pretty green, but one of our crack gunners had suddenly gone ill and there was nobody else for me to take.’
Later in the book, Gibson calls him ‘Joe’ and in the dedication he is referred to as ‘Tony’. Giving a member of your own crew three different first names may well be a record even for this book which is littered with editorial errors. Also Deering was in fact posted into 617 Squadron on 29th March 43 and had flown on a number of training flights with Gibson in the run up to the Dams Raid.
For his part in the raid Deering was awarded a DFC, recognition at last that he was an officer by the time of the raid.
Gibson with 4 of his Dambuster's crew, L to R - Gibson - Fred Spafford, Air Bomber - Bob Hutchinson, Wireless Operator - George Deering, Front Gunner - Harlo Taerum, Navigator
Along with Taerum, Hutchison and Spafford he transferred to George Holden’s crew and died with all of them when they were shot down on the Dortmund Ems canal operation on 16th September 1943. He is buried in Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.
F/O George Andrew Deering DFC RCAF – Wireless Operator / Air Gunner – 24 – 617 Sqn - Son of Samuel Deering and of Martha Deering (nee Ballagh) of Toronto, Ontario, Canada – Reichswald Forest War Cemetery, Germany
Deering was sadly killed on his next operational raid with S/L Holden on the Dortmund Emms canal along with several others from Gibson's old crew
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Item compiled and written by David Fell with thanks to the Dambusters Blog for the bio details. Top photo from my archive. The other photos courtesy of George Germain and the Dambusters Blog
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