Leslie Gordon Knight, (7 March 1921 – 16 September 1943) was an Australian bomber pilot in the

Royal Australian Air Force The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is the principal Air force, aerial warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Australian Army. Constitutionally the Governor-Gener ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a Military awards and decorations, military award of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, awarded for operational gallantry for highly successful ...

in 1943 for his role in

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on Nazi Germany, German dams carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by No. 617 Squadron RAF, 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using spe ...

while flying with No. 617 Squadron RAF. Knight's crew, flying in N-Nan, attacked, hit and breached the Eder Dam, the second dam to be attacked, after his comrades had previously scored one hit and one miss. 20241103 Monument for Les Knight

Knight was killed later the same year while taking part in

Operation Garlic Operation Garlic was an operation to attack the Dortmund-Ems Canal by 617 Squadron carried out on 14-16 September 1943; the operation was unsuccessful as the canal was not significantly damaged by the attack, while 617 Squadron lost six of the ...

– the

Dortmund–Ems Canal The Dortmund–Ems Canal is a long canal in Germany between the inland port of the city of Dortmund () and the seaport of Emden. The artificial southern part of the canal ends after at Herbrum lock near Meppen. The route then takes the r ...

raid. After his Lancaster's engines were damaged by clipping a tree while flying at low level, he was able to allow his entire crew to bail out but was unable to land the aircraft without crashing. He is buried at

Den Ham Den Ham ɛn ɦɑmis a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Overijssel. It is located in the municipality of Twenterand, about 15 km northwest of Almelo. Den Ham was a separate municipality until 2001, when it became a part of V ...

General Cemetery in the Netherlands. A monument was also erected at the crash site. In the 1955 film '' The Dam Busters'', Knight was played by

Denys Graham Denys Graham (29 June 1926 – 24 October 2024) was a Welsh actor who appeared in the later series of ''Rumpole of the Bailey'' as the title character's many-daughtered colleague Percy Hoskins. Over a 70-year career he played a wide range of oth ...

References

External links

Dambuster of the Day No. 57: Leslie Knight
– Dambusters Blog 1921 births 1943 deaths Australian Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian World War II pilots Australian World War II bomber pilots Aviators from Melbourne Military personnel from Melbourne Royal Australian Air Force officers Royal Australian Air Force personnel of World War II {{Australia-mil-bio-stub