Medals won by Dambusters hero whose plane was last out and last home on the famous wartime raid are tipped to sell for £150,000
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•Flying Officer George 'Jock' Chalmers was a wireless operator during the mission
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•He served on last Lancaster bomber to make it back following the raid in 1943
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•Bomber dropped its six-tonne bomb on the Ennepe dam before heading back
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•Chalmers' bomber was attacked by a German plane as it neared the Dutch coast
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•Bomber was flying so low shells bounce off the sea surface and over the aircraft
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•FO Chalmer's logbook reads 'Low level attack on dams in Ruhr - successful'
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•Log says he later flew with famous pilot Leonard Cheshire in northern France
By Stewart Paterson For Mailonline
Published: 13:40, 12 January 2018 | Updated: 13:40, 12 January 2018
Flying Officer Chalmers (pictured with other surviving Dambusters) was awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal and a Distinguished Flying Cross following the 1943 raid
Medals that belonged to a hero of the Dambusters' raid have been unearthed 75 years after the famous mission — and are tipped to sell for £150,000.
Flying Officer George 'Jock' Chalmers was a wireless operator in the last Lancaster bomber to make it back to Britain following the 1943 raid.
Of the 133 crew who took part in the risky mission to destroy several dams in Germany's industrial Ruhr valley by using Barnes Wallis' 'bouncing bombs', 53 were killed.
FO Chalmers' Lancaster, codenamed 'O for Orange', dropped its six tonne bomb on the Ennepe dam. It skipped across the water before exploding just short of its target.
FO Chalmers signalled the news back to base before his crew turned for home.
The return flight had to be made at tree-top height and as they reached the Dutch coast the plane came under attack from a German aircraft.
The Lancaster was flying so low the shells bounced off the surface of the sea and over the bomber.
Upon arriving at RAF Scampton, Lincs, FO Chalmers was personally greeted by Air Chief Marshal Sir Aurthur 'Bomber' Harris.
He was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Medal. A Distinguished Flying Cross was added to this later on in the war.
Now in the 75th anniversary year of the Dams raid, his medals have emerged for general sale for the first time.
Along with them is his RAF log book that covers the period for Operation Chastise.
The fascinating journal chronicles the training the crews did for the raid which involved flying beneath power cables over the Lincolnshire countryside.
His entry for the raid itself is typically understated. FO Chalmers simply wrote afterwards: 'Low level attack on dams in Ruhr - successful.'
FO Chalmers was awarded an immediate Distinguished Flying Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross was added to this later on in the war (both left). Also picture is The 1939–1945 Star and Air Crew Medal (both centre)
Now in the 75th anniversary year of the Dams raid, his medals have emerged for general sale for the first time as well as his logbook
His entry for the raid itself is typically understated. FO Chalmers simply wrote afterwards: 'Low level attack on dams in Ruhr - successful.'
According to the log, FO Chalmers later flew with famous pilot Wing Commander Leonard Cheshire on raids using the 12,000lbs Tallboy bomb on the Saumer rail tunnel in northern France in June 1944.
By the end of the war he had clocked up more than 12,000 flying hours over 60 sorties.
In December 1946 he took part in the little-known Operation Guzzle - a mission to drop the remaining bouncing bombs left in storage after the Dams raid into the Atlantic.
Only a limited number of gallantry medals were awarded to the surviving crews of the Dams raid and so when a set comes on the open market it usually command a high price.
The surviving Dambusters with Gibon (centre) and Chalmers (far right) pictured at Buckingham Palace following the raid
Medal dealers War and Son of Leominster, Herefordshire, have acquired FO Chalmers' medals and are now selling them.
FO Chalmers was born in Peterhead in Aberdeenshire in 1921 and after leaving Aberdeen Academy he worked at the local Crosse & Blackwell factory before joining the RAF
In 2015 the gallantry medals awarded to Flight Lieutenant Richard Trevor-Roper, an air gunner on Guy Gibson's plane, sold for £148,000 at auction.
Steve Nuwar, of medal dealers War and Son of Leominster, Herefordshire, have acquired FO Chalmers' medals and are now selling them.
He said: 'I can't think of anything we will ever own that will be more important than these medals.
'The Dambusters raid was the most famous raid Bomber Command were involved in in the war.
'People thought it was a bit of a showy thing that didn't really achieve much and cost a lot of lives.
'But British PoWs in Germany got to hear about it and saw the negative impact it had on the morale of the Germans. Of course for them it had
His entry for the raid itself is typically understated. FO Chalmers simply wrote afterwards: 'Low level attack on dams in Ruhr - successful'
the opposite affect. It was a real turning point for them.
'The Dams raid brought together great British attributes of weird and wacky science and innovation that was planned and perfected and then executed with extraordinary skill.
'Jock Chalmers' plane was the second-most decorated plane that took part in the raid. It was the last up and the last down and it limped home on three engines.
'There were a total of 34 gallantry awards in total for the crews. These included one Victoria Cross to Guy Gibson and 12 DFM of which one was given to Jock Chalmers.
'The Chalmers family sold the medals before Jock died in 2002 when they were bought by a collector from south Wales.
'We now own them and have put them on general sale.'
FO Chalmers was born in Peterhead in Aberdeenshire in 1921 and after leaving Aberdeen Academy he worked at the local Crosse & Blackwell factory before joining the RAF.
He qualified as a wireless operator and served in 10, 7 and 35 Squadrons before joining the 617 'Dambusters' Squadron in March 1943.
After the war he worked in the civil service at Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and retired in 1984.
He was married to wife Alma and they had five sons and four daughters.