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

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. He was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, ty ...

in 1943 for his role in

Operation Chastise Operation Chastise or 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 sp ...

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. Knight was killed later the same year while taking part in

Operation Garlic Operation Garlic was an attack on the Dortmund-Ems Canal by 617 Squadron carried out on 14-16 September 1943. The operation was unsuccessful. The canal was not significantly damaged by the attack, while 617 squadron lost five of the eight aircr ...

– 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 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 Vriezenveen. It ...

General Cemetery in the Netherlands. In the 1955 film '' The Dam Busters'', Knight was played by

Denys Graham Denys Graham (born 29 June 1926) is a Welsh actor who appeared in the later series of '' Rumpole of the Bailey'' as his many daughtered colleague Percy Hoskins. He also played a range of other roles on stage and screen. He was educated at New ...

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 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