Australian Aviator's Bravery Remembered At Memorial Service, Bowen Gardens Boroondara

Wing Commander (Ret'd) Mike Oram

A moving memorial service was held at Bowen Gardens, Camberwell on Saturday 1st October 2022 to pay tribute to Australian aviator, Les Knight whose bravery has touched many in Australia and overseas.

Leslie Gordon Knight, DSO (7 March 1921 – 16 September 1943) was an Australian bomber pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force during the Second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1943 for his role in Operation Chastise 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 – the Dortmund–Ems Canal 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. At the same time he steered his doomed Lancaster bomber away from the centre of a Dutch village averting possible further death and destruction, but was unable to land the aircraft without crashing. He is buried at Den Ham General Cemetery in the Netherlands.

FOTOBAI members were active in the memorial service with a reading from Jan Dimmick, "For The Heroes", and a speech from Wing Commander (Ret'd) Mike Oram. Mike was good enough to provide us with a copy of his speech - 

"Firstly let me pass on an apology from Air Commodore Frisina AM, the Senior Air Force Officer Victoria, who unfortunately could not be here today due to previous commitments.

I am greatly honoured to be able to play a small part in this service not only as a representative of the Air Force of today, but also due to my own personal connection to Bomber Command through my father, Flight Lieutenant Johnny Oram DFC and Bar, who was, like Les Knight, a Bomber Command Lancaster pilot.

After being approached to speak at this service and beginning to research FLTLT Knight DSO I was immediately struck by the thought “why haven’t I heard of this incredibly brave and daring aviator before now?” His role with the legendary ‘Dambusters’ of 617 SQN RAF alone should have bought him lasting fame – and if there was any justice in the world, after having survived such an incredibly risky mission he would have survived the rest of the war - and returned to Australia to do those things we now take for granted – chose a career, meet a partner, start a family – enjoy a life.

But as was the case for so many Bomber Command aircrew, surviving great danger and achieving spectacular mission success was not an opportunity to seek respite – rather such brave conduct was expected again and again – in an air battle which generated higher casualty rates to the aircrews than those experienced by infantry in the bloody trenches of WW1.

It is unfortunately not surprising that, against the maelstrom of World War II many individual acts of valour were not given due regard in the aftermath of conflict - particularly for those who did not return. For Les and others like him there would be no joyous family reunions, no experience of the camaraderie of ANZAC with other veterans, no Squadron get togethers. It is a sad fact that for many of these young men their daring exploits were known only to a handful of family and fellow veterans. At the end of the war the focus was understandably on the living and building a brighter future - but for the families of the fallen a lost loved one was a constant gap in their lives that could never be filled. Recognition of individual acts of valour and sacrifice can never fill those gaps, but they can help to provide a degree of closure to those who are left. I am honoured today to play a small part in providing that recognition albeit so many years after Wars end.

As an air force pilot, I can honestly say that reading the story of Les's final mission literally raised the hairs on the back of my neck. It is hard to imagine how such a young man managed to act with such skill and bravery under almost inconceivable pressure that night.

In the Air Force of today, flying a large aircraft by night in poor weather at low level - and without any modern navigation and enhanced night vision equipment, would be considered risky to the point of recklessness and would simply not be authorised. Les and his crew did all that, and did it under near constant attack from well trained and determined German air and ground defences. After striking trees whilst pressing home the attack in the atrocious weather conditions obtaining that night that night, Les’s Lancaster ended up losing both engines on the port side of the aircraft - a condition pilots describe as ‘double asymmetric’. For an aircraft like the Lancaster this can make continued flight nearly impossible in even ideal conditions. But the conditions were far from ideal for Les and his crew. Loss of two engines was not the only damage that the aircraft had suffered. The impact had also damaged the control runs which allowed operation of the aircraft rudders - for the uninitiated effective rudder control is absolutely vital in a situation where the aircraft has one or more engines inoperative. It is not hyperbole to say that this aircraft simply shouldn't have been able to keep flying - but Les somehow managed to not only continue to fly but, with assistance from his crew, to coax the wounded Lanc to climb to a height from which his crew would be able to safely abandon the aircraft.

Having ordered his crew to bail out, Les remained at the controls, unable to bale out himself. In a final act of heroism which would cost him his young life, Les steered the aircraft to a crash landing in an empty field, avoiding the small Dutch village where the aircraft may otherwise have crashed.

FLTLT Les Knight DSO, from the the nation you helped keep free, from the Air Force of today that stands on the shoulders of you and those like you, and, personally, from the son of another RAAF Lancaster pilot - thank you." - Mike Oram

Bruce Waxman & Jan Dimmick

Wreaths At Memorial

Les Knight