Les Knight


Leslie Gordon Knight, was a Royal Australian Air Force pilot who served with the Royal Air Force's Bomber Command during the Second World War. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1943 for taking part in Operation Chastise – the Dams raid, 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 but was unable to land the aircraft without crashing. He is buried in Den Ham General Cemetery, the Netherlands.
In the 1955 film The Dam Busters, Knight was played by Denys Graham.

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