The Caterpillar Club badge issued to Flight Lieutenant A. F. Burcher, D.F.M., Royal Air Force, late Royal Australian Air Force, a “Dambuster” who miraculously survived the loss of “Hoppy” Hopgood’s Lancaster when it was downed by flak over the Mohne Dam - baling out at 300 feet. Having broken his back during the descent, Burcher spent the rest of the war as POW in the infamous Stalag Luft III at Sagan

Caterpillar Club badge, in gilt metal with enamel eyes, reverse engraved ‘F/Lt. A. F. Burcher’, very fine £800-£1,200

Burcher’s original D.F.M. was sold as a single award in these Rooms on 22 September 2000 (Lot 817) and again on 17 September 2004 (Lot 1279), while an official replacement D.F.M and campaign awards were similarly sold on 25 September 2008 (Lot 1764). His original G.S.M. with ‘Malaya’ clasp was also sold in these rooms 31 March 2010.

Anthony Fisher Burcher was born in Sydney in 1922 and joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940. After training in Canada, where he qualified as an Air Gunner, he was advanced to Sergeant in September 1941 and proceeded to the U.K. Then in May 1942, he joined 106 Squadron at Coningsby, a Manchester unit in the process of converting to Lancasters, and recently placed under the command of Guy Gibson. As described in detail in Dix Noonan Webb’s catalogue, 25 September 2008 (Lot 1764), he went on to complete an eventful tour of operations and was awarded the D.F.M. (London Gazette 20 April 1943 refers), Guy Gibson’s original recommendation stating: ‘Sergeant Burcher has completed a tour with 27 operational sorties, during which he has displayed the greatest enthusiasm and keenness. He has taken part in raids on German and Italian targets and mining sorties off France and in the Baltic, and flew as Rear-Gunner on the daylight raids on Danzig and Le Creusot. On 29 July 1942, his aircraft, returning from Saarbrucken, was attacked by five separate enemy fighters. Sound commentaries assisted his pilot to evade two of them, and his well-directed fire drove off another two and assisted in the certain destruction of the fifth. Sergeant Burcher, an Australian, has carried out his work with that cool courage and cheerfulness which well merits recognition.’

Operation “Chastise”

Burcher, who had been commissioned as a Pilot Officer in November 1942, duly arrived at Scampton, and was appointed Rear-Gunner in Flight Lieutenant J. V. “Hoppy” Hopgood’s crew - a close friend of Gibson and another ex-106 Squadron hand. And so to events of the 16-17 May 1943 when Hopgood piloted Lancaster 111 ED.925G, “M-for-Mother”, on 617’s epic Dams Raid.
Together with Guy Gibson’s Lancaster and the third aircraft in the leading section of the first wave, Hopgood’s Lancaster was caught by searchlights as it crossed the Dutch coast but evaded by violent action which took it under high tension cables. Hopgood, having apologised for the unscheduled manoeuvre, climbed rapidly and ordered Burcher to keep his eyes peeled. Moments later there were more searchlights and Burcher opened up firing tracer from his four guns. In the next instant the Lancaster was raked from nose to tail by ground fire and Burcher was hit in the groin and stomach by shell splinters. His fire extinguished the searchlights but then a shell burst alongside his turret. The aircraft swung wildly and the Flight Engineer announced that the port outer engine was on fire. Burcher tried to rotate his turret but nothing happened. Hopgood, who had been wounded in the head, regained control, feathered the port outer, and called up the crew to discover the Wireless Operator had been hit in the leg and that there was no answer from the front turret. Amazingly, “M-for-Mother” nevertheless pressed on towards the Mohne Dam.

Once assembled over the target, Gibson made the first attack, his bomb being released at 00.28 a.m. A short while later, when the water had subsided from the terrific explosion, he ordered Hopgood into the attack: ‘Burcher heard the shout from navigator Ken Earnshaw to “Go lower, still lower!” He then heard “Bomb gone!” from Fraser. Just at that moment there was a terrific crash and Burcher saw flames streaming past his turret on the port side.’ (Alan Cooper’s The Men Who Breached The Dams refers)

With his port inner engine hit by flak and ablaze, Hopgood made a gallant attempt to gain height so that his crew might bale out. Burcher, meanwhile, desperately hand-cranked his slowly turning turret to the fore and aft position in order to reach his parachute stowed in the fuselage. He then plugged in his intercom and shouted to Hopgood, who, having managed some 300 feet, ordered him to jump. “M-for-Mother’s” bomb meantime had bounced clean over the dam wall and completely destroyed the power house below. Inside the blazing Lancaster, Burcher assisted the severely wounded Wireless Operator with his parachute and pushed him out into the darkness, pulling the D-ring release as he did so. The Men Who Breached The Dams continues: ‘Burcher then pulled his own release while still in the aircraft. He knew it was not in the text books, but at this height he felt it was his only chance. Bundling it under his arm he plugged in the intercom for the last time. “Rear-Gunner abandoning aircraft,” he yelled ... At that moment there was a terrific bang and a great rush of air. The flames had reached the main wing fuel tank. Burcher was blown out and smashed into the tailplane so violently that he broke his back ... He landed with a terrific thud, which was only to be expected at such a low height. As he hit, the parachute billowed and took him back up again and it was this, a German Medical Officer said later, that saved him.’

Originally posted missing along with the rest of Hopgood’s crew, Burcher’s survival was communicated to R.A.A.F. authorities by his W.A.A.F. fiancée to whom he sent a Prisoner of War card from Stalag Luft III at Sagan: ‘I have quite recovered and am being well treated. Unfortunately the rest of the crew were killed and so far it seems I am the only survivor ... Please write to the next-of-kin of the other members of the crew telling them that the boys had a decent burial’.

In fact, as it later transpired, the Bomb-Aimer, Pilot Officer J. W. Fraser, also survived.

Burcher was liberated by the advancing Allies in May 1945 and returned to Australia in January 1946, where he remained employed in the R.A.A.F. until transferring to the R.A.F. as a Flight Lieutenant in 1952, in which rank he witnessed further active service in Korea and Malaya.