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Cranston Fine Arts  Aviation Art and Artists World War Two Veteran Signatures UK and Commonwealth R  Rodger, Dave |
[UP] - Raby, Ray - Rae, Jack - Ratcliff, Len - Rawlinson, Alan - Rees, Ken - Rees, W - Reid, Bill - Rice, Geoff - Richards, Lloyd - Riddle, Christopher - Riding, Harold - Rigby, Herbert - Roberts, David - Roberts, Ralph - Robertson, Douglas - Robertson, Sir Ian - Robillard, Larry - Roddis, Harold - Roddis, Joe - Rodger, Dave - Rodley, Ernest - Rogers, Ken - Rolland, John - Rollins, John - Roscoe, Arthur - Rose, Jack - Rose, Stuart - Ross, Don - Ross, Nicky - Rosser, Leslie - Rosser, Tom - Rothwell, Peter - Rowland, John - Russel, Blair - Russell, Anthony - Rutter, Norman - Rutter, Peter - Ryll, Stefan |
Flying Officer Dave Rodger DFC RCAF
Canadian Dave Rodger joined the RCAF in 1941, and was posted to 97 Squadron before joining 617 Squadron in March 1943. He was rear gunner in the Lancaster of Joe Mccarthy, AJ-T, that attacked the Sorpe Dam. Sadly, Dave Rodger died on 1st September 2004.
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| Distinguished Flying Cross |
| Flying Officer Dave Rodger DFC RCAF - Signed Aviation Art |
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| Text for the above items : |
Inbound to Target - The Dambusters by Robert Taylor. The crews of 617 Squadron that took part in the epic Dambusters raid on the night of 16/17 May 1943 were among the finest in the RAF. They were the elite of Bomber Command, and when they left RAF Scampton that night, the skills of their pilots - some of the finest of the Second World War, would be tested to the limit. First, they must guide their aircraft across heavily defended enemy territory at altitudes often as low as fifty feet, dodging flak, trees, buildings and power lines. And then they must attack their targets with a precision unmatched in the annals of the RAF. Of all the pilots who took to the skies that night, no-one was more accomplished at low-level flying than Flight Lieutenant Mick Martin, and it is his aircraft, Lancaster AJ-P that is the subject of this artwork. In company with Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood in the distance, they follow one of the many canals of Holland, wingtips barely missing the sails of the windmills, en-route to the Mohne Dam. |
| Flying Officer Dave Rodger DFC RCAF Aircraft details |
 Lancaster Manufacturer : Avro Built : 7377 | Lancaster The Avro Lancaster arose from the avro Manchester and the first prototype Lancaster was a converted Manchester with four engines. The Lancaster was first flown in January 1941, and started operations in March 1942. By March 1945 The Royal Air Force had 56 squadrons of Lancasters with the first squadron equipped being No.44 Squadron. During World War Two the Avro Lancaster flew 156,000 sorties and dropped 618,378 tonnes of bombs between 1942 and 1945. Lancaster Bomberss took part in the devastating round-the-clock raids on Hamburg during Air Marshall Harris' "Operation Gomorrah" in July 1943. Just 35 Lancasters completed more than 100 successful operations each, and 3,249 were lost in action. The most successful survivor completed 139 operations, and the Lancaster was scrapped after the war in 1947. A few Lancasters were converted into tankers and the two tanker aircraft were joined by another converted Lancaster and were used in the Berlin Airlift, achieving 757 tanker sorties. A famous Lancaster bombing raid was the 1943 mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, to destroy the dams of the Ruhr Valley. The operation was carried out by 617 Squadron in modified Mk IIIs carrying special drum shaped bouncing bombs designed by Barnes Wallis. Also famous was a series of Lancaster attacks using Tallboy bombs against the German battleship Tirpitz, which first disabled and later sank the ship. The Lancaster bomber was the basis of the new Avro Lincoln bomber, initially known as the Lancaster IV and Lancaster V. (Becoming Lincoln B1 and B2 respectively.) Their Lancastrian airliner was also based on the Lancaster but was not very successful. Other developments were the Avro York and the successful Shackleton which continued in airborne early warning service up to 1992. |
| Flying Officer Dave Rodger DFC RCAF Squadron details |
No.617 Sqn RAF Country : UK Known Codes : , AJ, YZ, KC, | No.617 Sqn RAF Apres mois, le deluge - After me, the flood |
No.97 Sqn RAF Country : UK Disbanded 2nd January 1967 Known Codes : , OF, MR, QF, ZT, | No.97 Sqn RAF Straits Settlement Achieve your aim |
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