Steven Langley Hendrie's Dambusters Service

The contributor's father, Steven Langley Hendrie, was born on 20th August 1921, in Broomhill St Glasgow. Steven had been a coach painter for Caledonian Railway; he was a skilled artist who used to hand paint the badges on the side of trains.

Steven was called up and joined the RAF as an aircraft fitter. Steven joined the 617 Squadron (now commonly known as the Dambusters) in 1943 (the contributor is not sure where Steven was before joining the 617). Steven didn't talk about his war. The contributor thinks that he was in Lincolnshire most of the time. Steven was famous for creating the cartoons (nose art) underneath the plane's cockpits. After the pilot John Verre Hopgood (nicknamed "Hoppy") died at the dams, Steven painted a cartoon hoppity. After the Dambusters raid, Steven went on to serve in Burma and India.

Steven met his future wife, Edna Mary Hammond, who worked in a bakery in Boston, Lincolnshire, in the Black Swan pub. Steven and Edna married in 1947.

Steven was very proud of, and often spoke about, his artwork but didn't talk about the war. The contributor only found out that his father was in the Dambusters when he was taken out of school to the cinema to see 'The Dam Busters' film.