Henry Eric Maudslay

Henry Eric Maudsley was born in July 1921; his parents were Reginald Maudsley, who died in 1934, and his wife Susan; Henry had a sister, Margaret, who was 11 years older than him. Henry attended Eton College from 1935-1940 and is remembered there for his athletic accomplishments. He volunteered for the RAF in 1940 and trained as a pilot in Canada. In May 1941 he was assigned to 44 Squadron as a Hampden pilot. After 29 operations, he was recommended for the DFC and assigned to Lancaster training; he apparently did some test flying for Rolls Royce during this period, and later was assigned to 44 Squadron's training flight. While a member of the training flight he flew all three of the "Thousand Bomber Raids", two of them in the squadron's Manchester hack, an action that must have required a great deal of courage. In January 1943 he started a new operational tour with 50 Squadron, with which he completed 13 ops before being assigned to 617 Squadron as B Flight commander. On the night of May 16/17 1943. Maudsley and his crew successfully bombed the Eder dam, but the Upkeep seems to have either gone off prematurely or was dropped late and the explosion damaged their Lancaster. The aircraft limped towards home, but was shot down by a German flak battery near the Dutch border in the town of Emmerich. The crew, including Squadron Leader Henry Maudsley, DFC, were killed.