Stephen Burns was born in Dudley, Worcestershire on 27th December 1920, the oldest of the four children of John Frederick, a labourer in a steel works, and Sarah (Sally) Jane (nee Bannister).

Stephen was working in an armaments factory in Dudley when the war started and although he was in a reserved occupation and therefore not eligible for call up, he volunteered for the RAF in 1941, and after a period working as ground crew, trained as an air gunner.

After qualifying, he was posted to 57 Squadron in November 1942 and flew in both the mid-upper and rear gun turrets on a number of operations with at least four different pilots between December 1942 and 7th February 1943.

He was then allocated to Plt Off Geoff Rice’s crew, and they flew on a trip to Lorient before the whole crew was transferred to 617 Squadron at the end of March.

On the Dams Raid, AJ-H took off from Scampton at 21.31 but after flying too low over the Waddensee, the mine was ripped out of the bomb bay and the interior of the aircraft severely flooded.

Stephen suffered the ignominy of being soaked by a combination of sea water and Elsan contents, the damage being caused by the tail wheel being forced up into the fuselage. Geoff Rice later recalled his gunner’s understandable reaction: ‘Christ, it’s wet back here!’ Worse nearly followed since, as the aircraft climbed, all the water flooded into the rear turret, threatening to drown Stephen who had to smash the Perspex window so that it could drain out.

A further scare occurred on the approach to Scampton when hydraulic power for the undercarriage was lost and the emergency air bottle had to be used to lower the wheels. As the bottle only had a limited amount of pressure, there was not enough to lower the flaps which were needed to slow the aircraft after touch-down – and there was no tailwheel. AND!! ---- on their final approach to the runway, Geoff was unaware that AJ-W, piloted by Les Munro, was also returning early but his radio had been smashed so he was unable to advise the control tower that he too was on finals.

The two aircraft missed each other by a whisker. When hearing Rice’s story, Sir Arthur Harris, C-in-C, Bomber Command said, “You’re a very lucky young man” --- Guy Gibson also remarked “Bad luck – I almost did the same – it could have happened to anybody”. However, the CO was less understanding when Munro tried to explain why he decided to return early. When the pilot said that he had been damaged by flak, Gibson simply said “You must’ve been too high” -- then just turned and walked away.

From July to December 1943, Stephen flew with P/O Rice and the rest of his crew on many operations – including the disastrous attack on the Dortmund Ems canal; several missions to Italy; and the raids on the Antheor viaduct which often resulted in aircraft having to return via RAF Blida in Algeria to refuel.

Crews were always pleased with these detours to northern Africa as they were able to return to base with their aircraft loaded with fruit, dates, etc -- but more importantly, cases of wine and liqueurs!!

On 20th December, eight 617 Squadron crews were sent on an operation to attack an armaments factory near Liège in Belgium -- Geoff Rice and his Dams Raid crew among them. The target marking wasn’t visible, so the crew was ordered to return with their bombs but at 14,000 feet above Merbes-Le Chateau in Belgium, they were shot down by a German night fighter. P/O Rice was the only survivor and the rest of the crew were buried in Gosselies Communal Cemetery, near Hainaut in Belgium.

https://dambustersblog.com/2015/02/16/dambuster-of-the-day-no-91-stephen-burns/

Geoff Rice appears to have been protected by the pilot’s armoured seat, as he was thrown clear and somehow managed to deploy his parachute. He regained consciousness in a wood, his parachute having snagged in a tree, and his only injury was a broken wrist. Three farm labourers took him to the Resistance where a friendly doctor set his wrist in plaster after which he spent the next five months on the run.

Unfortunately, he was then betrayed to the secret police and became a PoW, ending up at the notorious Stalag Luft III, scene of the Great Escape. As the Russian army approached, the prisoners were forcibly moved, but were eventually liberated by the Americans. Rice was repatriated after the war and left the RAF in 1947.

https://dambustersblog.com/2014/12/21/dambuster-of-the-day-no-85-geoffrey-rice/