Daniel Allatson was born on 7th November 1923 in Eastwood, Essex. His birth name was Daniel Louis Alberts, and his parents were Frederick and Maude Alberts. He was adopted almost immediately after birth by Samuel and Dorothy Allatson who lived nearby in Southend.

Perhaps inspired by his father’s service in the RFC during WW1, Daniel joined the RAF shortly after the start of the war, qualifying as an air gunner, and eventually being posted to 57 Sqn at RAF Scampton as part of the crew piloted by Sgt Bill Divall.

At the end of March, five crews were posted from 57 to the newly-formed 617 Sqn – its entire ‘C’ Flight, which was made up of those skippered by Melvin Young, Bill Astell, Geoff Rice, Flt Sgt Ray Lovell and Flt Sgt W Lancaster. However, Lovell’s crew “did not come up to the standard necessary” for the new squadron and on 9th April they were returned to 57 Sqn.

In their place came Bill Divall and his crew (including Daniel), joining 617 Squadron the following day and as they were already based at RAF Scampton, the transfer was relatively easy.

Despite successfully completing the training for the Dams Raid, shortly before the raid, Divall himself suffered a knee injury, so his crew were resigned to not participating. But then Ken Brown’s front gunner, Don Buntaine, also reported sick, so Daniel was quickly drafted in as his replacement.

The crew of AJ-F returned safely from Operation Chastise having failed to breach the Sorpe Dam despite dropping it on target. Daniel then returned to Bill Divall’s crew and took part in the operations undertaken by 617 Squadron in the summer of 1943. These involved attacks on various Italian targets, flying on to Blida in Algeria for refuelling and rearming.

On 16th September 1943, Divall and his crew were detailed for the attack on the Dortmund Ems Canal, using a new “thincase” 12,000lb bomb. On this mission, the crew carried an extra gunner brought in from another squadron, Sgt G S Miles, with Daniel occupying the rear turret.

The operation became the most catastrophic undertaken by 617 Squadron throughout the war, with five of the eight aircraft involved shot down or crashed. Weather conditions were very poor; heavy mist blanketed the canal making it impossible to see the culverted area which was the intended target. Divall dropped the bomb on another section of the canal, but then crashed almost immediately afterwards.

Daniel’s turret was blown clear of the aircraft, and his body was found in a field near a farmhouse, with the only external sign of injury being a bruise on his forehead. Daniel and his colleagues were buried by the Germans in the churchyard at Bramsche, north of Osnabrück but after the war, their bodies were exhumed and reinterred in Reichswald Forest CWGC War Cemetery.

https://dambustersblog.com/2015/07/06/dambuster-of-the-day-no-118-daniel-allatson/