I’m old enough to have interveiwed several Dambuster survivors, and while there’s no doubt that Gibson earned respect, he wasn’t much liked, whereas Mickey Martin and Len Cheshire were BOTH.
Gibson’s treatment of some of those who flew on the raid was appalling. It was clear that those in the third wave would have the toughest job of all – with more difficult navigation with the lower moon and gathering mist. They were also tasked with penetrating German defences that had already been ‘stirred up’ by the previous waves and alerted by the previous attacks, and had to be flexible enough to attack targets missed by the first waves, or the back-up targets. The aircraft did not leave Scampton until after midnight (almost four hours after the first wave!) going in so much later that much of their return flight would be through pre-dawn mist, and even leaving them still over enemy territory in daylight. But Gibson left it to his NCO pilots to form the backbone of this wave, and gave them little credit after the mission, even though the successful pilots (Brown and Townsend) had to make several dummy runs before making successful attacks, and then had to fly recces over the Dams that had been attacked earlier that night. Several people involved in Op Chastise have opined that Townsend, in particular, showed heroism that equalled anything displayed in the first wave.
Both these NCO pilots hit their targets (Townsend probably bombed the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe) but found no congratulations from the Boss when they returned to Scampton, both having had a hard fight to get home, running out under fire from very heavy flak, and crossing the enemy coast without the cover of darkness.
Flight Sergeant Anderson was the pilot posted away after the mission, and he (the last to take off) aborted his mission only after having received a last minute change of target (from the Diemel to the Sorpe) losing his rear turret, after becoming uncertain of his position, after taking a pasting from the defences around Hamm (woken up by Otley’s aircraft) and with dawn only 90 minutes away.
I’ve never heard of any of the survivors criticising Anderson’s actions (quite the reverse, in fact). But Gibson was less ‘understanding’ and posted him out. Two officer pilots turned back in the Second Wave, and received no such treatment.
To damn Anderson as “not performing or not prepared to risk all” is even shabbier now than it was at the time.