In the
Times
and the
Telegraph
When, in March 1943, a bemused Guy Gibson, looking forward to some leave at the end of three tours of operations, was told that he was, in double quick time, to form a special squadron for an as yet unspecified “op”, his thoughts immediately turned to the choice of an adjutant, the CO’s invaluable righthand man on the ground who alone can create order from the chaos that is germane to such situations.
Bomber Command’s own candidate for the post had been found wanting, and Gibson thought of Harry Humphries, whom he had come to admire for his administrative abilities during his previous tour with 106 Squadron. “He had been in business in peacetime and everything from Orderly Room clerk upwards in war,” Gibson recalled in his book Enemy Coast Ahead. “He was mad on flying, but his eyes had stopped him . . . a quick call to Group had him posted within 48 hours.”
Humphries was therefore in at the birth of 617 “Dam Busters” Squadron, and he was to look after its members and nurse the alternately boisterous or shattered spirits of its aircrew on the ground from the moment of his arrival until almost the end of the war. In that time he was to serve under all the COs of what was to become the RAF’s most famous bomber squadron.