Northamptonshire war hero's Dambusters menu sells for £4,000
A menu originally belonging to Kettering-born Dambusters bomb aimer, Flight Lieutenant Leonard ‘Len’ Sumpter (1911-1993) sold at auction for £4,000 this week.
The menu, which was offered with a guide price of £4,000 to £6,000 at Gildings Auctioneers in Market Harborough, is signed by Dambusters leader Wing Commander Guy Gibson. It dates from a June 1943 dinner celebrating the decoration of 617 Squadron members following Operation Chastise, the iconic ‘Dambusters’ raid on Germany’s Ruhr dams on the night of 16–17 May 1943.
Len Sumpter (1911–1993) served as a bomb aimer with RAF Scampton-based 57 Squadron before being recruited to the elite 617 Squadron, secretly formed at Scampton to conduct the precision-bombing Operation Chastise mission.
The dinner was hosted by A.V. Roe & Co., manufacturer of the Avro Lancaster bomber, at London’s Hungaria Restaurant on 22 June 1943. Earlier that day, 34 of the 77 airmen who safely returned to base were decorated at Buckingham Palace in an investiture conducted by Queen Elizabeth, assisted by the 17-year-old Princess Elizabeth.
Of the 19 aircraft that took part in Operation Chastise, 11 returned safely. A total of 133 aircrew flew on the mission, with 53 killed and three taken prisoner. Len Sumpter received the Distinguished Flying Medal for his precision bomb aiming during the attack on the Eder Dam. Guy Gibson, who was killed in action aged 26 in September 1944, was awarded the Victoria Cross for leading the raid.
The menu bears the signatures of Gibson, fellow Dambuster Terry Taerum and other RAF figures and entertainers, including Arthur Askey. It is headed ‘Damn Busters’, thought to be a printing mistake or a humorous play on the squadron’s nickname.
Given the immense physical and psychological demands of their missions, RAF Bomber Command aircrew were accustomed to a better diet than standard wartime rations, including ‘operational suppers’ of bacon, eggs, sausages, beans and chips. However, at the dinner honouring their ‘gallant effort on the Rhur Dams’ (another spelling error on the menu), the members of 617 Squadron were treated to a gourmet feast of French-style delicacies accompanied by cocktails and fine wines.
Len Sumpter’s course and speed calculator, used in a Vickers Wellington bomber during the Thousand Bomber Raid on Cologne on the night of 30-31 May 1942, also sold at the auction for £180. It was offered with its wooden box and a handwritten letter from 1982 confirming its use.
Sumpter flew 35 operations in total and is one of only two men recorded as participating in both 617 Squadron’s first mission, Operation Chastise, and its final World War II raid targeting Hitler’s mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden on 25 April 1945. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in Mosquito operations, and his oral history is held in the Imperial War Museum’s online archive.
Another RAF-related highlight in the sale was a wing fragment from Avro Lancaster bomber ED586 ‘F for Freddie’, damaged during a raid over Berlin on 3 September 1943 with BBC journalist Wynford Vaughan-Thomas on board. The fragment, mounted in a display box with a cassette of the resulting broadcast documenting the crew dropping their bombs and shooting down an enemy fighter aircraft, sold for £550. The broadcast can also be heard online.
“Preserving these kinds of items for posterity ensures that the stories of those who served, and the extraordinary events in which they played a part, continue to be remembered,” comments Gildings director Mark Gilding. “Putting a value on an item as rare and evocative as Len Sumpter’s menu is not straightforward, so it’s wonderful to see it go to a new owner who will treasure it in the years to come.”