Squadron Leader Melvin ‘Dinghy’ Young

Squadron Leader Melvin ‘Dinghy’ Young DFC
Old Amesburian & Dambuster Pilot

It was during research undertaken by the pupils at Amesbury school in anticipation of the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE day that one of the pupils discover the connection between this remarkable young man and Amesbury school where he was a pupil in the 1920s.​

The son of a British father and an American mother, Melvin was educated both in the UK and in the US and after graduating from school he attended Oxford University where he achieved a rowing blue.
It was whilst at Oxford that Melvin was accepted into the Oxford University Air Squadron (OUAS) in 1937, commencing training in an Avro Tutor biplane at Abingdon.
With the outbreak of war in 1939 Melvin joined No.102 Squadron RAF, flying bombers, including the Vickers Wellington. On 9th May 1941, he first earned his Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). He was deployed on missions often accompanying convoys across the Atlantic, as well as later being stationed in Malta and Egypt. 
He acquired the nickname dinghy on account of surviving a number of teachings in the sea, achieving some fame in the process. It was on account of the outstanding leadership skills that he demonstrated in these incidents and indeed throughout his flying career that he was selected to participate in operation chastise, the formation of Squadron 617 to train for and mount the dambuster raid. He was in fact appointed as Guy Gibson’s number two. During the raid, the plane which he piloted was the 1st to successfully breach the Möhne dam, the first of two dams that were breached that night. Tragically, on the return journey his plane was shot down with the loss of all lives.
The plaque is located at the entrance to Amesbury school beneath the plaque that commemorates Viscount Montgomery’s association with the school.


​Please see the leaflet on Melvin Young