Operation Chastise
Encyclopedia
Operation Chastise was an attack on German
dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force
No. 617 Squadron
, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb
" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis
. The Möhne
and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley
, while the Sorpe
dam sustained only minor damage.
, the British Air Ministry
had identified Germany's heavily industrialised Ruhr Valley, and especially its dams, as important strategic targets: in addition to providing hydro-electric power and pure water for steel-making, they also supplied drinking water and water for the canal transport system. The methods used to attack the dams had been carefully worked out. Calculations indicated that repeated air strikes with large bombs could be effective, but required a degree of accuracy which Bomber Command
had been unable to attain in the face of enemy defences.
and developed by his team at Vickers
. Wallis was Assistant Chief Designer at Vickers. He had worked on both the Vickers Wellesley
and Vickers Wellington
bombers. While working on the Vickers Windsor
he had also begun work, with support of the Admiralty
on a bomb designed initially for attacking ships though dam-destruction was soon considered.
Wallis' initial idea was to drop a 10 t (9.8 LT) bomb from an altitude of about 40000 ft (12,192 m). This idea was part of the earthquake bomb concept. However, at that time no bomber aircraft was capable of flying at that altitude with such a heavy payload. A much smaller explosive charge would suffice, if it could be exploded directly against the dam wall below the surface of the water, but the major German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets
to prevent such an attack.
Wallis' breakthrough overcame this. A drum-shaped bomb spinning backwards at over 500 rpm, dropped at a sufficiently low altitude at the correct speed, would skip for a significant distance over the surface of the water in a series of bounces before reaching the dam wall. Its residual spin would run the bomb down the side of the dam to its underwater base. Using a hydrostatic fuse, an accurate drop could bypass the dam's defences and enable the bomb to explode against the dam.
Initial testing of the concept included blowing up a plaster model dam at the Building Research Establishment
, Watford in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam
in Wales in July 1942. The first full-scale trials were at Chesil Beach
in January 1943. This demonstrated that a bomb of sufficient size could be carried by an Avro Lancaster
rather than waiting for a larger bomber such as the Windsor to be built. However Air Vice-Marshall Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production
thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Windsor. Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to resign. Sir Arthur Harris
, head of Bomber Command
from a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers. However Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbottom
. Winterbottom ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff
, Air Chief Marshall Charles Portal
heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced. Over-riding Harris, Portal ordered on 26 February 1943 that 30 Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage. With eight weeks to go, the larger bomb, code-named 'Upkeep', that was needed for the mission, and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron "X", as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons.
Led by 24 year-old Wing Commander
Guy Gibson
, a veteran of over 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, 21 bomber crews were selected from existing squadrons in 5 Group. These crews included RAF personnel of several different nationalities, as well as members of the Royal Australian Air Force
(RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force
(RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force
(RNZAF), who were frequently attached to RAF squadrons under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
. The squadron was based at RAF Scampton
, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln
.
The targets selected were the two key dams upstream from the Ruhr industrial area
, the Möhne Dam
and the Sorpe Dam
, with the Eder Dam
on the Eder
River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. While the loss of hydroelectric power was important, the loss of water supply to industry, cities, and canals would have greater effect. Also, there was the potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
The aircraft were modified Avro Lancaster
Mk IIIs, known as B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning). To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper machine gun turret. The size of the bomb with its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed, and the bomb itself hung, in part, below the fuselage of the aircraft. It was mounted on two crutches, and before dropping it was spun up to speed by an auxiliary motor.
There were also technical problems to solve, the first one being to determine when the aircraft was at optimum distance from its target. Both the Möhne and Eder Dams had towers at each end. A special targeting device with two prongs, making the same angle
as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC
documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used due to issues related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as the barometric altimeter
s then in use lacked sufficient accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage
, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir
, in Leicestershire/Rutland, Abberton Reservoir
near Colchester, Derwent Reservoir
, and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach
. Wallis' bomb itself was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs
.
The bombs were delivered to the squadron on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 1800 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed four key officers: the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader
Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young
; Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Fl.Lt. John V.Hopgood and; the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant
Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb aimers at about midday.
Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups: (listed by pilot) Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin
(an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF), and; Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Flying Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer
Vernon Byers, Flt Lt Bob Barlow (RAAF), P/O Geoff Rice and Flt Lt Les Munro
(RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant
Cyril Anderson, Flt Sgt Bill Townsend, Flt Sgt Ken Brown (RCAF), P/O Warner Ottley and P/O Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or smaller secondary target dams at Schwelm, Ennepe and Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission due to illness.
The Operations Room for the mission was at 5 Group Headquarters in St Vincents Hall Grantham
, Lincolnshire. The mission codes (transmitted in morse
) were: Goner, meaning "bomb dropped"; Nigger
, meaning that the Möhne was breached and; Dinghy meaning that the Eder was breached. "Nigger" was the name of Gibson's dog, a black labrador retriever
that had been run over and killed on the morning of the attack. "Dinghy" was Young's nickname, a reference to the fact that he had made many forced landings at sea, requiring him to use the rubber dinghies stowed on RAF aircraft.
, and were timed to cross the enemy coast simultaneously. The first aircraft, those of Formation No. 2 and heading for the longer, northern route, took off at 21:28. McCarthy's bomber had a hydraulics problem, and he took off in a reserve craft 20 minutes late.
Formation No. 1 took off in groups of three at 10 minute intervals beginning at 21:39. The reserve formation did not begin taking off until 00:09 on 17 May.
Formation No. 1 entered continental Europe between Walcheren
and Schouwen, flew over the Netherlands, skirted the airbases at Gilze-Rijen and Eindhoven, curved around the Ruhr defences, and turned north to avoid Hamm
before turning south to head for the Möhne River. Formation No. 2 flew further north, cutting over Vlieland
and crossing the IJsselmeer
before joining the first route near Wesel
and then flying south beyond the Möhne to the Sorpe River.
The bombers flew low, at about 100 ft (30 m) altitude, to avoid radar detection. Flight Sergeant
George Chalmers, radio operator on "O for Orange"
, looked out through the astrodome
and was astonished to see that his pilot was flying towards the target along a forest's firebreak
, below treetop level.
, while Rice flew too low and struck the sea, losing a bomb in the water; he recovered and returned to base. Both Barlow's and Byers' Lancasters crossed over the coast around the island of Texel
. Byers' bomber was shot down by flak shortly afterwards, crashing into the Waddenzee. Only the delayed bomber piloted by McCarthy survived to cross the Netherlands
. In addition, Formation No. 1 lost Astell's bomber near the German hamlet of Marbeck when he flew his Lancaster into high tension electrical cables
and crashed into a field.
Formation No. 1 arrived over the Möhne lake and Gibson's aircraft (G for George) made the first run, followed by Hopgood (M for Mother). Hopgood's aircraft was hit by flak as it made its low-level run and was caught in the blast of its own bomb, crashing shortly afterwards when a wing disintegrated. Three crew members successfully left the aircraft, but only two survived. Subsequently Gibson flew his aircraft across the dam to draw the flak away from Martin's run. Martin (P for Popsie) bombed third; his aircraft was damaged but made a successful attack. Next, Young (A for Apple) made a successful run and after him Maltby (J for Johnny) when, finally, the dam was breached. Gibson, with Young accompanying, led Shannon, Maudslay and Knight to the Eder. In the attack on the Möhne one of the bombers made a running commentary on the attack, relayed to base by an airborne TR. 1142 (Transmitter Receiver) manufactured by GEC, the distance being too great for direct VHF transmission.
The Eder Valley was covered by heavy fog but not defended. The tricky topography of the surrounding hills made the approach difficult and the first aircraft, Shannon's, made six runs before taking a break. Maudslay (Z for Zebra) then attempted a run but the bomb struck the top of the dam and the aircraft was severely damaged in the blast. Shannon made another run and successfully dropped his bomb. The final bomb of the formation, from Knight's aircraft (N for Nut), breached the dam.
McCarthy's plane was on its own when it arrived over the Sorpe Dam at 00:15 hours, and realised the approach was even more difficult than expected: the flight path led over a church steeple in the village of Langscheid, located on the hillcrest overlooking the dam. With only seconds to go before the bomber had to pull up, to avoid hitting the hillside at the other end of the dam, the bombardier George Johnson had no time to correct the bomb's height and heading.
McCarthy made nine attempted bombing runs before Johnson was satisfied. The 'Upkeep' bomb was dropped on the tenth run. The bomb exploded, but when he turned his Lancaster to assess the damage it turned out that only a section of the crest of the dam had been blown off: the main body of the dam itself was still functional.
Meanwhile, three of the reserve aircraft had been directed to the Sorpe Dam. Burpee ("S for Sugar") never arrived, and it was later determined that the plane had been shot down while skirting the Gilze-Rijen airfield. Brown ("F for Freddy") reached the Sorpe Dam: in the increasingly dense fog the bomb was dropped hastily and also failed to breach the dam. Anderson ("Y for York") arrived last, but by then the fog had become too dense for him even to attempt a bombing run. The remaining two bombers were then sent to secondary targets, with Ottley ("C for Charlie") being shot down en-route to the Lister Dam. Townsend ("O for Orange") eventually dropped his bomb at the Ennepe Dam without harming it.
John Sweetman, author of the book The Dambusters' Raid, suggests Townsend's report of the moon's reflecting on the mist and water is consistent with an attack that was heading to the Bever Dam rather than to the Ennepe Dam, given the moon's azimuth and altitude during the bombing attacks. Sweetman also points out that the Ennepe-Wasserverband authority was adamant that only a single bomb was dropped near the Ennepe Dam during the entire war, and that this bomb fell into the woods by the side of the dam, not in the water, as in Townsend's report. Finally, members of Townsend's crew independently reported seeing a manor house and attacking an earthen dam, which is consistent with the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe Dam. The main evidence supporting the hypothesis of an attack of the Ennepe Dam is Townsend's post-flight report that he attacked the Ennepe Dam on a heading of 355 degrees magnetic. Assuming that the heading was incorrect, all other evidence points toward an attack on the Bever Dam.
and Young's "A for Apple" was flayed by flak north of IJmuiden. That bomber crashed into the North Sea
just off the coast of the Netherlands. However, on the return flight over the Dutch coast, some German flak targeting the planes was aimed so low that shells were seen to bounce off the sea.
The nine surviving bombers began landing at Scampton at 03:11 hours, with Gibson returning at 04:15 hours. The last of the survivors, Townsend's bomber, put its wheels on the ground at 06:15 hours. Flying downwind and into the sun they had a rather bumpy landing as one of their engines had been badly damaged.
wanted a complete bomb damage assessment
as soon as possible, therefore the CO of 542 Squadron was informed of the estimated time of the attacks. One of the squadron's photo-reconnaissance Spitfires
, piloted by Flying Officer
Frank "Jerry" Fray, took off from RAF Benson
at 07:30 hours and arrived over the Ruhr River immediately after first light. Photos were taken of the breached dams and the huge floods. The pilot later described the experience:
Three aircrew from Hopgood's aircraft bailed out successfully, but one later died from wounds while the others were captured. One of the crew in Ottley's aircraft survived its crash. In total, therefore, 53 of the 133 aircrew who participated in the attack were killed
, a casualty rate of almost 40%. Thirteen of those killed were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force
, while two belonged to the Royal Australian Air Force
.
Of the survivors, 34 were decorated at Buckingham Palace
on 22 June, with Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross
. There were five Distinguished Service Order
s, 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses
and four bars
, two Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
s, and eleven Distinguished Flying Medal
s and one bar.
Initial German casualty estimates from the floods when the dams broke were about 1,294 killed, which included 749 French, Belgian, Dutch and Ukrainian prisoners of war and labourers.
After a public relations tour of America and time spent working in the Air Ministry in London writing the book which would later be published as Enemy Coast Ahead, Gibson returned to operations and was killed on a Mosquito
operation in 1944.
Following the Dams Raid 617 Squadron was kept together as a specialist unit. The squadron badge was chosen and a motto "Après moi le déluge" (After me the flood). According to Brickhill there was some controversy over the motto, with the original version Après nous le déluge (After us the flood) being rejected by the heralds as having inappropriate provenance (having been coined, reportedly, by Madame de Pompadour
), and après moi le déluge having been used by Louis XV in an "irresponsible" context. The motto having been chosen by the King, the latter was finally deemed acceptable.
The squadron went on to drop Wallis' massive Tallboy
and Grand Slam bomb
s, including an attack on the German battleship , using an advanced bomb sight which enabled the bombing of small targets with far greater accuracy than was routinely obtained with conventional bomb aiming techniques. The squadron is still active today.
In 1977, Article 56 of the Protocol I amendment to the Geneva Conventions
, outlawed attacks on dams "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population".
dam resulted in a breach around 250 feet (76 meters) wide and 292 feet (89 meters) deep. The destroyed dam poured around 330 million tons of water (equivalent to a cube 687 meters on each side) into the western Ruhr region. A torrent of water around 32.5 feet (10 meters) high and travelling at around 15 mph (24 km/h) swept through the valleys of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers. A few underground mines were flooded; 11 small factories and 92 houses were destroyed and 114 factories and 971 houses were damaged. The floods washed away about 25 roads, railways and bridges as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 water production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes, this dropped to a quarter of that level after the raid.
The Eder drains towards the east into the Fulda which runs into the Weser to the North Sea. The main purpose of the Edersee is (even today) to act as a reservoir to keep the Weser and the Mittellandkanal shippable during the summer months. The wave from the breach wasn't strong enough to result in considerable damage when it hit Kassel
(approx. 35 km downstream).
The loss of hydro-electric power for the dams was the greatest impact on the Ruhr armaments production. Two powerplants (producing 5,100 kilowatts) associated with the dam were destroyed and seven others were damaged. The end result was a loss of electrical power in the factories and many households in the region for two weeks.
In terms of deaths: according to the latest sources, at least 1,650 people were killed: around 70 in the Eder Valley, and at least 1,579 bodies were found along the Möhne
and Ruhr rivers, with hundreds missing. 1,026 of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam were foreign prisoners of war and forced-labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. Worst hit was the city of Neheim (now part of Neheim-Hüsten) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, where over 800 people perished, among them at least 493 female forced-labourers from the Soviet Union. (Some non-German sources erroneously cite an earlier total of 749 for all foreigners in all camps in the Möhne and Ruhr valleys as the casualty count at a camp just below the Eder Dam.)
After the operation Barnes Wallis wrote, "I feel a blow has been struck at Germany from which she cannot recover for several years." However, on closer inspection, Operation Chastise did not have the military effect that was at the time believed. By 27 June, full water output was restored, thanks to an emergency pumping scheme inaugurated only the previous year, and the electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. The raid proved to be costly in lives (more than half the lives lost belonging to Allied POWs and forced-labourers), but in fact no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output. The value of the bombing can perhaps best be seen as a very real boost to British morale.
In his book Inside the Third Reich
, Albert Speer
expressed puzzlement at the raids. While he considered the attempt as laudatory: "That night, employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers." But, on the other hand, the disruption of temporarily having to shift 7,000 construction workers to the Möhne and Eder repairs was offset by the failure of the Allies to follow up with additional (conventional) raids during the dams' reconstruction, and that represented a major lost opportunity. Ironically Barnes Wallis was also of this view, he revealed his deep frustration that Bomber Command never sent a high level bombing force to hit the Mohne dam whilst repairs were being carried out. He argued that extreme precision would have been unnecessary and that even a few hits by conventional HE bombs would have prevented the rapid repair of the dam which was undertaken by the Germans ("Bomber Command" p262 Max Hastings)
The effect on food production was more significant with many square kilometers of arable land being washed away and effectively unusable until the 1950s. There was also a great loss of farm animals bred for food.
, undertaken with a view to the need to keep drawing German defensive effort back into Germany and away from actual and potential theatres of ground war, a policy which culminated in the Berlin raids
of the winter of 1943–1944. In May 1943 this meant keeping the Luftwaffe
and anti-aircraft defence forces' effort away from the Soviet Union; in early 1944, it meant clearing the way for the aerial side of the forthcoming Operation Overlord
.
The pictures of the broken dams proved to be a propaganda and morale boost to the Allies, especially to the British, still suffering under German bombing.
An associated, but equally major effect was that Barnes Wallis's ideas on earth quake bomb
ing, which had been rejected before, now became accepted by 'Bomber' Harris. Prior to this raid, bombing practice had been to 'area bomb'
with many light bombs, in the hope that one would hit the target. Work on the earthquake bomb theory resulted in the Tallboy
and Grand Slam
weapons, which caused unprecedented damage to German infrastructure in the later stages of the war. They rendered the V-2
assembly building unusable, buried the V-3
guns, sank the and destroyed many bridges and other hardened installations. Notable amongst their successes were the U-Boat pens at Brest
, where they penetrated 20 ft (6.1 m) thick roofs of reinforced concrete, and the Saumur
Tunnel.
that Britain was capable of being an effective ally. Stalin often called upon the Western Allies to open a second front: the Dambusters raid provided the British with a valuable opportunity to prove that they were harrying the Germans in every way they could while building up forces for an eventual liberation of Western Europe
. However, by the time the preparations for the British raid were complete, the USSR had managed to fight back
against German forces; the USSR had also found the capacity to begin its counter-offensive
on the Don and Volga
. The Dams Raid enabled Churchill
, in negotiations with the leaders of these new allies, to point to new, effective strikes after 1942's "1,000-bomber raids" against cities and shortly before the devastating late-July 1943 bombing of Hamburg. As a result, he was taken more seriously as an ally than might otherwise have been the case. This was most relevant in negotiations with Stalin, but also to a lesser degree in the USA. Although Churchill had the sympathetic ear of Roosevelt, many of the US military staff had until then been less persuaded of the value of British experience and capabilities.
Lincolnshire°N Germany°W
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
No. 617 Squadron
No. 617 Squadron RAF
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role...
, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb
Bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner, in order to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined...
" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE FRS, RDI, FRAeS , was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II...
. The Möhne
Möhne Reservoir
The Möhne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower. Today, the lake is also a tourist attraction...
and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley
Edertal
-Location:Edertal lies roughly 30 km in a straight line southwest of Kassel. It is on the north and northwest edges of the Kellerwald range and stretches to the south shore of the Edersee and south and southwest of its dam...
, while the Sorpe
Sorpe
The Sorpe Dam is a dam near the small town of Sundern in the German district of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.Like the Biggesee, the Möhne Reservoir and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe's reservoir is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association...
dam sustained only minor damage.
Background
Prior to World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the British Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
had identified Germany's heavily industrialised Ruhr Valley, and especially its dams, as important strategic targets: in addition to providing hydro-electric power and pure water for steel-making, they also supplied drinking water and water for the canal transport system. The methods used to attack the dams had been carefully worked out. Calculations indicated that repeated air strikes with large bombs could be effective, but required a degree of accuracy which Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
had been unable to attain in the face of enemy defences.
Concept
The mission grew out of a concept for a bomb designed by Barnes WallisBarnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE FRS, RDI, FRAeS , was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II...
and developed by his team at Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
. Wallis was Assistant Chief Designer at Vickers. He had worked on both the Vickers Wellesley
Vickers Wellesley
The Vickers Wellesley was a British 1930s light bomber built by Vickers-Armstrongs at Brooklands near Weybridge, Surrey, for the Royal Air Force...
and Vickers Wellington
Vickers Wellington
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs' Chief Designer, R. K. Pierson. It was widely used as a night bomber in the early years of the Second World War, before being displaced as a...
bombers. While working on the Vickers Windsor
Vickers Windsor
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Andrews, C.F. and E.B. Morgan. Vickers Aircraft since 1908. London: Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1....
he had also begun work, with support of the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
on a bomb designed initially for attacking ships though dam-destruction was soon considered.
Wallis' initial idea was to drop a 10 t (9.8 LT) bomb from an altitude of about 40000 ft (12,192 m). This idea was part of the earthquake bomb concept. However, at that time no bomber aircraft was capable of flying at that altitude with such a heavy payload. A much smaller explosive charge would suffice, if it could be exploded directly against the dam wall below the surface of the water, but the major German reservoir dams were protected by heavy torpedo nets
Torpedo nets
Torpedo nets were a passive naval warship defensive device against torpedoes. Their use was common practice from the 1890s through World War II...
to prevent such an attack.
Initial testing of the concept included blowing up a plaster model dam at the Building Research Establishment
Building Research Establishment
The Building Research Establishment is a former UK government establishment that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom...
, Watford in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam
Elan Valley Reservoirs
The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes and reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Powys, Mid Wales , using the rivers Elan and Claerwen...
in Wales in July 1942. The first full-scale trials were at Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle"....
in January 1943. This demonstrated that a bomb of sufficient size could be carried by an Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
rather than waiting for a larger bomber such as the Windsor to be built. However Air Vice-Marshall Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production
Minister of Aircraft Production
The Minister of Aircraft Production was the British government position in charge of the Ministry of Aircraft Production, one of the specialised supply ministries set up by the British Government during World War II...
thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Windsor. Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to resign. Sir Arthur Harris
Sir Arthur Harris, 1st Baronet
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Sir Arthur Travers Harris, 1st Baronet GCB OBE AFC , commonly known as "Bomber" Harris by the press, and often within the RAF as "Butcher" Harris, was Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of RAF Bomber Command during the latter half of World War...
, head of Bomber Command
Bomber Command
Bomber Command is an organizational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. Many countries have a "Bomber Command", although the most famous ones were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for Strategic bombing , and is composed of bombers...
from a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers. However Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbottom
F. W. Winterbotham
Frederick William Winterbotham was a British Royal Air Force officer who during World War II supervised the distribution of Ultra intelligence. Later, Winterbotham published the first popular account of Ultra....
. Winterbottom ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff
Chief of the Air Staff
The Chief of the Air Staff is the professional head of the Royal Air Force and a member of both the Chiefs of Staff Committee and the Air Force Board. The current Chief of the Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton...
, Air Chief Marshall Charles Portal
Charles Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford
Marshal of the Royal Air Force Charles Frederick Algernon Portal, 1st Viscount Portal of Hungerford KG GCB OM DSO & Bar MC was a senior Royal Air Force officer and an advocate of strategic bombing...
heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced. Over-riding Harris, Portal ordered on 26 February 1943 that 30 Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage. With eight weeks to go, the larger bomb, code-named 'Upkeep', that was needed for the mission, and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
Assignment
The operation was given to No. 5 Group RAFNo. 5 Group RAF
No. 5 Group was a Royal Air Force bomber group of the Second World War, led during the latter part by AVM Sir Ralph Cochrane.-History:The Group was formed on 1 September 1937 with headquarters at RAF Mildenhall....
which formed a new squadron to undertake the dams mission. It was initially called Squadron "X", as the speed of its formation outstripped the RAF process for naming squadrons.
Led by 24 year-old Wing Commander
Wing Commander (rank)
Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...
Guy Gibson
Guy Gibson
Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF , was the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area...
, a veteran of over 170 bombing and night-fighter missions, 21 bomber crews were selected from existing squadrons in 5 Group. These crews included RAF personnel of several different nationalities, as well as members of the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
(RAAF), Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
(RCAF) and Royal New Zealand Air Force
Royal New Zealand Air Force
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is the air arm of the New Zealand Defence Force...
(RNZAF), who were frequently attached to RAF squadrons under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
British Commonwealth Air Training Plan
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , known in some countries as the Empire Air Training Scheme , was a massive, joint military aircrew training program created by the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, during the Second World War...
. The squadron was based at RAF Scampton
RAF Scampton
Royal Air Force Station Scampton is a Royal Air Force station situated north of Lincoln in England, near the village of Scampton, on the site of an old First World War landing field.-First World War:...
, about 5 mi (8 km) north of Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....
.
Ruhr Area
The Ruhr, by German-speaking geographers and historians more accurately called Ruhr district or Ruhr region , is an urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With 4435 km² and a population of some 5.2 million , it is the largest urban agglomeration in Germany...
, the Möhne Dam
Möhne Reservoir
The Möhne Reservoir is an artificial lake in North Rhine-Westphalia, some 45 km east of Dortmund. The dam was built between 1908 and 1913 to help control floods, regulate water levels on the Ruhr river downstream, and generate hydropower. Today, the lake is also a tourist attraction...
and the Sorpe Dam
Sorpe
The Sorpe Dam is a dam near the small town of Sundern in the German district of Hochsauerland in North Rhine-Westphalia.Like the Biggesee, the Möhne Reservoir and the Verse reservoir, the Sorpe's reservoir is one of the major artificial lakes of the Sauerland's Ruhrverband reservoir association...
, with the Eder Dam
Edersee
The Edersee Dam is a hydroelectric dam constructed between 1908 to 1914 across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hesse, Germany, it lies at the northern edge of the Kellerwald...
on the Eder
Eder
The Eder is a 177 km long river in Germany, and a tributary of the Fulda River. It was first mentioned by the Roman historian Tacitus as the Adrana in the territory of the Chatti....
River, which feeds into the Weser, as a secondary target. While the loss of hydroelectric power was important, the loss of water supply to industry, cities, and canals would have greater effect. Also, there was the potential for devastating flooding if the dams broke.
The aircraft were modified Avro Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
Mk IIIs, known as B Mark III Special (Type 464 Provisioning). To reduce weight, much of the internal armour was removed, as was the mid-upper machine gun turret. The size of the bomb with its unusual shape meant that the bomb-bay doors had to be removed, and the bomb itself hung, in part, below the fuselage of the aircraft. It was mounted on two crutches, and before dropping it was spun up to speed by an auxiliary motor.
Preparations
Bombing from an altitude of 60 ft (18.3 m), at an air speed of 240 mph (107.3 m/s), and at a pre-selected distance from the target called for expert crews. Intensive night-time and low-altitude flight training began.Similarity (geometry)
Two geometrical objects are called similar if they both have the same shape. More precisely, either one is congruent to the result of a uniform scaling of the other...
as the two towers at the correct distance from the dam, showed when to release the bomb. (The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary Dambusters Declassified (2010) stated that the pronged device was not used due to issues related to vibration and that other methods were employed, including a length of string tied in a loop and pulled back centrally to a fixed point in the manner of a catapult.)
The second problem was determining the aircraft's altitude, as the barometric altimeter
Altimeter
An altimeter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth underwater.-Pressure altimeter:...
s then in use lacked sufficient accuracy. Two spotlights were mounted, one under the aircraft's nose and the other under the fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
, so that at the correct height their light beams would converge on the surface of the water. The crews practised at the Eyebrook Reservoir
Eyebrook Reservoir
Eyebrook Reservoir is a reservoir in the East Midlands of England. It straddles the border of Leicestershire and Rutland . It is located about 6 km northwest of Corby in Northamptonshire. Nearby villages are Stoke Dry, to the north, and Caldecott, to the south and near the dam.The reservoir...
, in Leicestershire/Rutland, Abberton Reservoir
Abberton Reservoir
Abberton Reservoir is an artificial body of water located close to the coast of Essex in the east of England. It is 5 miles south-west of Colchester near the village of Layer de la Haye. Its geographical coordinates are ....
near Colchester, Derwent Reservoir
Derwent Reservoir
There are two Derwent Reservoirs in England:* Derwent Reservoir * Derwent Reservoir on the border between County Durham and Northumberland...
, and Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach
Chesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle"....
. Wallis' bomb itself was first tested at the Elan Valley Reservoirs
Elan Valley Reservoirs
The Elan Valley Reservoirs are a chain of man-made lakes and reservoirs in the Elan Valley in Powys, Mid Wales , using the rivers Elan and Claerwen...
.
The bombs were delivered to the squadron on 13 May, after the final tests on 29 April. At 1800 on 15 May, at a meeting in Whitworth's house, Gibson and Wallis briefed four key officers: the squadron's two flight commanders, Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Henry Maudslay and Sqn Ldr H. M. "Dinghy" Young
Dinghy Young
Squadron Leader Henry Melvin "Dinghy" Young, DFC & Bar was a Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Bomber Command pilot.Young was born in London to Henry George Melvin Young, a British solicitor, and Fannie Rowan Young...
; Gibson's deputy for the Möhne attack, Fl.Lt. John V.Hopgood and; the squadron bombing leader, Flight Lieutenant
Flight Lieutenant
Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
Bob Hay. The rest of the crews were told at a series of briefings the following day, which began with a briefing of pilots, navigators and bomb aimers at about midday.
Organisation
The squadron was divided into three groups.Formation No. 1 was composed of nine aircraft in three groups: (listed by pilot) Gibson, Hopgood and Flt Lt H. B. "Micky" Martin
Harold Brownlow Martin
Air Marshal Sir Harold Brownlow Morgan "Micky" Martin, KCB, DSO & Bar, DFC & Two Bars, AFC was an Australian pilot in the Royal Air Force....
(an Australian serving in the RAF); Young, Flt Lt David Maltby and Flt Lt Dave Shannon (RAAF), and; Maudslay, Flt Lt Bill Astell and Flying Officer Les Knight (RAAF). Its mission was to attack the Möhne; any aircraft with bombs remaining would then attack the Eder.
Formation No. 2, numbering five aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Joe McCarthy (an American serving in the RCAF), Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
Vernon Byers, Flt Lt Bob Barlow (RAAF), P/O Geoff Rice and Flt Lt Les Munro
Les Munro
Squadron Leader John Leslie Munro CNZM, DSO, QSO, DFC, JP is the last surviving pilot of the Dambusters Raid of May 1943....
(RNZAF), was to attack the Sorpe.
Formation No. 3 was a mobile reserve consisting of aircraft piloted by Flight Sergeant
Flight Sergeant
Flight sergeant is a senior non-commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure...
Cyril Anderson, Flt Sgt Bill Townsend, Flt Sgt Ken Brown (RCAF), P/O Warner Ottley and P/O Lewis Burpee (RCAF), taking off two hours later on 17 May, either to bomb the main dams or smaller secondary target dams at Schwelm, Ennepe and Diemel.
Two crews were unable to make the mission due to illness.
The Operations Room for the mission was at 5 Group Headquarters in St Vincents Hall Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
, Lincolnshire. The mission codes (transmitted in morse
Morse code
Morse code is a method of transmitting textual information as a series of on-off tones, lights, or clicks that can be directly understood by a skilled listener or observer without special equipment...
) were: Goner, meaning "bomb dropped"; Nigger
Nigger (dog)
Nigger was a male black labrador retriever belonging to Wing Commander Guy Gibson, and the mascot of 617 Squadron. Nigger died on 16 May 1943, the day before the famous "Dam Busters" raid, when he was hit by a car. He was buried at midnight as Gibson was leading the raid. "Nigger" was the codeword...
, meaning that the Möhne was breached and; Dinghy meaning that the Eder was breached. "Nigger" was the name of Gibson's dog, a black labrador retriever
Labrador Retriever
The Labrador Retriever is one of several kinds of retriever, a type of gun dog. A breed characteristic is webbed paws for swimming, useful for the breed's original purpose of retrieving fishing nets. The Labrador is the most popular breed of dog by registered ownership in Canada, the United...
that had been run over and killed on the morning of the attack. "Dinghy" was Young's nickname, a reference to the fact that he had made many forced landings at sea, requiring him to use the rubber dinghies stowed on RAF aircraft.
The bombing raids
Outbound
The aircraft used two routes, carefully avoiding known concentrations of German anti-aircraft flakAnti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
, and were timed to cross the enemy coast simultaneously. The first aircraft, those of Formation No. 2 and heading for the longer, northern route, took off at 21:28. McCarthy's bomber had a hydraulics problem, and he took off in a reserve craft 20 minutes late.
Formation No. 1 took off in groups of three at 10 minute intervals beginning at 21:39. The reserve formation did not begin taking off until 00:09 on 17 May.
Formation No. 1 entered continental Europe between Walcheren
Walcheren
thumb|right|250px|Campveer Tower in Veere, built in 1500Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a rhombus...
and Schouwen, flew over the Netherlands, skirted the airbases at Gilze-Rijen and Eindhoven, curved around the Ruhr defences, and turned north to avoid Hamm
Hamm
Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany. It is located in the northeastern part of the Ruhr area. As of December 2003 its population was 180,849. The city is situated between the A1 motorway and A2 motorway...
before turning south to head for the Möhne River. Formation No. 2 flew further north, cutting over Vlieland
Vlieland
Vlieland is a municipality in the northern Netherlands. The municipality of Vlieland has only one major town: Oost-Vlieland . It is the second-least densely populated municipality in the Netherlands ....
and crossing the IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer
IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....
before joining the first route near Wesel
Wesel
Wesel is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the capital of the Wesel district.-Division of the town:Suburbs of Wesel include Lackhausen, Obrighoven, Ginderich, Feldmark,Fusternberg, Büderich, Flüren and Blumenkamp.-History:...
and then flying south beyond the Möhne to the Sorpe River.
The bombers flew low, at about 100 ft (30 m) altitude, to avoid radar detection. Flight Sergeant
Flight Sergeant
Flight sergeant is a senior non-commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and several other air forces which have adopted all or part of the RAF rank structure...
George Chalmers, radio operator on "O for Orange"
RAF phonetic alphabet
Following the take up of radio, the British Royal Air Force used a succession of radiotelephony spelling alphabets to aid communication. These have now all been superseded by the NATO phonetic alphabet....
, looked out through the astrodome
Astrodome (aviation)
An astrodome is a hemispherical transparent dome fitted in the cabin roof of an aircraft to allow the use of a sextant during astro-navigation....
and was astonished to see that his pilot was flying towards the target along a forest's firebreak
Firebreak
A firebreak is a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. A firebreak may occur naturally where there is a lack of vegetation or "fuel", such as a river, lake or canyon...
, below treetop level.
First casualties
The first casualties were suffered soon after reaching the Dutch coast. Formation No. 2 did not fare well: Munro's aircraft lost its radio to flak and turned back over the IJsselmeerIJsselmeer
IJsselmeer is a shallow artificial lake of 1100 km² in the central Netherlands bordering the provinces of Flevoland, North Holland and Friesland, with an average depth of 5 to 6 m. The IJsselmeer is the largest lake in Western Europe....
, while Rice flew too low and struck the sea, losing a bomb in the water; he recovered and returned to base. Both Barlow's and Byers' Lancasters crossed over the coast around the island of Texel
Texel
Texel is a municipality and an island in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the biggest and most populated of the Frisian Islands in the Wadden Sea, and also the westernmost of this archipelago, which extends to Denmark...
. Byers' bomber was shot down by flak shortly afterwards, crashing into the Waddenzee. Only the delayed bomber piloted by McCarthy survived to cross the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. In addition, Formation No. 1 lost Astell's bomber near the German hamlet of Marbeck when he flew his Lancaster into high tension electrical cables
Electric power transmission
Electric-power transmission is the bulk transfer of electrical energy, from generating power plants to Electrical substations located near demand centers...
and crashed into a field.
Attack on the Möhne Dam
Attack on the Eder Dam
Attacks on the Sorpe and Ennepe Dams
The Sorpe dam was the one least likely to be breached. It is a huge earthen dam, rather than concrete-and-steel gravity dams that were attacked successfully. Due to various problems, only three Lancasters reached the Sorpe Dam: Joe McCarthy (in "T for Tommy”, a delayed aircraft from the second wave) and later Brown ("F for Freddie") and Anderson ("Y for York"), both from the third formation. This attack differed from the previous ones in two ways: the "Upkeep" bomb was not spun, and the approach was made along the length of the dam, not at right angles over the reservoir, due to the topography of the valley.McCarthy's plane was on its own when it arrived over the Sorpe Dam at 00:15 hours, and realised the approach was even more difficult than expected: the flight path led over a church steeple in the village of Langscheid, located on the hillcrest overlooking the dam. With only seconds to go before the bomber had to pull up, to avoid hitting the hillside at the other end of the dam, the bombardier George Johnson had no time to correct the bomb's height and heading.
McCarthy made nine attempted bombing runs before Johnson was satisfied. The 'Upkeep' bomb was dropped on the tenth run. The bomb exploded, but when he turned his Lancaster to assess the damage it turned out that only a section of the crest of the dam had been blown off: the main body of the dam itself was still functional.
Meanwhile, three of the reserve aircraft had been directed to the Sorpe Dam. Burpee ("S for Sugar") never arrived, and it was later determined that the plane had been shot down while skirting the Gilze-Rijen airfield. Brown ("F for Freddy") reached the Sorpe Dam: in the increasingly dense fog the bomb was dropped hastily and also failed to breach the dam. Anderson ("Y for York") arrived last, but by then the fog had become too dense for him even to attempt a bombing run. The remaining two bombers were then sent to secondary targets, with Ottley ("C for Charlie") being shot down en-route to the Lister Dam. Townsend ("O for Orange") eventually dropped his bomb at the Ennepe Dam without harming it.
Possible attack on Bever Dam
There is some evidence that Townsend might have attacked the Bever Dam by mistake rather than the Ennepe Dam. Townsend reported difficulty in finding his dam, and in his post-raid report he complained that the map of the Ennepe Dam was incorrect. The Bever Dam is located only about 5 mi (8 km) southwest of the Ennepe Dam, and its reservoir has a similar topography. However, the Bever Dam is located on the southern edge of the reservoir while the Ennepe is located on the northern edge of its reservoir. With the foggy mists filling the valleys during the early morning hours, it would be understandable for him to have mistaken the two lakes. The War Diary of the German Naval Staff reported that the Bever Dam had been attacked at nearly the same time that the Sorpe Dam was. In addition, the Wupperverband authority responsible for the Bever Dam is said to have recovered the remains of a "mine". Paul Keiser, a 19-year-old soldier on leave at his home close to the Bever Dam, also reported a bomber making several approaches to the dam and then dropping a bomb that caused a large explosion and a great pillar of flame.John Sweetman, author of the book The Dambusters' Raid, suggests Townsend's report of the moon's reflecting on the mist and water is consistent with an attack that was heading to the Bever Dam rather than to the Ennepe Dam, given the moon's azimuth and altitude during the bombing attacks. Sweetman also points out that the Ennepe-Wasserverband authority was adamant that only a single bomb was dropped near the Ennepe Dam during the entire war, and that this bomb fell into the woods by the side of the dam, not in the water, as in Townsend's report. Finally, members of Townsend's crew independently reported seeing a manor house and attacking an earthen dam, which is consistent with the Bever Dam rather than the Ennepe Dam. The main evidence supporting the hypothesis of an attack of the Ennepe Dam is Townsend's post-flight report that he attacked the Ennepe Dam on a heading of 355 degrees magnetic. Assuming that the heading was incorrect, all other evidence points toward an attack on the Bever Dam.
Return flight
On the way back, flying again at treetop level, two more Lancasters were lost. The damaged "Z for Zebra" was struck by flak near NetterdenNetterden
Netterden is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Oude IJsselstreek, about 5 km northeast of Emmerich.Netterden was a separate municipality until 1821, when it was merged with Bergh.-References:...
and Young's "A for Apple" was flayed by flak north of IJmuiden. That bomber crashed into the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
just off the coast of the Netherlands. However, on the return flight over the Dutch coast, some German flak targeting the planes was aimed so low that shells were seen to bounce off the sea.
The nine surviving bombers began landing at Scampton at 03:11 hours, with Gibson returning at 04:15 hours. The last of the survivors, Townsend's bomber, put its wheels on the ground at 06:15 hours. Flying downwind and into the sun they had a rather bumpy landing as one of their engines had been badly damaged.
List of aircraft involved
| Aircraft call sign | Commander | Target | Returned? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Wave | ||||
| G George | Gibson | Möhne Dam | Yes | Raid leader. Mine exploded short of dam. Used aircraft to draw anti-aircraft fire away from other crews. |
| M Mother | Hopgood | No | Hit by anti-aircraft fire outbound. Mine bounced over dam. Shot down over the target while attacking. | |
| P Peter (Popsie) | Martin | Yes | Mine missed the target. | |
| A Apple | Young | No | Mine hit dam and caused small breach. Shot down over the Dutch coast while returning. | |
| J Johnny | Maltby | Yes | Mine hit dam and caused a large breach. | |
| L Leather | Shannon | Eder Dam | Yes | Mine hit target—no effect. |
| Z Zebra | Maudslay | No | Mine overshot target and damaged the bomber, which was shot down over Germany while trying to return. | |
| N Nancy (Nan) | Knight | Yes | Mine hit the dam and caused a large breach. | |
| B Baker | Astell | N/A | No | Crashed after hitting large-scale power lines outbound. |
| Second Wave | ||||
| T Tommy | McCarthy | Sorpe Dam | Yes | Mine hit the target – no apparent effects. |
| E Easy | Barlow | N/A | No | Crashed after hitting large-scale power lines outbound. |
| K King | Byers | No | Shot down over the Dutch coast outbound. | |
| H Harry | Rice | Yes | Lost the mine after clipping the ocean outbound. Returned without attacking a target. | |
| W Willie | Munro Les Munro Squadron Leader John Leslie Munro CNZM, DSO, QSO, DFC, JP is the last surviving pilot of the Dambusters Raid of May 1943.... |
Yes | Damaged by anti-aircraft fire over the Dutch coast. Returned without attacking a target. | |
| Third Wave | ||||
| Y York | Anderson | Sorpe Dam | Yes | Could not find the target due to the mist. Landed at Scampton with an armed mine. |
| F Freddy | Brown | Sorpe Dam | Yes | Mine hit the target – no apparent effects. |
| O Orange | Townsend | Ennepe Dam | Yes | Mine hit the target – no apparent effect. |
| S Sugar | Burpee | N/A | No | Shot down over the Netherlands outbound. |
| C Charlie | Ottley | No | Shot down over Germany outbound. | |
Bomb damage assessment
Bomber CommandRAF Bomber Command
RAF Bomber Command controlled the RAF's bomber forces from 1936 to 1968. During World War II the command destroyed a significant proportion of Nazi Germany's industries and many German cities, and in the 1960s stood at the peak of its postwar military power with the V bombers and a supplemental...
wanted a complete bomb damage assessment
Bomb damage assessment
Bomb, or battle damage assessment, often referred to as BDA, is the practice of assessing damage inflicted on a target by an air campaign. It is part of the larger discipline of combat assessment...
as soon as possible, therefore the CO of 542 Squadron was informed of the estimated time of the attacks. One of the squadron's photo-reconnaissance Spitfires
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
, piloted by Flying Officer
Flying Officer
Flying officer is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence...
Frank "Jerry" Fray, took off from RAF Benson
RAF Benson
RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force station near Benson in South Oxfordshire, England. It is home to the Royal Air Force's support helicopters, the Aérospatiale Puma and the EH-101 Merlin, known as the Puma HC.Mk 1 and the Merlin HC.Mk 3 and Mk 3a....
at 07:30 hours and arrived over the Ruhr River immediately after first light. Photos were taken of the breached dams and the huge floods. The pilot later described the experience:
After the raid
Killed in action
Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...
, a casualty rate of almost 40%. Thirteen of those killed were members of the Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
, while two belonged to the Royal Australian Air Force
Royal Australian Air Force
The Royal Australian Air Force is the air force branch of the Australian Defence Force. The RAAF was formed in March 1921. It continues the traditions of the Australian Flying Corps , which was formed on 22 October 1912. The RAAF has taken part in many of the 20th century's major conflicts...
.
Of the survivors, 34 were decorated at Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
on 22 June, with Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. There were five Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
s, 10 Distinguished Flying Crosses
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...
and four bars
Medal bar
A medal bar or medal clasp is a thin metal bar attached to the ribbon of a military decoration, civil decoration, or other medal. It is most commonly used to indicate the campaign or operation the recipient received the award for, and multiple bars on the same medal are used to indicate that the...
, two Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
Conspicuous Gallantry Medal
The Conspicuous Gallantry Medal was, until 1993, a military decoration awarded to personnel of the British Armed Forces and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for conspicuous gallantry in action against the enemy at sea...
s, and eleven Distinguished Flying Medal
Distinguished Flying Medal
The Distinguished Flying Medal was a military decoration awarded to personnel of the Royal Air Force and the other services, and formerly also to personnel of other Commonwealth countries, below commissioned rank, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active...
s and one bar.
Initial German casualty estimates from the floods when the dams broke were about 1,294 killed, which included 749 French, Belgian, Dutch and Ukrainian prisoners of war and labourers.
After a public relations tour of America and time spent working in the Air Ministry in London writing the book which would later be published as Enemy Coast Ahead, Gibson returned to operations and was killed on a Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
operation in 1944.
Following the Dams Raid 617 Squadron was kept together as a specialist unit. The squadron badge was chosen and a motto "Après moi le déluge" (After me the flood). According to Brickhill there was some controversy over the motto, with the original version Après nous le déluge (After us the flood) being rejected by the heralds as having inappropriate provenance (having been coined, reportedly, by Madame de Pompadour
Madame de Pompadour
Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour, also known as Madame de Pompadour was a member of the French court, and was the official chief mistress of Louis XV from 1745 to her death.-Biography:...
), and après moi le déluge having been used by Louis XV in an "irresponsible" context. The motto having been chosen by the King, the latter was finally deemed acceptable.
The squadron went on to drop Wallis' massive Tallboy
Tallboy bomb
The Tallboy or Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000 lb, was an earthquake bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and deployed by the RAF in 1944...
and Grand Slam bomb
Grand Slam bomb
The Grand Slam was a 22,000 lb earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the Second World War.Known officially as the Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb, it was a scaled up version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the original size that the bombs' inventor,...
s, including an attack on the German battleship , using an advanced bomb sight which enabled the bombing of small targets with far greater accuracy than was routinely obtained with conventional bomb aiming techniques. The squadron is still active today.
In 1977, Article 56 of the Protocol I amendment to the Geneva Conventions
Protocol I
Protocol I is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. It reaffirms the international laws of the original Geneva Conventions of 1949, but adds clarifications and new provisions to accommodate developments in modern...
, outlawed attacks on dams "if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population".
The tactical view
The two direct mine hits on the MöhneseeMöhnesee
Möhnesee is a municipality in the district of Soest, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Geography:The Möhnesee municipality is situated around the Möhne Reservoir , approx...
dam resulted in a breach around 250 feet (76 meters) wide and 292 feet (89 meters) deep. The destroyed dam poured around 330 million tons of water (equivalent to a cube 687 meters on each side) into the western Ruhr region. A torrent of water around 32.5 feet (10 meters) high and travelling at around 15 mph (24 km/h) swept through the valleys of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers. A few underground mines were flooded; 11 small factories and 92 houses were destroyed and 114 factories and 971 houses were damaged. The floods washed away about 25 roads, railways and bridges as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 water production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes, this dropped to a quarter of that level after the raid.
The Eder drains towards the east into the Fulda which runs into the Weser to the North Sea. The main purpose of the Edersee is (even today) to act as a reservoir to keep the Weser and the Mittellandkanal shippable during the summer months. The wave from the breach wasn't strong enough to result in considerable damage when it hit Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
(approx. 35 km downstream).
The loss of hydro-electric power for the dams was the greatest impact on the Ruhr armaments production. Two powerplants (producing 5,100 kilowatts) associated with the dam were destroyed and seven others were damaged. The end result was a loss of electrical power in the factories and many households in the region for two weeks.
In terms of deaths: according to the latest sources, at least 1,650 people were killed: around 70 in the Eder Valley, and at least 1,579 bodies were found along the Möhne
Möhne
The Möhne is a small-size river in western Germany , right tributary of the Ruhr. The Möhne passes the towns of Brilon, Rüthen, Warstein. There is large articifical lake near the mouth of the river, the Möhne Reservoir, used for hydro power generation and leisure activities....
and Ruhr rivers, with hundreds missing. 1,026 of the bodies found downriver of the Möhne Dam were foreign prisoners of war and forced-labourers in different camps, mainly from the Soviet Union. Worst hit was the city of Neheim (now part of Neheim-Hüsten) at the confluence of the Möhne and Ruhr rivers, where over 800 people perished, among them at least 493 female forced-labourers from the Soviet Union. (Some non-German sources erroneously cite an earlier total of 749 for all foreigners in all camps in the Möhne and Ruhr valleys as the casualty count at a camp just below the Eder Dam.)
After the operation Barnes Wallis wrote, "I feel a blow has been struck at Germany from which she cannot recover for several years." However, on closer inspection, Operation Chastise did not have the military effect that was at the time believed. By 27 June, full water output was restored, thanks to an emergency pumping scheme inaugurated only the previous year, and the electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. The raid proved to be costly in lives (more than half the lives lost belonging to Allied POWs and forced-labourers), but in fact no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output. The value of the bombing can perhaps best be seen as a very real boost to British morale.
In his book Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich
Inside the Third Reich is a memoir written by Albert Speer, the Nazi Minister of Armaments from 1942 to 1945, serving as Hitler's main architect before this period...
, Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
expressed puzzlement at the raids. While he considered the attempt as laudatory: "That night, employing just a few bombers, the British came close to a success which would have been greater than anything they had achieved hitherto with a commitment of thousands of bombers." But, on the other hand, the disruption of temporarily having to shift 7,000 construction workers to the Möhne and Eder repairs was offset by the failure of the Allies to follow up with additional (conventional) raids during the dams' reconstruction, and that represented a major lost opportunity. Ironically Barnes Wallis was also of this view, he revealed his deep frustration that Bomber Command never sent a high level bombing force to hit the Mohne dam whilst repairs were being carried out. He argued that extreme precision would have been unnecessary and that even a few hits by conventional HE bombs would have prevented the rapid repair of the dam which was undertaken by the Germans ("Bomber Command" p262 Max Hastings)
The effect on food production was more significant with many square kilometers of arable land being washed away and effectively unusable until the 1950s. There was also a great loss of farm animals bred for food.
The strategic view
The Dams Raid was, like many British air raidsAirstrike
An air strike is an attack on a specific objective by military aircraft during an offensive mission. Air strikes are commonly delivered from aircraft such as fighters, bombers, ground attack aircraft, attack helicopters, and others...
, undertaken with a view to the need to keep drawing German defensive effort back into Germany and away from actual and potential theatres of ground war, a policy which culminated in the Berlin raids
Battle of Berlin (air)
The Battle of Berlin was a British bombing campaign on Berlin from November 1943 – March 1944. The campaign was not limited solely to Berlin. Other German cities were attacked to prevent concentration of defences in Berlin, and Bomber Command had other responsibilities and operations to conduct...
of the winter of 1943–1944. In May 1943 this meant keeping the Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
and anti-aircraft defence forces' effort away from the Soviet Union; in early 1944, it meant clearing the way for the aerial side of the forthcoming Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
.
The pictures of the broken dams proved to be a propaganda and morale boost to the Allies, especially to the British, still suffering under German bombing.
An associated, but equally major effect was that Barnes Wallis's ideas on earth quake bomb
Earth quake bomb
The earthquake bomb, or seismic bomb, was a concept that was invented by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis early in World War II and subsequently developed and used during the war against strategic targets in Europe.-Development:...
ing, which had been rejected before, now became accepted by 'Bomber' Harris. Prior to this raid, bombing practice had been to 'area bomb'
Area bombardment
In military aviation, area bombardment is aerial bombardment targeted indiscriminately at a large area, such as a city block or an entire city.Area bombing is a form of strategic bombing...
with many light bombs, in the hope that one would hit the target. Work on the earthquake bomb theory resulted in the Tallboy
Tallboy bomb
The Tallboy or Bomb, Medium Capacity, 12,000 lb, was an earthquake bomb developed by the British aeronautical engineer Barnes Wallis and deployed by the RAF in 1944...
and Grand Slam
Grand Slam bomb
The Grand Slam was a 22,000 lb earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against strategic targets during the Second World War.Known officially as the Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb, it was a scaled up version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the original size that the bombs' inventor,...
weapons, which caused unprecedented damage to German infrastructure in the later stages of the war. They rendered the V-2
V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket , technical name Aggregat-4 , was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the Second World War in Germany, specifically targeted at London and later Antwerp. The liquid-propellant rocket was the world's first long-range combat-ballistic missile and first known...
assembly building unusable, buried the V-3
V-3 cannon
The V-3 was a German World War II supergun working on the multi-charge principle whereby secondary propellant charges are fired to add velocity to a projectile....
guns, sank the and destroyed many bridges and other hardened installations. Notable amongst their successes were the U-Boat pens at Brest
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, where they penetrated 20 ft (6.1 m) thick roofs of reinforced concrete, and the Saumur
Saumur
Saumur is a commune in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France.The historic town is located between the Loire and Thouet rivers, and is surrounded by the vineyards of Saumur itself, Chinon, Bourgueil, Coteaux du Layon, etc...
Tunnel.
The diplomatic view
An important reason for planning the raid was to persuade Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
that Britain was capable of being an effective ally. Stalin often called upon the Western Allies to open a second front: the Dambusters raid provided the British with a valuable opportunity to prove that they were harrying the Germans in every way they could while building up forces for an eventual liberation of Western Europe
Operation Overlord
Operation Overlord was the code name for the Battle of Normandy, the operation that launched the invasion of German-occupied western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation commenced on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy landings...
. However, by the time the preparations for the British raid were complete, the USSR had managed to fight back
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Nazi Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad in southwestern Russia. The battle took place between 23 August 1942 and 2 February 1943...
against German forces; the USSR had also found the capacity to begin its counter-offensive
Operation Uranus
Operation Uranus was the codename of the Soviet strategic operation in World War II which led to the encirclement of the German Sixth Army, the Third and Fourth Romanian armies, and portions of the German Fourth Panzer Army. The operation formed part of the ongoing Battle of Stalingrad, and was...
on the Don and Volga
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
. The Dams Raid enabled Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, in negotiations with the leaders of these new allies, to point to new, effective strikes after 1942's "1,000-bomber raids" against cities and shortly before the devastating late-July 1943 bombing of Hamburg. As a result, he was taken more seriously as an ally than might otherwise have been the case. This was most relevant in negotiations with Stalin, but also to a lesser degree in the USA. Although Churchill had the sympathetic ear of Roosevelt, many of the US military staff had until then been less persuaded of the value of British experience and capabilities.
See also
- Attack on the Sui-ho DamAttack on the Sui-ho DamThe attack on the Sui-ho Dam was the collective name for a large series of air attacks by United Nations Command air forces on thirteen hydroelectric generating facilities that took place June 23 and June 24, 1952, during the Korean War...
during the Korean WarKorean WarThe Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union... - Dam failure
- Hydroelectric power station failures
- Operation EisenhammerOperation EisenhammerOperation Eisenhammer was a planned strategic bombing operation against power generators near Moscow and Gorky in the Soviet Union which was planned by Nazi Germany during World War II but eventually abandoned....
, a Nazi plan to wreck critical SovietSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
hydroelectric turbines in World War II
Popular culture
- A 1954 radio dramatisation of Paul BrickhillPaul BrickhillPaul Chester Jerome Brickhill was an Australian writer, whose World War II books were turned into popular movies.-Biography:...
's book The Dam BustersThe Dam Busters (book)The Dam Busters is a 1951 book by Paul Brickhill about Royal Air Force Squadron 617, originally commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson V.C. during World War II...
, produced by Australasian Radio in 26 half-hour episodes, is available for download in zipped MP3 format at Old Time Radio. - A 1955 film, The Dam BustersThe Dam Busters (film)The Dam Busters is a 1955 British Second World War war film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and directed by Michael Anderson. The film recreates the true story of Operation Chastise when in 1943 the RAF's 617 Squadron attacked the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams in Germany with Wallis's...
was made about the raids and was very popular. Its depiction of the raid, along with a similar sequence in the film 633 Squadron633 Squadron633 Squadron is a 1964 British film which depicts the exploits of a fictional Second World War British fighter-bomber squadron. It was based on a novel of the same name by Frederick E. Smith, published in 1956, which itself drew on several real Royal Air Force missions. The film was directed by...
, provided the inspiration for the Death StarDeath StarThe Death Star is a fictional moon-sized space station and superweapon appearing in the Star Wars movies and expanded universe. It is capable of destroying a planet with a single destructive super charged energy beam.-Origin and design:...
trench run in Star WarsStar WarsStar Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
: A New HopeStar Wars Episode IV: A New HopeStar Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film, written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first of six films released in the Star Wars saga: two subsequent films complete the original trilogy, while a prequel trilogy completes the...
. The film is also watched on television by the character Pink in the 1982 film, Pink Floyd The WallPink Floyd The Wall (film)Pink Floyd—The Wall is a 1982 British live-action/animated musical film directed by Alan Parker based on the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The film is highly metaphorical and is rich in symbolic imagery and sound...
. - In 1984, a home computer combat flight simulator The Dam BustersThe Dam Busters (video game)The Dam Busters is a combat flight simulator set in World War II produced by U.S. Gold. The graphics are very simple by today's standards, and shows only four colours . The game was released on several platforms and was one of the earliest flight simulators available on home computers...
was made based on this operation. - A 1989 British commercial for Carling Black Label lagerLagerLager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager...
reused footage from the attack sequence of the 1955 film, with a wily German sentry (played by Jon Glentoran, stage name of the artist Jon Dixon) on top of the dam catching the perfectly spherical bombs in the manner of a football goalkeeper. The pilot of the attacking LancasterAvro LancasterThe Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
then delivers the brand slogan: "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label!" A subsequent Carling commercial also used bouncing bomb imagery, this time to enable a British holidaymaker to beat the Germans to the sun beds. - On 1 September 2006, it was announced that Peter JacksonPeter JacksonSir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy , adapted from the novel by J. R. R...
would produce a remake of the 1955 movie, to be directed by Christian RiversChristian RiversChristian Rivers is a New Zealand visual effects art director and filmmaker. He first met Peter Jackson as a 17 year old, and storyboarded all of Jackson's films since Braindead. He also cameos in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King as a Gondorian soldier. He is set to make his...
with production starting in 2008. - On 16 May 2008, a commemorative event to mark the 65th anniversary was held at Derwent Reservoir, DerbyshireDerwent Reservoir, DerbyshireDerwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north east of Derbyshire, England. It lies approximately from Glossop and from Sheffield. The River Derwent flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir...
, including a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial FlightBattle of Britain Memorial FlightThe Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is a Royal Air Force flight which provides an aerial display group comprising an Avro Lancaster, a Supermarine Spitfire and a Hawker Hurricane...
LancasterAvro LancasterThe Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
, SpitfireSupermarine SpitfireThe Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
and HurricaneHawker HurricaneThe Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd for the Royal Air Force...
. The event was attended by Les MunroLes MunroSquadron Leader John Leslie Munro CNZM, DSO, QSO, DFC, JP is the last surviving pilot of the Dambusters Raid of May 1943....
, the only surviving pilot from the original raid, and Richard ToddRichard ToddRichard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
the actor who played Wing Commander Guy Gibson in the 1955 film. Vic Hallam's Derwent Valley Museum, located on top of the Derwent ReservoirDerwent Reservoir, DerbyshireDerwent Reservoir is the middle of three reservoirs in the Upper Derwent Valley in the north east of Derbyshire, England. It lies approximately from Glossop and from Sheffield. The River Derwent flows first through Howden Reservoir, then Derwent Reservoir and finally through Ladybower Reservoir...
Dam, also tells the tale of Squadron 617 and its training for Operation Chastise. - In 2011, a project was initiated to recreate a Dambusters raid. Buffalo AirwaysBuffalo AirwaysBuffalo Airways is a family-run airline based in Hay River, Northwest Territories, Canada established in 1970 by Joe McBryan, also known as "Buffalo Joe". It operates scheduled passenger, scheduled cargo, charter passenger, charter cargo, firefighting and fuel services...
was involved in the recreation, being selected as the company to fly the mission, with their own plane and pilots. Buffalo would drop a recreation 'Upkeep' bouncing bombBouncing bombA bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner, in order to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined...
from their DC-4. The project was documented in the documentary television show Dambusters Fly Again in Canada, and Dambusters: Building the Bouncing Bomb in the UK. It involved dropping a replica dummy bomb, and blowing up a recreation dam. The filming of the documentary was itself documented as part of the Ice Pilots NWTIce Pilots NWTIce Pilots NWT is a reality television documentary series broadcast on History Television that portrays Buffalo Airways, an airline based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada. Buffalo flies WWII-era propeller planes year-round in the Canadian North. It premiered on November 18, 2009...
reality series, that follows Buffalo Airways, in season 3 episode 2 "Dambusters".
External links
- Official site of the Royal Air Force about Operation Chastise
- Dambusters site with details of Operation Chastise including video footage and more
- Online Dambusters exhibition at the UK National Archives
- The Derwent Dam Museum houses many original and interesting exhibits relating to Operation Chastise
- Secrets of the Dead: Bombing Nazi Dams and their link page
- BBC Online – Myths and Legends – Home of the Dambusters
- 60th Anniversary BBC News.
- "Fly-past marks Dambusters anniversary" (photographs), Daily Telegraph, 16 May 2008.
- Dambuster & Guy Gibson website in Dutch /
- Dam Busters Filmclips
- Gunner Douglas Webb
- German history website about Operation Chastise
- G for George at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra
- History of the air war in the Ederbergland and Waldeck Frankenberg
- Eyebrook municipal website
- Dambusters: A Landmark Oral History by Max Arthur
- German photography archive
- Website about Flt Lt David Maltby and his crew
- Dambusters weblog
- Picture of a 617 Sqn Type 464 (Provisioning) modified Lancaster B.Mk III
- Picture of Gibson (on ladder entering hatch) and his crew immediately prior to taking-off for the dams raid – 'Spam' Spafford is on the right
Lincolnshire°N Germany°W