The Dambusters 70th Anniversary

It is 70 years Today in May 1943 since Operation Chastise... an operation that has become the stuff of legend.

Carried out by 617 Squadron flying the infamous British Lancaster Bomber, which was powered by four Rolls Royce Merlin engines it was the most powerful Allied bomber capable of carrying a 20 ton payload...

617 Squadron was led by Group Captain Leonard Cheshire from 1943 to 1944, He  flew 100 missions and was awarded the Victoria Cross, becoming  the most decorated and one of the youngest commanding officers of Bomber Command.
But of course they were all young...

Operation Chastise;
617 Lancaster Bombers based at RAF Scampton were equipped with a top secret bouncing bomb, invented by Barnes Wallace,

The 133 crewmen of 19 Lancasters were trained flying at night at a height of 100 feet, at 200 mph 7 men per plane, stripped out to be able to carry the famous bouncing bomb...
In the operation they dropped down to the low level of 60 feet to release the bombs- think about that height for a sec...  have you seen the size of a Lancaster?
If you have watched the only surviving plane flying here in the UK and seen the wing span then you know what would happen if the plane banked at that height too much, it would all be over...

That was why it was so dangerous, in training and the operation...

The Squadron flew deep into Germany and dropped the bouncing bombs destroying the Mohne and Edersee Dams, which produced hydro power used for steel making, destroying the dams flooded the heavy industrial  Ruhr Vally and Edar Vally...

There is not an official number of how many German people died in the raids...

The danger of the RAF Operation and bravery and sacrifice of those young Lancaster crews made the success of the mission the stuff of legend, and to date one of the most famous air war missions of all time...

The Aircrews paid a terrible price on the mission... more than a quarter would fall...
19 planes left on what was called a suicide mission by the crews, often under enemy fire they did their misson...
Only 11 planes returned from the operation, 8 aircraft were shot down, 53 aircrew were killed, and 3 were taken prisoner...

Stats from Dambusters Wiki page...

List of aircraft involved

Aircraft call sign	Commander	Target	Attacked target?	Hit target?	Breached target?	Returned?	Notes
First Wave
G George	Gibson	Möhne Dam	Yes	No	N/A	Yes	Raid leader. Mine exploded short of dam. Used aircraft to draw anti-aircraft fire away from other crews.
M Mother	Hopgood		Yes	No	N/A	No	Hit by anti-aircraft fire outbound. Mine bounced over dam. Shot down over the target while attacking.
P Peter (Popsie)	Martin		Yes	No	N/A	Yes	Mine missed the target.
A Apple	Young		Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Mine hit dam and caused small breach. Shot down over the Dutch coast while returning.
J Johnny	Maltby		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Mine hit dam and caused a large breach.
L Leather	Shannon	Eder Dam	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Mine hit target—no effect.
Z Zebra	Maudslay		Yes	No	N/A	No	Mine overshot target and damaged the bomber, which was shot down over Germany while trying to return.
N Nancy (Nan)	Knight		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Mine hit the dam and caused a large breach.
B Baker	Astell	N/A	No	N/A	N/A	No	Crashed after hitting large-scale power lines outbound.
Second Wave
T Tommy	McCarthy	Sorpe Dam	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Mine hit the target – no apparent effects.
E Easy	Barlow	N/A	No	N/A	N/A	No	Crashed after hitting large-scale power lines outbound.
K King	Byers		No	N/A	N/A	No	Shot down over the Dutch coast outbound.
H Harry	Rice		No	N/A	N/A	Yes	Lost the mine after clipping the sea outbound. Returned without attacking a target.
W Willie	Munro		No	N/A	N/A	Yes	Damaged by anti-aircraft fire over the Dutch coast. Returned without attacking a target.
Third Wave
Y York	Anderson	Sorpe Dam	No	N/A	N/A	Yes	Could not find the target due to mist. Landed at Scampton with an armed mine.
F Freddy	Brown	Sorpe Dam	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Mine hit the target – no apparent effects.
O Orange	Townsend	Ennepe or Bever Dam	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Mine hit the target – no apparent effect.
S Sugar	Burpee	N/A	No	N/A	N/A	No	Shot down over the Netherlands outbound.
C Charlie	Ottley		No	N/A	N/A	No	Shot down over Germany outbound.

The Operation made the famous Movie THE DAM BUSTERS in 1954...

So many innocent people were killed on both sides...but this was war time...

Here is a brilliant 1 hour documentary on youtube on the film and of the real mission...
Martin Shaw of 1980`s TV `The Professionals` looks into the real Dambusters Raid... it features the only surviving airman, bomb aimer Jonny Johnstone...

At only 24 years old Wing Commander Guy Gibson was responsible for this mission...
He was awarded the Victorian Cross for flying in again on the bomb run 3 times to draw enemy fire as the following planes flew in...it is discussed in the documentary...

Those young brave  men who flew in 617 will always be remembered...