80 år siden Dambusters Raid - Imperial War Museum Duxford

 

Denne berømte filmen om 617 Squadron vises i morgen på Dux

Check tour of the Lanc here: https://tinyurl.com/ejpveryx

This May, IWM is marking 80 years since the legendary 'Dambusters Raid'. On the evening of 16 May 1943, 133 aircrew in 19 Lancasters took off in three waves from RAF Scampton. Their mission was to destroy three huge hydroelectric dams in the Ruhr Valley. The Möhne, the Edersee and the Sorpe dams held back millions of gallons of water. Germany used hydroelectricity to power its steel mills and produce materials for the war effort. Barnes Wallis, assistant chief designer at Vickers, designed the bomb to take on the job. Codenamed Upkeep, it would become known as ‘the bouncing bomb’. A four and a half ton back spinning mine filled with Torpex explosive, the bomb would need to be thrown low and fast at the target. Wallis developed the idea by experimenting with bouncing marbles across a water tub in his back garden. He thought the new weapon could be used to attack moored battleships, but research soon focused on using it against the dams that were vital to German industry.

A hand-picked secret squadron of aircrew from Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the USA was tasked with carrying out the raid. In late March, they convened at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire. Initially codenamed Squadron X, 617 Squadron was led by 24-year old Wing Commander Guy Gibson.  With one month to go before the raid, they began intensive training in low-level night flying and navigation. Only Gibson knew the full details of the operation, codenamed Operation 'Chastise'.  Intelligence reports had suggested that the Möhne dam was only lightly defended. This turned out to be incorrect. Gibson was first to attack. Dropped from just 60 feet, his bomb skipped over the water exactly as intended but fell just short of its target. Five bombs were dropped before the dam was breached.

At 1:52am, the Eder Dam was also breached. Aircraft from the second and third waves attacked the Sorpe, but it remained intact. Of the 133 aircrew that took part in the raid, 53 were killed and three became prisoners of war. On the ground, 1,300 people were killed in the resulting flooding. Although the impact on industrial production was limited, the raid gave a significant morale boost to the people of Britain. On their return, the surviving aircrew of 617 Squadron were lauded as heroes. Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. The raid also established 617 Squadron as a specialist precision bombing unit, experimenting with new bomb sights, target marking techniques and colossal new 'earthquake' bombs developed by Barnes Wallis.  In May 2023, IWM is marking 80 years since the Dambusters raid with a series of special events at IWM Duxford. Find out more.