79th Anniversary of the Dambusters Raid

Article taken from: ✈️ Destination Airfix 

Chris Staerck (editor), Allied Photo Reconnaissance of World War II (1998)

This coming weekend marks 79 years since the famed Dambusters raid, during which Guy Gibson led 617 squadron in their valiant attack on the Ruhr valley dams. The Dambusters, or ‘Operation Chastise’ as officially known, was a daring bombing raid devised to inflict maximum damage to the industrial area surrounding the dams.

Plans to destroy the dams had been considered many years earlier but conventional weapons would not work, a unique solution was required. Barnes Wallace had been experimenting with a spherical bomb that could skip across water to avoid torpedo nets, sinking next to and hopefully destroying the target. Various versions of this bomb were trialed but ultimately a final design was reached called ‘Upkeep’ or quite simply, the bouncing bomb. After initial trials with the Vickers Wellington, the Avro Lancaster was selected as the delivery vehicle for this new weapon, these would have to be specially modified to accommodate the bomb and equipment required to generate the spin that would allow the bomb to ‘skip’.

Squadron X, later called 617, was formed on the 21^{st of} March 1943 under great secrecy with the sole purpose of training and conducting the raid on the dams. Their CO, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, was an experienced aviator and leader despite his relative youth that had been specifically selected for this task. Preparations were hurried and intense with only a short time between squadron formation and the raid. The crews would have deployed their weapon with pinpoint accuracy to ensure it would reach the target all whilst at 60ft above the water, something Lancaster’s were not usually tasked with!

The raid was partially successful, breaching the Mohne and Eder dam but the Sorpe remained intact although damaged. It did however provide a massive boost to morale back home, the men of 617 gained celebrity status overnight and Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions. 133 aircrew left RAF Scampton for the attack on the dams, 53 were killed and 3 became prisoners of war. Out of the 19 aircraft used on the raid, 11 returned.

617 Squadron now operate the F-35B Lightning II and were the first to do so, their squadron motto reading ‘Après moi le déluge’ translates to ‘After me, the flood’.