Dambusters in the news.
65th Anniversary of raid
BBC WWII Dambusters raid revisited
Members of the 617 squadron were honoured after the raid
Posted on 05/16/2008 8:06:25 PM PDT by Flavius
The last surviving veterans of the Second World War Dambusters raid will meet for what is expected to be the last time on Saturday night to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the mission.
Engineers, ground staff and the last surviving pilot to fly one of the 19 modified Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron will be amongst those at the gathering.
The veterans are now all in their late 80s and many have said they plan to make these anniversary celebrations their last.
Their mission, on May 16, 1943, to destroy German dams with Barnes Wallis’s bouncing bombs, has become part of the UK’s military heritage.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
A truly remarkable unit.
Are these the guys that skipped the bombs across the water?
There's a life lesson there.
God bless the men that fly and fight.
/johnny
Was at the Oktoberfest in Munich back in the eighties once, and a Brit friend of mine asked the Oom-Pah band to play the Dambusters Theme from the movie. They did!
^
Ping!
Wow...
The last surviving Dam Buster pilot is a Kiwi, and I don’t think that has made the news DownUnder yet (I will need to check).
The Lancaster Bomber is an amazing contraption: there’s one in Auckland’s Museum of Transportation and Technology, and it is MASSIVE.
You can actually get right up close to it and have a look and, like me, you will probably be amazed how low-tech and primitive it is: almost like a prehistoric flying reptile. Held together by rivets. How it got off the ground in the first place would seem a mystery. And how you could persuade seven brave men to climb in, load the plane with hi-explosives and fly 60 feet over a Dam under heavy gunfire???
Mind-boggling. It is not for nothing that they are called The Greatest Generation. I am really going to miss these Lads when the last one is finally gone.
Dambusters in the news.
65th Anniversary of raid
BBC WWII Dambusters raid revisited
Members of the 617 squadron were honoured after the raid
PING!
A Lancaster bomber flies over Derwent dam in England's Peak District, to mark the 65th anniversary of the WWII Dambusters' raid, Friday May 16, 2008. Specially developed 'bouncing bombs' were used in Operation Chastise, an attack on German dams on May 17, 1943. The attack was carried out by Britain's Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, who subsequently became known as the Dambusters. (AP Photo/David Jones, PA)
“engineers and mechanics outlasted pilots-—”
probably becuase the enlisted men were younger than most officers-—great majority of officers I served under were at least a couple years older as they were college boys or older to get even a ‘90 day wonder’ commission
‘Bless ‘em all, Bless ‘em all, the long and short and the tall’
A Lancaster bomber flies over Derwent dam in England's Peak District, to mark the 65th anniversary of the WWII Dambusters' raid, Friday May 16, 2008. Specially developed 'bouncing bombs' were used in Operation Chastise, an attack on German dams on May 17, 1943. The attack was carried out by Britain's Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, who subsequently became known as the Dambusters. (AP Photo/David Jones, PA)
Yikes! I hope those planes were well past the dam before the bombs hit it. They would’ve had to drop the bomb way before the dam so the water would slow it way down...I would think. But then if they dropped the bomb early, why couldn’t the pilot pull up and veer to the side to avoid the impact area?
They usually had the time to clear the blast but still had fire coming at them in and out of the run, not every target was necessarily the same approach-wise or run-wise.
I think the bombs were supposed to skip up to the side of the dam, and then sink a bit before exploding.. use the pressure of the water to amplify the explosives.
YES!...I saw a special on this...these guys had HUGE brass balls...
So many men of this age...so few remembered by the they saved from the Nazi scurge...
I fear we will never replay the debt they are owed...
Short clip from the 1954 film “The Dam Busters”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uW4Q3PddP4
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