The Dambusters

The No. 617 Squadron was the most famous squadron in the Royal Air Force in the Second World War, and not without reason. Under the command of ace fighter pilot, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, they were involved in one of the most interesting assaults in aircraft history. This was a special, highly secret mission codenamed Operation Chastise, meant to breach three of the most important German dams that held back more than 300 million tons of water vital for Germany’s industries. These dams were the Möhne, the Eder and the Sorpe, and they had heavy anti-aircraft defenses in place. To make a successful assault, the RAF bombers would have to avoid the anti-aircraft fire at all costs. The approach that was planned was ingenious and the amount of brain storming that went into was phenomenal.

The bombers would be heading for the dams, while keeping very, very low, almost skimming over the water surface. This would ensure that all anti-aircraft fire would go over them leaving them unharmed. The bomb that was to be utilized was a special spinning bomb which would bounce over the water surface much like stone-skipping. Before releasing the bomb it would be spun up to speeds of 500 rpm in the bomb bay, so that when it hit the water it would skip across the surface rather than sink. The crew had to release the bomb while flying exactly at 345 km/h, exactly 18.3 meters (that’s 60 feet ) above the water surface. Moreover, the bomb had to touch the water surface at precisely 388 meters from the dam wall with no more than 6% deviation.

The aircraft that was chosen was none other than the legendary Lancaster, one of the prized bombers in the RAF inventory. Nineteen of them took off with 133 crew members on board, and successfully breached the Möhne, and the Eder. However the attack on the Sorpe and the Schwelme dams failed owing to technical difficulties. It wasn’t that the Lancasters suffered no damage. One of the Lancasters even hit the sea, owing to it flying too low. Out of the 19 Lancasters that went on the mission, eight of them and 56 crew members failed to return. Five of those eight were shot down en route, or crashed, two were destroyed during the assault, one was shot down on the way back and two more were so badly damaged that they had to abandon the mission. However, most of what the intent was, had been achieved. Severe flooding occurred where the Möhne Dam was breached and electricity and railways were disrupted. Similar flooding and power disruption happened where the Eder broke as well. The Germans however were surprisingly quick with the repair works and 20000 men who were working on the Atlantic Wall were moved to repair the breached dams.

The No. 617 Squadron thus went into the history books as the legendary Dambusters. Gibson was given the Victoria Cross for his brilliant leadership and became a National hero. Unfortunately, he did not survive the war, and was killed in a De Havilland Mosquito on another bombing raid.