ISBM978-1-909128-21-7 £7.99

DAMBUSTERS

THEMOST

DARINGRAID

INTHE

RAF’SHISTORY

CLIVEROW

LEY

IN TRIBUTE TO THE MEN ANDMACHINES OF 617 SQUADRON...70 YEARS ON.

BY CLIVE ROWLEY

THE MOST DARING RAID INTHE RAF’S HISTORY

DAMBUSTERS

DAMBUSTERS 3

This is the BBC Home Service. Here isthe news for today, May 17… the AirMinistry has just issued the followingcommunique. In the early hours of this

morning, a force of Lancasters of Bomber Command,led by Wing Commander G P Gibson DSO DFC,attacked with mines the dams of the Möhne andSorpe reservoirs. These control two-thirds of thewater storage capacity of the Ruhr Basin.Reconnaissance later established that the MöhneDam had been breached over a length of 100 yards,and that the power station below had been sweptaway by the resulting floods. The Eder Dam, whichcontrols the headwaters of the Weser and Fuldavalleys, and operates several power stations, was alsoattacked and reported as breached. Photographsshow the river below the dam in full flood. Theattacks were pressed home at extremelylow level with great determination andcoolness in the face of fierce resistance.Eight of the Lancasters are missing.

Science Museum /Science & Society Picture Library

4 DAMBUSTERS

006 WelcomeBy the author – SquadronLeader Clive Rowley

008 Outbound –Artwork byAdam Tooby

010 The ‘Dams Raid’ –Operation Chastise

024 Möhne breached –Artwork byAdam Tooby

026 Dams Raid –Photographicreconnaissance

059 The Aircrew –The real men behind theraid... seven of the many

074 Medals –Awarded to theDams Raid aircrew

076 Dambuster Gunner –The gunner’s tale...Fred ‘Doc’ Sutherland

084 Dambuster formation‘Then and now’ – Tornadoand Lancaster side-by-side

086 Beyond the Dams –617 Squadron during therest of the war

029 The Results –Disaster for Germany...or British failure?

034 Barnes Wallis –The engineer, scientistand inventor

039 The Weapon –Upkeep... the‘bouncing bomb’

043 The Aircraft –Lancaster Type 464(Provisioning)

049 The Leader –Guy Gibson ‘Aman born forwar... but born to fall in war’

The sun is still setting as three 617 Squadron Lancasters coast outfrom England heading for enemy territory on May 16, 1943, forOperation Chastise – the Dams Raid. (© Gary Eason / Flight Artworks)

092 LancasterB1 DV385 Thumper Mk.IIIof 617 Squadron

102 The other 617 VCsThe bravery of Bill Reidand Leonard Cheshire

110 Our artist tells history –Creating the exclusivecover for this magazine

114 Last one home –Artwork byAdam Tooby

116 In the footsteps ofthe DambustersThe bases now

DAMBUSTERS 5

122 The Dam Busters filmTransferring a legendto the silver screen

127 Lancaster overthe DerwentCommemoration flight

DAMBUSTERSSpecial thanks to the following for their help

and generosity in providing material orimages for this publication:

RAF Battle of Britain Memorial FlightJohn Bell OBE DFC

Tim CallawaySarah James –

RAF Scampton Heritage CentreLen Krenzler

The Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage CentreYvonne Masters

Mark PostlethwaiteStuart Reid

Jim ShortlandFred SutherlandRobert TaylorPhil Tetlow

Editor:Clive Rowley MBE RAF (Retd)

Design:Sarah Scrimshaw,Charlotte Turnbull

Reprographics:Jonathan Schofield

Picture research/admin:Sarah Wilkinson

Group production editor:Tim Hartley

Production manager:Craig Lamb

Publisher:Dan Savage

Commercial director:Nigel Hole

Managing director:Brian Hill

Published by:Mortons Media Group Ltd, Media Centre,

Morton Way, Horncastle,Lincolnshire LN9 6JRTel: 01507 529529

All material copyright Mortons MediaLimited, 2013.

All rights reserved.

Printed by:William Gibbons and Sons,

Wolverhampton

ISBN 978-1-909128-21-7Front coverartwork by PhilTetlow (see page110 for full story)

6 DAMBUSTERS

As the author of this special,commemorative publication, Ifeel that I should start bydeclaring my credentialswhich, on the face of it, have

little do with being an expert on theDambusters or the Avro Lancaster bomber.You see I am – or at least I was – a fighterpilot; I served for 36 years in that capacitywith the Royal Air Force.

A background as a fighter pilot does not,though, rule out an interest in RAF BomberCommand’s campaign during the SecondWorld War. Indeed the precedent is set asthe first author to write of the exploits of 617Squadron, Paul Brickhill, was himself an ex-fighter pilot who flew Spitfires andHurricanes during the war. His bestsellingbook – The Dam Busters – was firstpublished in 1951.

I am proud to say that I, also, have flownmany hours on Spitfires and Hurricaneswith the RAF Battle of Britain MemorialFlight (RAF BBMF), finishing my full-timecareer as the officer commanding the RAFBBMF. As such, I was the temporarycustodian of one of the finest collections of

DAMBUSTERS

Welcomefrom Squadron Leader Clive RowleyMBE RAF (Retd)

with sheer courage and appeared fearless,instilling confidence in those around themand particularly in the other members oftheir crew. Amazingly to us today, they didnot think that what they were doing wasanything particularly special. They were justdoing the job they were given to do inwartime, to the best of their abilities... andthey paid a heavy price.

I first read Paul Brickhill’s book TheDam Busters when I was a boy and in manyways the story of the Dams Raid is like aBoy’s Own story: Barnes Wallis and hismadcap bouncing bomb, designed to beskipped to a target thus far consideredinvincible, by hand-picked airmen formedinto a special squadron, who were, in somecases, little older than schoolboys.

In fact though, this single raid had animpact totally out of proportion to the smallnumber of aircraft involved. It embodied thesynergy of science and technology, weaponsdevelopment and production, missionplanning and practice, and the unflinchingcourage of the aircrews in the execution of ahighly dangerous feat of arms.Furthermore, it established a legend thatstill resonates today. The Dams Raid and theBattle of Britain are the RAF’s most famouswartime exploits as far as most people areconcerned. The story of the Dams Raid is atruly incredible one; a fabulous tale ofingenuity, daring and raw courage.

Seventy years on from OperationChastise, as it was officially named, theDams Raid still commands widespreadattention. Crowds flock to commemorativeevents; documentaries continue to be madeabout it, and the 1955 box office-hit film TheDam Busters, starring Richard Todd as GuyGibson and Michael Redgrave as BarnesWallis, appears frequently on the television,deservedly so as it is a marvellous film. Formost people in the 21st century, theirunderstanding of what happened during thenight of May 16/17, 1943, and of the lengthylead-up to the operation, is heavilyinfluenced by that film. Inevitably, as is theway with movies, accuracy is not the primeconcern of the film; it is more aboutentertainment than education, and in 105minutes much detail has to be left out andsome facts are blurred or changed byartistic licence.

When I was asked if I would like to writethis publication on the Dambusters andgiven a free rein over the content, it didn’ttake me long to decide that it wassomething I should do. It seems entirely

airworthy Second World War aircraftanywhere, including one of only twoairworthy Lancasters in the world. On manyoccasions, some of them quite important, Ihave flown alongside the BBMF’s mightyLancaster in a Spitfire or a Hurricane,marvelled at the aura of the big bomber inthe air – strangely shaped yet purposefuland somehow rather beautiful – and I havewondered what it was like for the men thatflew them in far more dangerouscircumstances. It has been my greatprivilege to meet many of those who didjust that.

I share with every fighter pilot I haveever met, including those who fought in theSecond World War, a deep respect for themen of Bomber Command and what theyendured and achieved. Fighter pilots needto be brave, determined and aggressive, butthe courage required by those who flew theheavy bombers during the war, is of adifferent order. They needed a steady, calm,unblinking, understated kind of courage andtenacity, sustained over long periods andnight after night. Many were fearful menand rightly so, but they overcame their fear

appropriate to me that in the year of the70th anniversary of the Dams Raid, weshould commemorate again the men of617 Squadron and the engineering brillianceof Barnes Wallis and his colleagues atVickers and Avro.

This is a fresh look at an old story with thebenefit of some modern research to aid theprocess. The Dams Raid is an amazing storyand one I thought I knew. It is a story ofquality against quantity, demonstrating thatexceptional ingenuity and skills can give asmall force the effectiveness of one muchlarger. In researching and writing thispublication I have realised that theachievement is even more extraordinary,even more daring and full of breathtakingcourage than I had fully appreciated. I hopethat I may have conveyed some of that. Allmilitary actions are made up of mistakes,myths and a few miracles – the Dams Raidcontains them all – and I hope that I may havedispelled a few of those myths in these pages.

The Dams Raid would not have beenpossible without the men who made ithappen. They were real people with humantraits, personalities and flaws – morecomplex and more contradictory than hassometimes been portrayed. This is also astory of inspired leadership underconditions of almost unbelievable strain. Ihave attempted to give the reader someinsight into what these men were really like.The dedication, fortitude, daring, skill,bravery and what today we callprofessionalism of the 19 seven-man crewsthat set out on this incredible feat of arms,42% of whom did not return, makes for astory which should be retold for all time, sothat they are not forgotten.

For decades the results and effects of theDams Raid have been downplayed or evencondemned by a series of commentators,journalists and academics. In my opinion,and those of recent researchers, these viewsdenigrate the sacrifice of those involvedquite wrongly, especially those 53 whowillingly gave their lives in the belief thatthey were making a difference. I hope thatin this respect I have gone some way tosetting the record straight.

I should point out that throughout thispublication, for ease and for consistency, Ihave referred to the Upkeep bouncingbomb as a bomb, although it equally wellfits the definition of a ‘mine’ or ‘depthcharge’ and could be referred to as such. Ishould also mention, as it seems to be acontroversial and emotive subject to some,that I have deliberately not used the nameof Guy Gibson’s famous dog, a ploy that willbe obvious to those who hold strong viewson this subject. While the name of the dogheld no connotations, racist or otherwise,back in the 1940s, nor even when the DamBusters film was released in 1955, today it is

DAMBUSTERS 7

a word which can cause great offence. Somebelieve that not using the dog’s name ispolitical correctness gone mad, others areequally vociferous in recognising theoffence it may cause in today’s world. I amnot in the business of changing history andwould not dream of changing the name; Ihave simply opted not to use it in order notto cause offence.

For many the story of 617 Squadronstarts and ends with the Dams Raid. Thiscould not be further from the truth.Although 617 was originally formed to carryout one specific operation with a specialweapon specifically designed for thatpurpose, it subsequently evolved into aspecialist, precision bombing unit, able totarget and to destroy specific militarytargets with pinpoint accuracy. Thetechniques developed by the squadronpointed the way towards the low-collateral-damage, precision bombing that is todayexpected by politicians and society at large.I have attempted to cover some of thebrilliant post Dams Raid work done by thesquadron in this publication.

By the end of the war 617 Squadron had,to quote Paul Brickhill: “Built up a record ofindividual and collective courage and skillwhich is unique. The story... cannot butmake its readers feel humble in the face ofsuch devotion, such self-sacrifice, and suchcourage.” I cannot put it better and hopethat readers will feel the same when theyhave read these pages.

A BBMF flypast over Buckingham Palaceto commemorate the 60th anniversary ofthe end of the Second World War. (AuthorClive Rowley was flying the Spitfire on theLancaster’s left wing.) (Crown Copyright)

I have realised theachievement is evenmore extraordinary,even more daring andfull of breathtakingcourage than I hadfully appreciated.

Outbound(Artwork: Adam Tooby www.finesthourart.com)

The second ‘three-ship’ formation of specially-modified Lancasters of the ‘First Wave’ flying low over the North Sea en route to their targets.These aircraft, and the men flying them,were to play vital roles in the night’s events.The lead aircraft, ED887 coded AJ-A, is flown by

Squadron Leader ‘Dinghy’Young DFC and Bar who later dropped the third and penultimate Upkeep against the Möhne dam,almostbreaching it. He and his crew were all killed on the way home when they were shot down by German flak as they coasted out from Holland.The nearest aircraft is ED906 AJ-J flown by Flight Lieutenant Dave Maltby DFC; this was the aircraft and crew that subsequently breached the

Möhne dam and one of the 11 that returned safely to base.The far aircraft is ED929 AJ-L, flown by Flight Lieutenant Dave Shannon DFC RAAF.This aircraft and crew dropped a successful Upkeep

against the Eder,weakening it such that the next and final Upkeep breached the dam.They also made it home safely.

10 DAMBUSTERS

At 9.28pm local time, two minutesbefore sunset, on Sunday, May16, 1943, a green Aldis lampflashed from the runway controlcaravan on the airfield at RAF

Scampton, situated just three miles north ofLincoln with its famous and ancientcathedral. The roar from the four Rolls-RoyceMerlin engines of the Avro Lancasterbomber, which was lined up alongside, facingdown the grass runway, rose to a crescendo.Then Lancaster ED927, coded AJ-E for‘Easy’, thundered across the airfield, usingmost of the available length to haul itself intothe sky with its heavy and peculiar load.

The undercarriage retracted and, as itdisappeared at low level from the sight ofonlookers, the flaps were raised and theengine note changed slightly as the propellerrpm was reduced. Royal Australian Air Force(RAAF) Flight Lieutenant ‘Norm’ Barlow

DFC, aged 32, had the honour of flying thefirst aircraft of 617 Squadron to set off on thespecial operation for which the unit had beenformed – code-named Operation Chastise –which unknown to the men taking part at thetime was to become legendary.

Barlow was one of those experiencedpilots specially recruited by 617 Squadron forthis mission and he had already completed atour of 30 operations with 61 Squadron. Now,after six weeks of intensive training in lowflying, he and his crew of six other airmenwere glad to be getting on with it. Theanxiety, stress, fear even, which naggedduring the waiting stage was now replacedby a fatalistic attitude of ‘what will be, will be’.They could concentrate and focus on the jobin hand and even enjoy the thrill of action.They were not to know, but would not besurprised to have learned, that they would bedead before midnight.

Three more Lancasters followed Barlow’sAJ-E at one minute intervals. AJ-W was flownby Flight Lieutenant Les Munro of the RoyalNew Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), AJ-K hadthe inexperienced 23-year-old RoyalCanadian Air Force (RCAF) Pilot OfficerVernon Byers at the controls (he had onlyflown five previous operations), and AJ-Hwas flown by Pilot Officer Geoffrey Rice,another inexperienced operational pilot(these latter two pilots belie the widely heldbelief that all the pilots and crews whoparticipated in the Dams Raid wereexperienced bomber ‘aces’). Somewhatperversely, these first four Lancasters to takeoff were part of the designated ‘secondwave’, which it was planned would follow alonger, more northerly, outbound routebefore attacking the Sorpe dam. The ‘secondwave’ was actually intended to consist of fiveaircraft, but at this moment, Flight

The Dams RaidO P E R A T I O N C H A S T I S E

DAMBUSTERS 11

Lieutenant Joe McCarthy – a giant blondpilot from the USA, brought up in New Yorkbut serving with the RCAF, was franticallytrying to get going in the mission’s spareaircraft after his own, AJ-Q, ‘Queenie’, haddeveloped an engine problem on start up.Far from considering this as a good excuseto stay behind as some might have done, JoeMcCarthy had told his crew: “For Christ’ssake, get into that spare aircraft before someother bugger gets there and we don’t get togo.” They were going to be late off.

It was still light as this initial wave ofLancasters took off and it would have beenobvious to any observers on the ground, atthe airfield or in the local area, that theseaircraft looked different from standard‘Lancs’. These had a large chunk missingfrom their underbellies where the bombbays had been cut away and they were eachcarrying a very large cylindrical-shaped

object which protruded below the aircraft.To reduce weight they also had their mid-upper/dorsal gun turrets removed.

At the airfield many of the ‘expert’onlookers, who were used to ‘normal’ main-force bomber ‘ops’, may well have wonderedwhat was going on, for they had been keptcompletely in the dark by the secrecysurrounding this operation and its purpose.Even the 617 Squadron crews themselveshad not been told the targets – the dams –until earlier that day.

At 9.39pm three more of the specially-modified Lancasters took off together information; as the grass airfield allowed themto do when a narrower concrete runwaywould not. Leading this trio, in LancasterED932 coded AJ-G (which happened to behis father’s initials), was the charismatic24-year-old commanding officer of 617Squadron, Wing Commander Guy Gibson

DSO and Bar, DFC and Bar. One of the mostexperienced pilots in Bomber Command,with 73 bomber ‘ops’ and 99 Beaufighternight-fighter sorties (with four night kills) tohis credit, he was a man to lead from thefront. Although his was the squadron’s fifthaircraft to take off, he would be the first toenter Germany and the first to attack one ofthe dams with the operationally untestedweapon they were carrying – the BarnesWallis designed Upkeep ‘bouncing bomb’.When he took-off, Gibson had already beenawake and fully occupied with preparationsfor the night’s operation for over 16 hours.

In formation with him as they thunderedinto the darkening sky was Lancaster ED909AJ-P in the expert hands of the extrovert andcharismatic 23-year-old Flight LieutenantHarold ‘Mick’ Martin, an Australian with afull tour of 30 ‘ops’ behind him and a DFCribbon on his chest. On the other side of the

‘Dambusters – The Opening Shots’(Gibson drops the first Upkeep at the Möhne)..

(© Mark Postlethwaite www.posart.com)

Aldis lamps that enabled the crew to fly accurately at60ft by descending until the two spots of lightconverged into a figure eight.

About an hour and a half after their take-off, thefirst four aircraft of the second wave, bound for theSorpe, were approaching the Dutch coast near theisland of Vlieland which, according to the intelligencebriefing, was supposed to be free of flakemplacements. Unfortunately this was not the caseand as Les Munro crossed the coast in AJ-W at 60-70fta line of tracer came up at them from the island andthe aircraft was hit by a single, lucky 20mm anti-aircraft round. The intercom immediately went deadas the aircraft continued over the Zuider Zee and thencircled while the crew assessed the damage.Fortunately there were no casualties aboard, but themaster compass was demolished and the damage tothe intercom was impossible to fix. Without the abilityto communicate readily within the crew it was clearthat the mission was impossible. Reluctantly and withsome disappointment, Les decided that they had nochoice but to abort their mission and return to basewith their Upkeep bomb still aboard. They eventuallylanded safely back at Scampton, with the dubioushonour of being the first aircraft back, at 36 minutespast midnight.

Others of the second wave fared even less well.Almost simultaneously with Munro’s aircraft beingengaged over Vlieland, Vernon Byers and his crew inAJ-K were crossing the coast over the heavilydefended island of Texel having been blown south oftheir planned track by a stronger than forecastnortherly wind over the North Sea. They wereengaged by the anti-aircraft guns situated on theisland. The aircraft was hit and set on fire; it crashedinto the water near the Waddenzee, with the deaths ofall seven on board – the first, but sadly by no meansthe last, fatalities of the operation.

Three minutes later as Geoff Rice approached theDutch coast in AJ-H at extremely low altitude,knowing that this was essential for survival, hemisjudged his height and hit the sea. The Upkeepbomb was ripped from the underside of the aircraft,the aircraft’s tail wheel was rammed up into the rearfuselage, the hydraulic system was damaged and therear gunner was drenched. Rice instinctively pulledthe aircraft up and it staggered away from the water.

12 DAMBUSTERS

formation was AJ-M flown by one of Gibson’s closestand most trusted friends, 22-year-old FlightLieutenant John ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood DFC and Bar. Asthey settled down into their three-ship loose ‘vic’formation at very low level, heading south-east, thetwilight was fading, presaging a clear, full moonlitnight to come. After weeks of intensive training,practising flying the massive, 102ft wingspan bombersvery low, first in daylight, then in simulated nightconditions and finally at night and in formation, theywere comfortable flying at heights of 60-100ft,sometimes even lower, in the dark and in formation.

As an ex-RAF ‘modern’ fighter pilot myself, I havemany years of experience at low flying, mostly in fastjets, mostly at 250ft although sometimes lower, andgenerally considerably faster than the cruising speedof the Lancaster. With that experience I cancategorically state that the grit, determination,courage and sheer skill to fly at the heights theseLancaster pilots did, in the dark, even in brightmoonlight, simply cannot be overstated. That they

attempted it at all, that theypressed on despite thedangers and difficulties andeven enjoyed the thrill of it, isnothing short of amazing.

Two more ‘vics’ of threeLancasters took off fromScampton over the next 20minutes until all nine aircraftof the ‘first wave’ wereairborne and headingtowards enemy territory at

ultra-low level. The last of the nine to lift off wasED912 AJ-N flown by 22-year-old Australian PilotOfficer Les Knight. He and his crew were to have amajor part to play later in the night and the story oftheir war, from the perspective of their front gunner,Sergeant Fred Sutherland, is told in detail elsewherein this publication (see page 76).

It was almost dark as Joe McCarthy and his crewfinally took off some 30 minutes behind schedule inthe spare aircraft, ED825 AJ-T. This aircraft had beenflown up to Scampton only that afternoon fromBoscombe Down, where it had been used for weightand fuel tests; it was not in the best shape and it wasnot fitted with the special calibrated and converging

Above: The Upkeep fromBarlow’s AJ-E capturedintact by the Germans.(Crown copyright)

Above right: SergeantJack Liddell – reargunner in Barlow’s AJ-E– aged 18 he was theyoungest airman on theDams Raid.(Author’s Collection)

The aircraft crashed intothe Waddenzee, with thedeaths of all seven on

board – the first fatalitiesof the operation.

DAMBUSTERS 13

The crew had been the fortunate recipients of amiraculous escape from death, but they too had nochoice but to abort the operation and return to base,eventually landing safely at 47 minutes after midnight.

Only ‘Norm’ Barlow and his crew in AJ-E for ‘Easy’remained from the first four ‘Second Wave’ aircraft,but then at 11.50pm, shortly after crossing intoGermany, AJ-E flew into high-voltage electricitycables. The Lancaster was engulfed in flames andcrashed three miles east of Rees near Haldern withthe loss of all seven men on board. Incredibly theUpkeep bomb on the aircraft rolled free withoutexploding in the crash and so the Germans weresubsequently able to recover one of these new andhighly-secret weapons intact for analysis. The reargunner in Barlow’s crew was Sergeant Jack Liddellwho, at 18 years old, was the youngest airman to takepart in the raid. He died before his adult life hadproperly begun. The wireless operator was 33-year-oldFlying Officer Charles Williams DFC (RAAF), one ofthe older – although not the oldest – of those whoflew on the raid. He had completed 30 ‘ops’ with 61Squadron before volunteering to join ‘Norm’ Barlow’screw on 617 Squadron. Only four hours before,Charlie had been writing a letter to his fiancée GwenParfitt, known as ‘Bobby’, a secretary in Nottingham,with whom he was deeply in love. He was lookingforward to the leave he would get after the operationand the moment when they would be married laterthat week. ‘Bobby’ received Charlie’s final letter onTuesday, May 18, but as she was not his official nextof kin, she received no telegram notification of hisdeath. It would be some days before she found outthat her fiancé was dead and their planned weddingand life together was not going to happen.

Now only Joe McCarthy’s aircraft was left from theplanned second wave; he and his crew had been lateoff but were gamely making up time and pressing onto their target – the Sorpe.

The nine aircraft of the first wave were faringbetter and they all coasted in without loss and pressedon through Holland and into Germany at very lowlevel. They encountered some searchlights and flak,and ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood’s aircraft AJ-M was hit whenthey were about 20 minutes away from the Möhne.The front gunner, Pilot Officer George GregoryDFM, was seriously injured or possibly killed, the

rear gunner, Pilot Officer Tony Burcher DFM, wasslightly wounded by shell splinters in the stomachand lower leg, and Hopgood was hit in the face. Theaircraft was also hit in the port wing, but despite thedamage and injuries to his crew and himself,Hopgood decided to press on to the target.

As the first trio led by Gibson reached the Möhne,the last formation of the firstwave, which was some 20minutes behind, lost one oftheir aircraft when FlightLieutenant Bill Astell DFC hitelectricity cables, perhapswhile trying to avoid anti-aircraft fire or as a result ofbeing hit. His aircraft AJ-Bwas engulfed in flames, andexploded as it hit the groundnear Marbeck, Germany,again with the loss of all seven crew members.

At almost exactly the same time Joe McCarthy inAJ-T reached the Sorpe after having had a littledifficulty finding it due to mist forming in the valleys.He and his crew had done very well to make up losttime after their delayed take off. AJ-T had alsoencountered some flak from an armoured train ontheir way and, as they were to discover on landinglater that night, shrapnel had burst their starboardtyre; otherwise they were in good shape.

Meanwhile, the five aircraft of the ‘third (mobilereserve) wave’ had begun taking off from Scamptonat nine minutes past midnight. Six minutes later, allfive were airborne. The last aircraft to take off of thetotal of 19 involved in the raid was ED924 AJ-Y flownby Flight Sergeant Cyril Anderson with his all-NCOcrew. The aircraft headed south-east towardsGermany, following the same route as the first wave,the roar of their Merlins gradually dying away untilScampton was shrouded in an eerie calm.

At the Möhne, Gibson circled the target and thenmade a dummy run over the dam to test the defencesand “to look the place over”. He and his crew wererather taken aback at the ferocity of the flak. Therewas a mixture of colours – different tracer fordifferent types of shells – and because they werereflected on the calm water of the lake it gave theimpression that there was twice as much as there

The aircraft was also hitin the port wing, butdespite the damage andinjuries, Hopgooddecided to press on.

Above: This 1954 photoshows three of the Lancsfrom the Dam Bustersfilm.The image is herebecause they are flyingat the crucial 60ft.(Jan Kmiecik)

actually was. They thought that there were 12 gunsfiring at them from the towers of the dam and itssurrounds; in fact there were six, but a single well-aimed or lucky 20mm shell from any of them wouldbe enough to bring an aircraft down. The dam

seemed huge andimpregnable – it was, afterall, 2550ft (777m) long, 121ft(37m) high and 26ft (8m)wide at the top; 102ft (31m)thick at the base – theirLancaster seemed tinyin comparison.

As the remainder of thefirst wave arrived and heldoff, awaiting their turn, theyeach orbited anticlockwise

low over the hills some distance from the dam andaway from the action.

At 12.28am Gibson made his attack run against theMöhne, coming in low over the surrounding hills anddiving down towards the calm, black water of the lake.The twin spotlights, pointing out of the bottom of the

aircraft, were turned on and the navigator, PilotOfficer Torger Harlo ‘Terry’ Taerum (a Canadian ofNorwegian extraction), started to control the height:“Down – down – down,” talking the pilot down to 60ftabove the water. Meanwhile the flight engineer,Sergeant John Pulford, was controlling the speedagainst the red mark on the air speed indicator at232mph, using a small amount of flap to slow theaircraft and then increasing the power to hold itsteady. When the Lancaster’s spotlights came on itgave the German defenders on the towers of the dama clear target to aim at and furious gunfire and tracershurtled towards AJ-G, some bouncing off the water. Inthe front turret, the Canadian front gunner, FlightSergeant George Deering, sprayed the dam’sdefences with 100% tracer rounds from his twin .303Browning machine guns. Around 475 yards from thedam Pilot Officer Fred Spafford, the bomb aimer,released the Upkeep, which the wireless operator,Flight Lieutenant Bob Hutchison (RAAF), hadensured was spinning backwards at 500rpm. In therear turret Flight Lieutenant Trevor Roper saw thebomb skip three times on the water as the Lancaster

14 DAMBUSTERS

When the Lancaster’sspotlights came on itgave the German

defenders on the towersa clear target to aim at.

DAMBUSTERS 15

Above: WingCommander GuyGibson leads the firstthree aircraft of the ‘FirstWave’ low over Holland.(Picture © Gary Eason /Flight Artworks)

hurtled over the dam and through the latticework ofanti-aircraft gunfire. They had probably been helpedby the element of surprise, as the German gunnershad not expected an attack like this, and AJ-G escapedunscathed. Moments later a huge explosion sent amassive column of water some 1000ft into the sky, butwhen it settled the dam was still intact.

Next to attack, five minutes later when thedisturbed water had settled down, was ‘Hoppy’Hopgood in AJ-M. This time the German gunners onthe dam knew what to expect – the element ofsurprise had gone – and they were ready. As AJ-M ranin towards the dam at 60ft it was hammered bygunfire. The aircraft was hit in both wings and in thenose and cockpit area, both port engines were hit, theinner port engine had to be feathered, the flightengineer was injured in the face, the wirelessoperator’s right leg was shot away, the front gunnerwas probably killed and the navigator was possiblywounded or killed as well. One of the wing fuel tanksmust have been hit because it ignited and flames leaptout, quickly engulfing most of the wing. In theconfusion the Upkeep was released late and as the

burning Lancaster hurtled over the dam, trailing fireand smoke, the bomb skipped once and then bouncedright over the wall, plummeting onto the powerstation below the dam. It exploded 90 seconds laterwith a vivid flash – the self-destruct fuse doing its job– sending a sheet of angry flame and debris into theair and destroying the power station. ‘Hoppy’Hopgood struggled desperately to control his burningand crippled aircraft, trying to gain some height andto turn right to clear the ridge ahead to give his crewa chance of baling out, as he now ordered them to do.

When it had reached about 500ft there was a vividflash, one wing fell off and the aircraft plunged intothe ground three miles north-west of the dam.Miraculously, three of the crew had managed to getout; Flight Sergeant John Fraser DFM (RCAF), thebomb aimer, landed by parachute, unhurt; he wascaptured 10 days later having walked some 200 milestowards Holland and he spent the rest of the war as aPOW. Pilot Officer Tony Burcher DFM (RAAF) alsosurvived to become a POW, albeit with a badly injuredback caused by striking the tail plane as he escapedfrom the disintegrating aircraft. Sadly, the seriously

injured wireless operator, Sergeant John Minchin, didnot survive the descent. Five of the crew of sevenwere killed. Before climbing into their aircraft atScampton for the raid, ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood had confidedin Dave Shannon that he did not think he would becoming back; his sense of foreboding, almost apremonition, had been proved correct, although hehad not hesitated to do his duty.

Almost all the crews of the first wave saw AJ-Mmeet its fiery end and there was a long silence on theVHF radio – when before the airwaves had been full ofchatter – as the crews absorbed the loss of theircolleagues and the now all-too-obvious risks to theirown survival. Two Upkeeps had been dropped withoutsuccess, Hopgood’s aircraft was burning fiercely in thedistance and the enemy defences were fully alert. TheGerman gunners had used each pause betweenattacks to replace overheated barrels, to rearm andprepare for the next attack, but now three of the sixflak guns were out of action. The attackers did notknow it, but their task had just become a little easier.

Gibson now ordered Mick Martin to attack andAJ-P for ‘Popsie’ began its run-in at 12.38am. This

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time Gibson decided, with great courage, to flyalongside, slightly ahead, higher and to the right ofMartin’s aircraft, to distract the flak gunners, givethem two targets to aim at to divide their fire and alsoallow his front gunner to engage the flakemplacements. This did not prevent Martin’s planefrom being hit but not seriously, and the bomb aimer,Flight Lieutenant Bob Hay DFC (RAAF) (theSquadron Bombing Leader), released the Upkeep, hethought, “dead on”. However, the bomb sheered tothe left, perhaps the aircraft had a small amount ofbank on at release, but whatever the reason it hit thedam wall left of centre. As Martin pulled away, theUpkeep exploded sending another huge plume ofwater high into the air, but the dam remained intact.

Gibson now called up Squadron Leader Melvin‘Dinghy’ Young DFC and Bar – the senior of his twoFlight Commanders – in AJ-A for ‘Apple’ and told himto commence his attack. Gibson again flew to his righton the attack run, adding to the confusion by flashinghis aircraft’s lights on and off, and this time Martinflew to the left, giving the German gunners threetargets and tripling the attackers’ firepower against

the flak positions. When the Upkeep fell from Young’sAJ-A it bounced three times, hit the wall and sank; itseemed the perfect strike, no deviation, dead centreand right up to the wall. A few moments later thebomb exploded in contact with the wall producingthe, now familiar, great column of water. There was noimmediate, apparent effect, to the disappointment ofthe crew and of those listening and waiting back inNo. 5 Group HQ Ops Bunker at Grantham... but infact the Möhne dam was beginning to crumble.

Meanwhile, 10 miles to the south-west at the SorpeDam, Joe McCarthy and his crew had been makingdummy run after dummy run in their attempts torelease their Upkeep on the correct parameters,against this entirely different target. The Möhne andEder dams were arch gravity dams with thick bowedconcrete and masonry walls designed to keep thewater back by their weight, aided by their bowedshape. The Sorpe dam, on the other hand, was anentirely different structure consisting of a slopingearthwork embankment on both sides with a relativelythin concrete wall at its core. Barnes Wallis’s Upkeepbomb was not really the right weapon to attack this

Above:‘First Strike’ byIvan Berryman.WingCommander GuyGibson in ‘G-George’crosses the Möhneafter dropping hisUpkeep under a hailof anti-aircraft fire.(Reproduced bycourtesy of CranstonFine Arts)

Far left: A ‘modern’photograph of theSorpe dam from theattack direction,showing the differentconstruction, the villageof Langscheid bottomright and the woodedhills beyond the dam.(Author’s Collection)

type of structure and it could not be used in the sameway as at the Möhne and Eder. Wallis hoped that itmight be possible to breach the Sorpe, but alsoexpected that it would take at least five Upkeeps to doso. If all five aircraft of the second wave could droptheir bombs in a concentrated spot against thisundefended target, perhaps backed up by aircraft ofthe third wave, there was a chance of success. If theycould blast the top off the dam, the water might do therest. The crews were briefed to attack the Sorpe byflying along the length of the dam itself with thereservoir on their starboard side and with their portouter engine over the crest, dropping the Upkeepwithout it spinning or bouncing. The idea was that thebomb would roll down the water side of the dambefore exploding underwater with the ‘hydraulic’effect of the water to aid its destructive power.

At least the Sorpe was undefended, but JoeMcCarthy and his crew had found it very difficult,nigh on impossible, to get down low enough and toachieve acceptable, let alone ideal, drop parametersdue to obstacles and the terrain. At the western end ofthe dam was a tall church steeple in the village of

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water spout, some of which actually hit the rearturret. For a moment he thought he was going to getdrowned and exclaimed: “God almighty!” Orbiting thedam, the crew saw that there was some crumbling tothe top but that was all.

Back at the Möhne, Flight Lieutenant Dave MaltbyDFC in AJ-J for ‘Johnnie’ had been ordered to attack.

On the dam itself the German flak guns were nowall out of action, although the Lancaster crews did notknow this. The German soldiers had only rifles to fireat the attackers and the dam was almost defenceless.This time Gibson and Martin circled close to the damto draw and suppress the remaining ground firerather than flying alongside AJ-J as it ran in. At 45minutes past midnight, a fifth Upkeep was releasedagainst the Möhne dam at exactly the correct height,speed and range, but even as the bomb fell away, thecrew of AJ-J saw that the dam was crumbling. TheUpkeep bounced four times, hit the dam wall, sankand when it exploded it sent up not only a column ofwater but also mud, stone and debris, rising high,silhouetted spectacularly against the moon. Thenthere was an excited yell on the R/T: “It’s gone! It’s

Above:‘CourageBeyond Fear’ by LenKrenzler.Flight Lieutenant ‘Hoppy’Hopgood’s LancasterED925 AJ-M hurtles overthe Möhne Dam on fire,its Upkeep bombbouncing over the damwall beneath it.(www.actionart.ca)

Far left: The Möhne Dambreached (Germanphoto taken themorning after the raid).(Author’s Collection)

Langscheid, on a hill. They had to run in over thesteeple, almost lifting a wing over it, to dive down tothe dam and then, on the other side, there were steepwooded slopes which rose several hundred feet andwhich necessitated a steep climb away. They werehindered by not having the spotlights fitted to thisspare aircraft, to allow them to judge their heightmore accurately over the dam. Joe McCarthy and hisbomb aimer, Sergeant George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, weredetermined to get it right and on their first nineattempts one or the other of them was not satisfiedand either McCarthy had pulled away or Johnson hadcalled: “Dummy run”. By 12.46am, the rest of thecrew of ‘T-Tommy’ was beginning to lose patiencewith their skipper and bomb aimer as they flew roundand round over enemy territory. Now, three minutesafter ‘Dinghy’ Young had dropped the fourth Upkeepagainst the Möhne, they at last managed a good runand their Upkeep was released over the dam fromonly 30ft. When the bomb exploded, AJ-T was in aclimbing turn to port to clear the wooded ridge aheadand the rear gunner, Flying Officer Dave Rodgers(RCAF), got a grandstand view of the tremendous

DAMBUSTERS 21

gone!” Gibson went in for a closer look and sawclearly the water pouring out through the vast breachin the centre of the dam. Millions of cubic metres ofwater were now gushing down the valley like atsunami; the spray creating a fog that shrouded thedeluge. On the VHF radio there were all sorts ofexcited shouting and chatter, over-excited deliriumfrom normally calm professionals, until Gibson toldthem to be quiet. The night’s work was only half done,they had yet to tackle the Eder, but their first andprimary objective had most emphatically beenachieved. The remains of ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood’s aircraftstill burned a few miles away, a dull red glow on theground. ‘Hoppy’ had been avenged.

Gibson ordered Maltby and Martin to set off homeand then led the remaining three aircraft of the firstwave that still had bombs on board, and ‘Dinghy’Young who was now the deputy leader, to the Edersome 25 miles away to the south-east. Due to themisty conditions they had some trouble finding theEder among the hilly terrain. Gibson located it firstand fired a red Very flare over the dam to give theothers the position. The Eder was undefended, notleast because the Germans considered that theterrain surrounding it made it impossible to attackfrom the air. It certainly posed the greatest challengeand risk from a flying point of view. The only feasibleattack direction required a dive from 1000ft down avalley to the lake leaving the prominent WaldeckCastle on its knoll to port, levelling off over the waterpointing towards a spot on the spit ahead of the dam,then banking hard to turn sharp left, rolling out andlevelling off with only some seven seconds left before

crossing the dam. This was difficult enough in anycircumstances, but in a heavy Lancaster made evenless manoeuvrable by the weight of the Upkeepbomb, which weighed over 9000lb, and thegyroscopic effects of the bomb spinning underneathwhich resisted changes of direction, and in the dark,it was almost asking the impossible. Beyond the damwere further hazards with a ridge of hills ahead, onlyone third of a mile further on, the tops of which weresome 500ft above the dam.

At 1.30pm 20-year-old Flight Lieutenant DaveShannon DFC (RAAF) in AJ-L for ‘Leather’, had thefirst of three failed attempts to get it right. Gibsonthen gave him a rest and sent in Squadron LeaderHenry Maudslay DFC inAJ-Z for ‘Zebra’. He too couldnot achieve the releaseparameters for an Upkeepdrop with two dummy runs.Shannon was called in againand on their sixth attemptthe crew of ‘L-Leather’released their bomb; itbounced twice, hit the damand exploded, but as thewater settled, the wall was still intact. Now Maudslaytried again and at 1.45am the crew of AJ-Z releasedtheir Upkeep. A moment after ‘Z-Zebra’ hurtled overthe dam wall with full emergency power set on allfour engines to climb over the high ground aheadthere was a blinding flash as the Upkeep, havingbounced only once, hit the parapet and explodedalmost underneath the aircraft. Gibson quickly called

Above: Joe McCarthy’screw, from left: SergeantG Johnson, Pilot OfficerD A MacLean, SergeantR Batson,Flight LieutenantJ C McCarthy, SergeantW G Ratcliffe, SergeantL Eaton. Flying OfficerD Rodger not in thepicture.(© IWM TR1128)

Opposite page:TheEder Dam breached(photo taken themorning after the raid).(Author’s Collection)

The Eder wasundefended... the

Germans considered theterrain made it

impossible to attack.

22 DAMBUSTERS

on the radio asking ‘Z-Zebra’ if they were okay. Therewas a faint reply: “I think so – stand by”, and that wasall, as AJ-Z limped away towards home. When thesmoke from the explosion cleared from the valley thedam was still standing solid.

That left only 22-year-old Pilot Officer Les Knightand his crew in AJ-N – the last aircraft, the last bomb,the last chance. Les Knight and his crew also neededa dummy run against this most difficult target. Allsorts of advice was being proffered over the R/T bythe other aircraft, so much so, in fact, that it was adistraction and Les ordered that the VHF radio beturned off in their aircraft. On their second run theygot it exactly right, perfectly lined up, at the rightspeed and at 60ft, they released the Upkeep 450 yardsfrom the dam at 1.52am. The bomb bounced threetimes, hit the wall and sank. As AJ-N was screamingto clear the hills beyond, the Upkeep exploded, ahuge column of water rose into the sky and the dambegan to collapse. Just like the Möhne, the water wasspewing out through the breach, rushing down thevalley and flooding everything in its path. As thecrews watched the breach was getting larger as thewater washed the sides away. It was an extraordinaryscene and a truly awesome sight.

Just as the crews at the Eder were enjoying theirsuccess, the third wave aircraft were over Holland stillmaking their way eastwards towards the targets. Oneminute after the Eder was breached, 25-year-old PilotOfficer Lewis Burpee DFM (RCAF) and his crew inAJ-S strayed too close to the German night fighterairfield at Gilze-Rijen at ultra-low level. The anti-

aircraft guns did not havetime to react but asearchlight on a towerbetween the command postand a hangar swung intoaction and illuminated theLancaster, which was flyingso low the searchlight beamwas almost horizontal. Thispresumably blinded the pilot,as the aircraft tore throughsome trees and then crashed

into the ground and caught fire in the motor transportyard on the edge of the airfield. Seconds later itsbomb exploded, creating a huge shockwave andkilling all seven on board. Lewis Burpee’s Englishwife was expecting their first child. The explosiondestroyed the HQ of NJG/2, the German night fighterunit, which was based at Gilze-Rijen. The Germansearchlight crew claimed a rare searchlight ‘kill’.

Around 30 minutes later, AJ-C, another aircraft ofthe third wave, was continuing eastwards overGermany when it was coned by searchlights and then

shot down by flak north-east of Hamm at 2.35am. PilotOfficer Warner ‘Bill’ Ottley DFC (RCAF) and fiveothers of his crew were killed. Miraculously, the reargunner, Sergeant Fred Tees, who had swapped placeswith the front gunner at the last minute, was thrownclear in the crash and survived, although severelyburned and with shell splinters in his back, to spendthe rest of the war as a POW.

Meanwhile Henry Maudslay and his crew in AJ-Zhad almost reached the Dutch border on their wayhome. Perhaps the aircraft was damaged or some ofthe crew were wounded, because the aircraft hadstrayed south of the planned return route and it flewdirectly over the heavily defended oil storagefacilities at Emmerich am Rhein. One minute afterOttley and AJ-C were sent crashing in flames, ‘Z-Zebra’ was engaged by the flak guns defendingEmmerich and shot down in flames to crash in a fieldto the north of the town at 2.36am. Another sevenmen of the squadron died here.

Some 20 minutes later at 2.58am, ‘Dinghy’ Youngand his crew in AJ-A were approaching the sandybeaches near Castricum aan Zee within spittingdistance of the open sea on their way home. He wasprobably flying extremely low, but even so ‘A-Apple’was hit by flak as they coasted out; it plunged into thesea and onto a sand bar just off the coast with the

Right: Guy Gibson.(© IWM CH 11047)

Below:The sad remainsof ‘Dinghy’Young’sLancaster.(Author’s Collection)

Seconds later its bombexploded, killing allseven on board. LewisBurpee’s wife was

expecting their first child.

DAMBUSTERS 23

loss of all seven on board. This was to be the lastaircraft lost that fateful night, eight of the 19 aircraftsent out on the raid did not return and 53 of theSquadron’s aircrew had been killed.

Three of the five aircraft of the third wave werestill trying to make it to their targets, but at 10minutes past three in the morning Flight SergeantCyril Anderson and his crew in AJ-Y aborted themission and turned for home. They had becomehopelessly lost after veering well off track as aresult of taking various evasive actions to avoid flakand searchlights. The GEE radio navigation signalswere being jammed effectively by the Germans, mistwas shrouding landmarks, the rear turret wasplaying up and dawn was beckoning. They eventuallylanded back at Scampton at 5.30am with theUpkeep still on board.

There were now only two aircraft of the five fromthe third wave still active: AJ-F and AJ-O.

In ‘F-Freddie’ Flight Sergeant Ken Brown (RCAF)and his all NCO crew had been directed to the Sorpe.Despite the mist, they found the Sorpe without toomuch difficulty, but then experienced the same sortof problems as Joe McCarthy and his crew in tryingto get down onto the dam for a successful bombdrop. At least they had the spotlights to help themassess their height and they also hit on the idea ofdropping flares to illuminate the dam andsurrounding area and to help them to keep theirbearings as they repositioned between dummy runs.After nine dummy runs they released their Upkeepaccurately on the 10th run over the dam. The samemassive explosion and plume of water that othercrews had experienced ensued, but although they

thought they might have done some damage to thecrest of the dam it remained intact. They had donewhat they had been asked to do and set off home,eventually landing safely at 5.33am.

For some reason the final crew, that of FlightSergeant Bill Townsend in AJ-O, had been directed tothe Ennepe Dam rather than the Sorpe. They had aharrowing flight to the target avoiding flak, butthought that they had found the Ennepe despite themist and, after two dummy runs, they dropped thelast Upkeep of the night, which unfortunatelybounced twice and then sank short of the dam,exploding without any effect upon it (modernresearch suggests that Townsend may have attackedthe Bever dam seven miles south of the Ennepe, notthat it really matters). The return journey for BillTownsend was an epic piece of low flying as dawnbroke behind them, making them a very visibletarget to the German flak gunners. They came underparticularly heavy fire, like many others had done, asthey coasted out between the Dutch islands of Texeland Vlieland flying extremely low. The aircraft washit, but not fatally, and thanks to Bill Townsend’ssuperb low flying they escaped and were astonishedto see the Germans actually skipping shells off thesea towards them as they raced for safety. Over theNorth Sea one of the engines developed an oilpressure problem and had to be shut down, so theyreturned on three engines at a slower speed. Landingback at Scampton at 6.15am, the battered Lancasterwas the last one down out of the 11 that returned,almost all damaged to varying degrees.

Operation Chastise was over. Its like would neverbe seen again.

Above: Pilot OfficerBurpee’s crew on 106Sqn. From left:WarrantOfficer Joe Brady (reargunner), Sgt Bill Long(front gunner), Sgt GuyPegler (flight engineer),Pilot Officer LewisBurpee (pilot).The twoon the right, Flt SgtEddie Leavsley and SgtGeorge Gooding,didnot join 617 Sqn withthe rest of the crew.(www.ww2images.com)

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Reserve aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant JosephCharles McCarthy DVC.

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