Aviation Art…

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Mist and fog swirled eerily over the Eder Lake on the night of 16/17 May 1943 as four specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron, under the leadership of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, circled overhead. Their target, the mighty Eder Dam, was barely visible in the valley below. Immediately following the successful breach of the Mohne Dam, Gibson had led his remaining aircraft 50 miles to the south-east to hit their second target, the Eder Dam. Surrounded by high ground with thousand feet ridges, the Eder was altogether a more testing target. The Lancaster pilots would need to dive steeply into the gorge that formed the Eder lake before undertaking a steep turn towards the Dam itself. As if this were not demanding enough in the darkness of night, they then had to fly towards the target at precisely 60ft above the lake at the exact speed of 230mph, before releasing their Barnes Wallis designed hydrostatic bouncing bombs. Pilots Shannon and Maudsley tried time and again to position their laden bombers correctly before managing to release their weapons – but the dam still held. Now success depended solely on Knight carrying the last bomb! With time and fuel now a concern, Knights first effort to position, like Shannon and Maudsley before him, failed, but his second run favoured the brave. Knight released his bomb with absolute precision, striking the wall at precisely the crucial point. With a tremendous explosion the Eder Dam collapsed before their eyes. Robert Taylor’s sensational new painting vividly shows the dramatic moment of impact. In the cockpit Knight and flight engineer Ray Grayston fight the controls to clear the dam, combining their physical strength to haul the lumbering Lancaster up and over the dam and to clear the high ground that lies ahead. Below and behind them, the second of Germany’s mighty western dams lies finally breached.

Interestingly, Taylor also got the position lights correct, they pointed straight down and were used to determine exactly 60 feet off the water.

Comments

Aviation Art… — 14 Comments

  1. The Lancaster turned out to be a remarkably good bomber. The British cast about here and there until they landed on a winner. However I’d still have preferred to ride in a B-17 or B-24 if I was in a heavy bomber in that Theater at that time.

  2. The Lancaster was a truly amazing aircraft. Not as much known on the west side of the pond, but easily the equal of the US heavies — in my humble opinion, anyway!

  3. I read the book “Dam Busters” many many years ago. A good read it was. I seem to recall that the Germans were shooting at the Lancasters during the bomb runs too.

  4. LL- Agreed! I have had the opportunity to climb in one, it was ‘tight’!!!

    John- Exactly! He was a bombing genius, and never gave up on developing a better way…

    Ian- Good point!

    Roger- I read it too, and yes the Germans DID shoot down quite a few of the bombers.

    CP- Yep, the collateral damage was horrific, but it did take out factories and power generation, at least for a while. I can’t find the quote, but Hitler apparently pushed the small factories out into the ‘countryside’ to prevent the Allies from getting them.

    Ed- It was!

  5. I was going to link to the Dambuster’s March but I found this 70th Anniversary commemoration of the event.
    The sound of all those Merlin engines sound far better than a march.

  6. I have a copy of Barnes Wallis’ Bombs by Stephen Flower. If you luck into a copy, grab it.

    It took teamwork on the bomb run. Since the pilot could not see the position lights on the water the navigator had to stand in the cockpit, watch the lights and give the pilot altitude adjustments, while the flight engineer adjusted the throttles to control the speed and the bomb aimer had his triangular ranging sight in one hand and the ‘drop’ button in the other.

  7. Recently read that the “collateral damage” included about 1,700 American POWs. Any confirmation?

    • Olde- There were appx 1700 casualties, many of them were Russian POWs and Jewish forced labor. That I’ve read/heard/researched, no Americans were lost. Not saying there weren’t some, just I have no knowledge of any.