NationMaster - Encyclopedia: The Dambusters

Operation Chastise was the official name for the attacks on German dam , Swedish and German , over which or through which it is intended that water will flow. Types of dams A rockfill dam Dams may be classified according to structure, intended purpose or height. Based on structure and material used dams are timber dams, embankment dams or masonry dams (arch or... dams on May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). There are 228 days remaining. Events 1521 - execution of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, for treason 1590 - Anne of Denmark is crowned Queen of Scotland. 1642 - Paul Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve (1612... May 17, 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. Events January January 4 - End of term for Culbert Olson, 29th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Earl Warren. January 11 - The United States and United Kingdom give up territorial rights in China. January 11 - General Juanto dies in Argentina - Ramon... 1943 in Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (60,000 ft) into the air. August 9, 1945 World War II was a global conflict that started in 7 July 1937 in Asia and 1 September 1939 in Europe and lasted until 1945, involving the majority of the... World War II using a specially developed " The bouncing bomb was a kind of bomb designed by Barnes Wallis of Vickers-Armstrong at Brooklands, Surrey. It was used in the famous Dambusters raid to attack major dams in Germanys industrial Ruhr Valley during World War II. Barnes Wallis first began to think of producing a bouncing... bouncing bomb". The attack was carried out by The Royal Air Force (often abbreviated to RAF) is the air force of the United Kingdom. According to the Ministry of Defence [1], the purpose of the Armed Forces, including the RAF is to: defend the United Kingdom, and Overseas Territories, our people and interests act as a force for... Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force is better known as the Dambusters squadron. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 from RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland. History The squadron was formed at RAF Scampton during World War II on the March 15, 1943 with the purpose of attacking three major dams... No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the Dam Busters.

A view of the eder dam, Germany. Image taken by user Iediteverything. File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. Click on date to download the file or see the image uploaded on that date. (del) (cur) 14...

The Eder dam, one of the targets of Operation Chastise. Note the missing porthole on the left, which was not replaced after the attacks.

Development of the plan

The mission developed out of a bomb designed by Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, FRS, commonly known as Barnes Wallis, (September 26, 1887 – October 30, British scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise (the Dambusters Raid) to attack the Möhne and Eder dams in the... Barnes Wallis and developed into a working device by a team at The Vickers corporation, founded as the Vickers company in 1828, was a British manufacturer, primarily of military equipment. Land armaments Vickers produced the Vickers machine gun, well remembered by thousands of British machine gunners. The company was also known for its tank designs, starting with the widely used Vickers 6... Vickers. Wallis was an aircraft designer and had the successful The Vickers Wellesley was a 1930s light bomber built by Vickers for the Royal Air Force. While it was obsolete by the start of World War II, and unsuited to the European air war, the Wellesley prospered in the desert theatres of East Africa, Egypt and the Middle East from... Wellesley and The Vickers Wellington was a twin-engine, medium bomber designed in the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey, by Vickers-Armstrongs Chief Designer, R.K. Pierson. It was widely used in the first two years of World War II, before being replaced as a bomber by much larger four... Wellington to his credit. While working on the The Vickers Warwick was a transport, anti-submarine patrol and air-sea rescue aircraft of the RAF during World War II. Vickers Warwick The Warwick was designed in response to Air Ministry specification B.1/35 for a two-engined heavy (by the standards of the day) bomber to replace... Warwick, he also began work on bomb design with dams specifically in mind.

His initial idea was for a 10-ton bomb to be dropped from 40,000 feet (12,200 m). However, research showed that a bomb sufficient to breach dam without a direct hit would be too heavy for any available bomber to carry. A much smaller charge would suffice if it could be exploded directly against the dam wall below the surface of the water. The major German dams were protected by heavy torpedo netting to prevent such an attack, and Wallis's breakthrough was to overcome this. A drum-shaped bomb, spinning rapidly backwards and dropped from a sufficiently low altitude at the right speed, would skip for the required distance over the surface of the water in a series of bounces before reaching the dam wall and using its residual spin to run down the wet side to the dam's base. An accurate drop could bypass the dam protection and let the bomb be detonated against the dam with a hydrostatic fuse. After testing, and many meetings, the idea was adopted on February 26, 1943. The bomb was codenamed 'Upkeep'. The dams were to be bombed in May of that year, when water levels would be highest.

The operation was given to 5 Group which formed a new squadron to undertake the mission. Initially called Squadron 'X', it was led by Wing Commander (rank) is a rank in the Royal Air Force, equivalent to a Lieutenant Colonel in most Armies, the Royal Marines and the United States Marine Corps. Wing Commander (computer game) is a popular video game from the early to mid 1990s, the most recent being Wing Commander: Secret... Wing Commander Photo from 617 Squadron The dambusters Photo submitted by Roger Shenton - (taken by John Kramer) Photo of the Dambusters Memorial at Woodhall Spa. Photo submitted by Roger Shenton) Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC DFC with bar DSO with bar (12 August 1918 - 19 September 1944), was the first CO... Guy Gibson, a veteran of over 170 missions. A further 21 crews were chosen from 5 Group to join the new squadron based at RAF Scampton is a Royal Air Force station situated north of Lincoln in England. Scampton is best known as the home of 617 Squadron during World War 2, the Dambusters, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Gibson won the Victoria Cross for the famous bouncing bomb raids on the Mohne... RAF Scampton.

The targets were the three key dams in the Geography Map of the Ruhr Area The Ruhr Area (German troops, forming the Ruhr Pocket. During the Cold War, it was anticipated that a Red Army thrust into Western Europe would begin in the Fulda Gap, and would have the Ruhr Area as a primary target. Language The local dialect... Ruhr area, the Moehne and the Sorpe on the Categories: Germany geography stubs | German rivers ... Ruhr River and the The Eder barrier, which creates the Edersee. The Edersee is a large reservoir created by the construction in 1914 of a dam across the Eder river, near the small town of Waldeck in northern Hesse, Germany, to generate hydropower and regulate water levels for shipping on the Weser river. The... Eder Dam on the The Eder is a river in Germany (ca. 180 km long). It rises in the mountains of western North Rhine-Westphalia near the Lahn and Sieg rivers, but flows east and north and into the Fulda river which at its confluence with the Werra river in Hannoversch Münden creates... Eder River. The loss of hydroelectric power was important but the loss of water to industry, cities and canals would have greater effect.

The aircraft were adapted The Avro Lancaster was a four-engined World War II bomber aircraft made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force. First used in 1942, together with the Handley-Page Halifax it was the main heavy bomber of both the RAF and the RCAF, and the most heavily used. The... Avro Lancaster Mk IIIs, dubbed Special Bs. To reduce weight, much of the armour was removed, as was the mid-upper turret. The substantial bomb and its unusual shape meant that the bomb doors were removed and the bomb itself hung, in part, below the body of the aircraft. It was mounted in two crutches and before dropping, it was spun up to speed by an auxiliary motor.

Bombing from 60 feet (18 m) at 240 mph (390 km/h), at a very precise distance from the target, required expert crews, intensive night and low-altitude flying training, and the solutions to two technical problems. The first was to know when the airplane was the correct distance from the target. The two key dams at Moehne and Eder had a tower at each end. A special aiming device (a triangle Several equivalence relations in mathematics are called similarity. For similarity between people, see similarity (psychology). Geometry Two geometrical objects are called similar if both have the same shape. One can be obtained from the other by uniformly stretching, i.e. one is congruent to an enlargement of the other, or... similar to that created by the two towers and an airplane at the correct distance from the dam) showed when to release the bomb. The second problem was to measure the airplane's altitude (the usual barometric altimeters were insufficiently accurate). Two spotlights were mounted under the nose and under the In an aircraft, the fuselage is the main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, athough in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage. The fuselage also serves to position... fuselage such that their beams would intersect 60 feet (18 m) from the underside of the plane. At the correct height, the two spots of light would merge into one on the surface of the water.

The bombs were delivered to the squadron on May 13, after the final tests on April 29. With promising weather reports the pilots, navigators and bomb aimers were informed of the targets on May 15, the rest of the crews on the following day.

The attacks

The Lancasters were organised into three groups. Formation 1 was to attack the Moehne and after that, aircraft still with bombs would attack the Eder. Formation 2 was to attack the Sorpe. The third group was a mobile reserve, it would take off two hours later and bomb as directed, either attacking the main dams or bombing smaller dams at Schwelm, Ennepe and Diemel.

The operations room for the mission was at 5 Group headquarters in Grantham is a small market town in Lincolnshire, England with about 40,000 inhabitants. Situated on the River Witham, it has the main east coast railway line and the A1 main road from London to Edinburgh running through it. The main local landmark is the impressive parish church of St... Grantham. The codes, transmitted in Morse code is a system of representing letters, numbers and punctuation marks by means of a code signal sent intermittently. It was developed by Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail in 1835. Morse code is an early form of digital communication; however, unlike modern binary digital codes that use just two... morse, for the mission were agreed on as Goner for bomb dropped, Nigger for the Moehne breached, Dinghy for the Eder breached and ?? for the Sorpe breached. The Nigger code was after Gibson's black dog that had been run-over and killed on the morning of the 17th.

The aircraft flew two routes, carefully skirting known flak hot spots, and no more than 75 feet (25 m) off the ground. Formation 1 entered continental Europe between Satellite image of the Scheldt estuary Walcheren is a former island in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary. It lies between the Oosterschelde in the north and the Westerschelde in the south and is roughly the shape of a (cards) diamond. The... Walcheren and Schouwen, crossed Holland is the name of a region in the central-western part of the Netherlands. Holland is a former county of the Holy Roman Empire and later the leading member of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands (1581–1795). The area is today divided between... Holland, skirting the airbases at Eindhoven is a municipality and a city located in the province of Noord-Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender brooks. The Gender has been diverted, but the Dommel still runs through it. Neighbouring cities and towns include Son en Breugel... Eindhoven and Gilze en Rijen is a municipality in the southern Netherlands. Population centres Gilze Hulten Molenschot Rijen Transportation Train station: Gilze-Rijen. External link official website Categories: North Brabant ... Gilze-Rijen, curved round the Ruhr defences and turned north to avoid Map of Germany showing Hamm Hamm is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the Lippe River, northeast of the Ruhr area. Population: 184.961 (status 31.12.2003). The town was founded in 1226 by count Adolf I of Mark. The name Hamm means corner... Hamm before turning to head south to the Moehne. Formation 2 flew further northwards, cutting over Vieland and crossing the Landsat photo The Zuider Zee (Dutch: Zuiderzee, pronounced ZIGH-der-zee) was a former shallow inlet of the North Sea in the northwest of the Netherlands, extending about 100 km inland and at most 50 km wide, with an overall depth of about 4 to 5 meters and a coastline... Zuider Zee before joining the first route near Wesel is a city (population about 64,300 in 2003) in Germany, located at the point where the Lippe River empties into the Rhine. It is the capital of the Wesel district in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The city originates from a Franconian manor that was first mentioned... Wesel and then flying south beyond the Moehne to the Sorpe.

Formation 1 was of nine aircraft in three groups - Gibson, Hopgood, Martin; Young, Astell, Maltby; and Maudslay, Knight, Shannon. Formation 2 was of five aircraft, those of McCarthy, Byers, Barlow, Rice and Munro. Formation 3 consisted of the aircraft of Townsend, Brown, Ottley and Burpee. Two crews were unable to make the mission because of illness.

The first aircraft, those of Formation 2 and heading for the longer northern route, took off at 21:10, McCarthy's aircraft had a hydraulics fault and he took off in a reserve craft twenty minutes late. Formation 1 took off from 21:25.

The first casualties were taken soon after the craft reached the Dutch coast. Formation 2 didn't fare well: Munro's aircraft lost his radio to American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. Various guns and cannons have been used in this role since the first military aircraft were used in World War I, growing... flak and turned back over the Zuyder Zee while Rice flew too low and lost his bomb in the water but recovered the aircraft to return to base. The aircraft of both Barlow and Byers crossed over the coast around Harderwijk is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. Population centres Harderwijk Hierden The city of Harderwijk Harderwijk received city rights in 1231. Between 1648 and 1811 the University of Harderwijk operated in the city. External links Official Website Map Categories: Netherlands geography stubs | Gelderland ... Harderwijk and were shot down shortly thereafter. Only the tardy aircraft of McCarthy survived across Holland. Formation 1 lost only Astell, somewhere over Rosendaal.

The Moehne dam following the attacks

Formation 1 arrived over Moehne Lake and Gibson's aircraft (G for George) bombed first. Hopgood (M for Mother) attacked second. Hopgood's aircraft was hit by flak as it made its low-level run and was then caught in the blast of its own bomb and destroyed. Martin (P for Peter) bombed third; his aircraft was hit but made a successful attack. Then Young (A for Apple) made a successful run and after him Maltby (J for Johnny) and then, finally, the dam was breached. Gibson then led Young, Shannon, Maudslay and Knight to the Eder.

The Eder valley was heavily fogged but not defended. The tricky topology of the surrounding hills made the approach difficult and the first aircraft, Shannon's, made six runs before taking a break. Maudslay (Z for Zebra) then attempted a run but the bomb struck the top of the dam and the aircraft was caught in the blast. Shannon made another run and successfully dropped his bomb and the final bomb of the formation, from Knight's aircraft, breached the dam.

McCarthy (T for Tom) reached the Sorpe alone. It was the least likely to be breached - a vast earth dam rather than the two concrete structures successfully attacked. Despite the mist and ill-placed hills, McCarthy's aircraft successfully dropped its bomb but did not breach the dam. Three of the reserve aircraft were directed to the Sorpe, Burpee (S for Sugar) never reached the dam. Brown (F for Freddy) reached the dam and in increasingly dense mist finally dropped his bomb without breaking the dam. Anderson (Y for Yorker) arrived last and the mist was too dense for him to even attempt the run. The remaining two aircraft were sent to subsidiary targets, Ottley (C for Charlie) was shot down en route while Townsend (O for Orange) successfully dropped his bomb on the Ennepe.

On the way back, only one further aircraft was lost, that of Young which was hit by flak and crashed into the sea just off the cost of Holland. In all, 53 of the 133 aircrew were killed and three bailed out to be made Geneva Convention definition A prisoner of war (POW) is a soldier, sailor, airman, or marine who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The laws apply from the moment a prisoner is captured until he is released or repatriated. One of the main provisions... POWs.

Conclusion

The Moehne and Eder lakes poured around 330 million tons of water into the western Ruhr region. Mines were flooded and houses, factories, roads, railways and bridges destroyed as the flood waters spread for around 50 miles (80 km) from the source. In terms of deaths: 1,294 people were killed, 749 of them Ukrainian POWs from a camp just below the Eder Dam. Of the surviving aircrew thirty-three were decorated at Buckingham Palace and the Victoria memorial. This principal facade of 1850 by Edward Blore was redesigned in 1913 by Sir Aston Webb. Buckingham Palace is the official London residence of the British monarch and the largest working royal palace remaining in the world. The palace originally known as Buckingham House... Buckingham Palace on June 22, with Gibson awarded the Victoria Cross, Source: Veterans Affairs Canada The Victoria Cross (official post-nominal letters VC) is the highest award for valour that can be awarded to members of the British and Commonwealth armed forces of any rank in any service and civilians under military command. Historical Background The original inscription on... Victoria Cross. There were five DSOs, ten DFCs and four bars, twelve DFMs and two CGMs. The squadron badge ("on a roundel, a wall in fesse, fracted by three flashes of lightening in pile and issuant from the breach, water proper") was chosen and a motto "Après moi le déluge".

Effect on the war

On closer inspection, Operation Chastise did not have the military effect that was at the time believed. After the operation Barnes Wallis wrote, "I feel a blow has been struck at Germany from which she cannot recover for several years". Estimates show that before 15 May 1943 water production on the Ruhr was 1 million tonnes, which dropped to a quarter of that level after the raid.

However, by 27 June, full water output was restored, thanks to an emergency pumping scheme inaugurated only the previous year, and the electricity grid was again producing power at full capacity. The raid proved to be costly in lives (more than half the lives lost belonging to allied POWs), but in fact no more than a minor inconvenience to the Ruhr's industrial output. However, the pictures of the broken dams proved to be an immense morale boost to the Allies, especially to the British, still suffering under German bombing.

An important reason for undertaking the raid was to persuade Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin ( Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili ( Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვილ... Stalin that Britain was capable of being an effective ally and that as a consequence, the The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) .( Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик... Soviet Union should continue to resist the Original German plan Operation Barbarossa (My Struggle) should not have been surprised to see him invade the Soviet Union. In that book, he makes clear his belief that the German people needed Slavic population. So the pact was simply for (mutual) short-term convenience, and the Nazis had no qualms... German invasion of its territory.

This was the middle period of the war when when the Japanese had recently brought the The United States of America — also referred to as the United States, the U.S.A., the U.S., America¹, the States, or (archaically) Columbia — is a federal republic of 50 states located primarily in central North America (with the exception of two states: Alaska and Hawaii... United States into it with Britain. Germany had done the same with the Soviet Union but American attention was mainly on the Pacific and Russia was in a very serious position. The Dams Raid enabled The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, FRS ( November 30, 1874 – January 24, 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. At various times an author, soldier, journalist, and politician, Churchill is generally regarded as... Churchill, in negotiations with their leaders, to point to an effective strike against the hitherto apparently invincible German state so that he was taken more seriously as an ally, than he might have been.

Notes

A 1954 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January events January 14 - The Hudson Motor Car Company merges with Nash-Kelvinator forming the American Motors Corporation January 14 - Marilyn Monroe weds Joe DiMaggio. January 15 - Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in... 1954 movie, (being the basis for the Death Star trench run), and action is often copied scene for scene. Even some dialogue is repeated. Both films require a bomb to be fired at a very specific target with a small window of error. The scenes with Gibsons black labrador dog, Nigger... The Dam Busters was made about the raids and became a popular war movie. Its theme tune, The Dam Busters' March, by Eric Coates (August 27, 1886 - December 21, 1957) was an English composer of light music and a viola player. He was born in Hucknall in Nottinghamshire, the son of a doctor, and studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1906, receiving viola lessons from Lionel Tertis... Eric Coates became an instant classic and can still be heard in The striker (wearing red jersey) has run past the defender (in white jersey) and is about to take a shot at the goal, while the goalkeeper positions himself to stop the ball. Football is the most widely played and watched team sport in the world. The game is often known... football grounds during England matches. One version released featured dialogue extracts from the movie (the bombing run).

The attack on the "Death Star" in the climax of the film Star Wars Poster Star Wars is the name of a series of science fantasy movies, a literary franchise, and a series of video games (including numerous prequels, sequels, and literary adaptations) based on the ideas of filmmaker and writer George Lucas. The movies revolve around the transition between the Galactic... Star Wars is similar in many respects to the strategy of Operation Chastise--Rebel pilots have to fly through a trench while evaiding enemy fire and drop a single special weapon at a percise distance from the target in order to destroy the entire base with a single explosion; if one run fails another run must be made by a different pilot. Some scenes from the Star Wars climax are very similar to those in the The Dam Busters and some of the dialogue is nearly indentical in the two films.

The attacks

Conclusion

Effect on the war

Notes

Bibliography

External links