BELFAST RB BOOKLET 2020 - Flipbook - Page 42
Ci t y of Belf ast Grand Bl ack Chapt er - Dem onst rat i on Bookl et 2020
THE INCREDIBLE DAMBUSTERS
One of the bravest acts and most audacious events which
helped shorten and bring an end to World War II was the one
undertaken on the night of May 16th/17th in 1943, by the crews
of 617 Squadron, of the Royal Air Force.
Originally named Squadron X, and led by
Wing Commander Guy Gibson, their mission
codenamed Operation Chastise, was to
destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley, the
industrial heartland of Germany.
The dams were fiercely protected with
torpedo nets strung throughout each of
the reservoirs to prevent underwater
attacks as well as having massive
batteries of anti-aircraft guns to defend
them against overhead bombers.
However 617 Squadron had a secret
weapon, referred to as
the 'bouncing bomb'
developed by British
engineer Barnes Wallis
(top right) in 1942, who
had the ingenious idea
of an explosive device
that could skip across
the top of water
whereby he was able
to demonstrate his theory to the RAF's top
brass, by bouncing glass marbles across a
bath tub in his own back garden.
Wallis originally thought the new
weapon could be used to attack moored
battleships, but research soon focused on
using it against the large dams that were
vital to the German industry.
THE MAIN TARGETS
The Möhne dam within the Ruhr Valley
reservoir secured the water supply for
much of the surrounding areas and was
also used to generate its local electricity.
It was believed that by destroying this one
and several others within the same region
would in turn further cause massive disruption
to much of Germany's war production.
Indeed plans for such an
attack
had
been
considered, well before
Germany invaded Poland and
as far back as 1937, but it took
until 1942 to develop a weapon capable of
destroying the dams as well as the aircraft
needed to deliver them on target.
Both the Admiralty and the RAF had already
carried out extensive tests at various sites
around the country particularly the
mountainous areas waters of the Lake
District; chosen for
their similar terrain and
surrounding landscape
to that in the Ruhr.
Tests revealed that
the drum shaped
bomb
(codenamed
'Upkeep') had to be
dropped accurately
from a height of just
sixty feet and at a ground speed of two
hundred and thirty-two miles per hour.
When it hit the reservoir, the bomb would
then spin backwards across the surface of the
water before reaching the dam. Its residual
spin would then drive the bomb down the wall
of the dam before exploding at its base.
All that was needed now were the crews of
special men to fly the modified Lancaster
bombers which would carry the bouncing,
explosive devices.
They were chosen from the various
Allied groups and made up of aircrew from
Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand
and USA.
With one month to go before the raid, and
only Gibson having full knowledge and details
of the operation, the squadron began
IN MEMORY OF THE FALLEN - 40 - AND THE FUTURE OF THE LIVING