Was the house right by the side of the famous bridge? I remember seeing this when we did a guided tour.
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[TV] Channel 5 9PM The Dambusters
- Thread starter jakarta
- Start date
Was the house right by the side of the famous bridge? I remember seeing this when we did a guided tour.
Wrong-Direction
Well-known member
- Mar 10, 2013
- 13,636
Good watch, christ knows how they did it
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jakarta
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #23
As I said last night, I thought I would do a more detailed review of the final episode.
It didn't mention that a lot of the survivors got decorated, with Gibson himself getting the Victoria Cross. It said he then went off to the USA on a publicity tour which is true but a little unfair, he was basically grounded by the RAF and spent the rest of the war trying to fly again. When he did get a chance he carried out a reckless mission taking over a Mosquito having not completed a conversion course and with a Navigator who had never flown in one before. A Mosquito Navigator looks after fuel supply, changing tanks and if he didn't know how to do this there is every chance they ran out of fuel and went down. As Barnes Wallis himself said of Gibson A man born for war…but born to fall in war.
617 had basically proved that precision bombing was possible, which went against everything Bomber Harris believed in (mass raids carrying out area bombing of towns and cities). They thus became the precision bombing squadron, especially using the massive Tallboy 12,000lb and Grand Slam 22000lb bombs (also designed by Barnes Wallace who clearly wasn't that heartbroken as he continued designing further bombs). They used these to take out specific targets such as canals, viaducts, V2 and V3 sites and most famously the Tirpitz in November 1944.
The man who replaced Gibson was probably the most enigmatic character the RAF produced, Leonard Cheshire. Having survived 3 tours he dropped down from Group Captain to Wing Commander to lead 617. Lead them as Marker Bomber dropping marker flares at Low Level. Moved over to flying a twin seater Mosquito as it was more agile and then cadged a single seater Mustang from the USAAF as it was even more agile, famously learned to fly it on the way to a French target, even though he hadn't flown a single seat aircraft since basic training.
Grounded after his 100th mission he was awarded the Victoria Cross on top of the DFC and DSO with two bars he already had
Selected to be the RAF's Observer he flew in a B29 Superfortress over Nagasaki to watch the second atomic bomb attack. Quite a War!
Post War he set up the Leonard Cheshire Disability Homes for which he received the Order of Merit (thus becoming a Trivia Question as the only person to have both VC and OM). Personally I think he needs a Documentary all to himself.
Sorry if this has been a bit of an epic but 617 have a fascinating history!
It didn't mention that a lot of the survivors got decorated, with Gibson himself getting the Victoria Cross. It said he then went off to the USA on a publicity tour which is true but a little unfair, he was basically grounded by the RAF and spent the rest of the war trying to fly again. When he did get a chance he carried out a reckless mission taking over a Mosquito having not completed a conversion course and with a Navigator who had never flown in one before. A Mosquito Navigator looks after fuel supply, changing tanks and if he didn't know how to do this there is every chance they ran out of fuel and went down. As Barnes Wallis himself said of Gibson A man born for war…but born to fall in war.
617 had basically proved that precision bombing was possible, which went against everything Bomber Harris believed in (mass raids carrying out area bombing of towns and cities). They thus became the precision bombing squadron, especially using the massive Tallboy 12,000lb and Grand Slam 22000lb bombs (also designed by Barnes Wallace who clearly wasn't that heartbroken as he continued designing further bombs). They used these to take out specific targets such as canals, viaducts, V2 and V3 sites and most famously the Tirpitz in November 1944.
The man who replaced Gibson was probably the most enigmatic character the RAF produced, Leonard Cheshire. Having survived 3 tours he dropped down from Group Captain to Wing Commander to lead 617. Lead them as Marker Bomber dropping marker flares at Low Level. Moved over to flying a twin seater Mosquito as it was more agile and then cadged a single seater Mustang from the USAAF as it was even more agile, famously learned to fly it on the way to a French target, even though he hadn't flown a single seat aircraft since basic training.
Grounded after his 100th mission he was awarded the Victoria Cross on top of the DFC and DSO with two bars he already had
Selected to be the RAF's Observer he flew in a B29 Superfortress over Nagasaki to watch the second atomic bomb attack. Quite a War!
Post War he set up the Leonard Cheshire Disability Homes for which he received the Order of Merit (thus becoming a Trivia Question as the only person to have both VC and OM). Personally I think he needs a Documentary all to himself.
Sorry if this has been a bit of an epic but 617 have a fascinating history!
Worthing exile
New member
- May 12, 2009
- 1,219
Thank you Jakarta for the summary. Is there a single book you can recommend to read more?
jakarta
Well-known member
- Thread starter
- #25
Max Hastings Chastise has already been mentioned, actually haven't got around to getting it but Mrs Jakarta has had some heavy hints what with Christmas coming!
My Primary Sources of Information were:
Enemy Coast Ahead - actually written by Guy Gibson just after the Dams Raid although 95% of it is about the other 169 operations he flew including his 'break' from Bombers and doing a Tour as a Night Fighter Pilot (shot down 3 German Bombers!)
The Dambusters - Paul Brickhill - covers the Dams Raid but also 617's exploits from then on to end of the War
and will be well out of a print by now but a fascinating book about an utter maverick...
No Passing Glory (Leonard Cheshire's Biography up to 1955) - Andrew Boyle - picked up in a 2nd hand book shop