The Dambusters

Despite routinely being accused of doing only "area bombing" one of the most precise -- and arguably the most effective RAF raid of WWII -- was the RAF attack of 16/17 May 1943 on the Ruhr Dams. The raid was immortalized in the post-war film "The Dam Busters."

 

It all started with Barnes Wallis, an innovative engineer. At the outbreak of the war, Wallis was already 52 and recognized as one of the leading aircraft designers of his generation, but he found himself wondering what he -- as an engineer -- could do to shorten a war that he knew would be horrible. Freed from work on any specific project, he started to experiment with a variety of ideas. No longer tied to government specifications, his imagination took flight, and while many of his ideas were dismissed by contemporaries as impractical if not ridiculous, Wallis' philosophy was to see criticism as a stimulus to keep perfecting an idea. (Below Barnes Wallis)

He also spent time studying the industrial capacity of Germany and seeking vulnerabilities. He was particularly keen to identify targets whose elimination would have a domino or knock-on effect beyond the loss of the target itself. His research led him to the Ruhr dams. These were a lynch-pin providing electricity to countless armaments factories in the region and water for steel production, both of which would also be disrupted if the dams were destroyed. Finally, the flood waters from the broken dams would cause extensive damage.

While his logic for selecting the dams was impeccable, the RAF did not have either bombsites or bombs capable of hitting and destroying targets of this nature. Furthermore, anti-torpedo netting precluded the use of torpedoes. Something new and different was needed. Wallis struck upon the idea of bombs that could bounce over the torpedo netting, hit the side of the dam and then roll down the face to detonate underwater. After much investment in design, prototypes and tests, the concept was proven. Thereafter the development continued until the first completely successful bomb drop took place on 29 April 1943.

However, to use this weapon against the Ruhr dams required very precise flying. The bombs had to be dropped from just 60 feet (150 feet had proved impractical because the bombs disintegrated on impact with the water instead of bouncing) and at a ground speed of exactly 232 mph. Furthermore, this had to be done in the dark over a featureless body of water, and because the dams lay in hilly countryside, the approach to the damns was difficult and dangerous.

Furthermore, each bomb was custom-made at great expense and could not be squandered. In other words, these bombs could not be put in the hands of inexperienced, indifferent or second-rate crews. It could only be entrusted to "the best" crews the RAF then had.

Since the best crews were not concentrated in any single squadron, however, a new squadron had to be formed. Initially designated simply "Squadron X," the RAF later assigned the number 617. Meanwhile, the RAF leadership had entrusted command and formation of the new squadron to an officer who had flown a total of 172 sorties on bombers and night fighters, Wing Commander Guy Gibson. Gibson was 23 years old at the time. (Below Wing Command Guy Gibson)

Gibson hand-picked his flight commanders and a number of the crews, but to bring the squadron up to strength other squadrons were asked to send their best crews. Understandably, they did not always comply with the spirit of that order. As a rule, every crew was supposed to have flown at least one complete tour of operations. While that may have been true of the pilots, some pilots came on the squadron with crew members who had as few as ten operational flights behind them.

Nevertheless, the standards were very high and the number of decorations worn in the mess was so exceptional that even the catering staff knew this squadron was "special." Certainly, Gibson put together a squadron truly representative of the war effort. Aircrew came from England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and even the U.S. The latter was represented by Joe McCarthy who had joined the RAF before the US was in the war and preferred to remain in the RAF even when offered a commission in the USAAF.

Tellingly, however, only one member of Gibson's crew from 106 Squadron, his wireless operator, volunteered to go with him. The others had already had enough. Also typical for Gibson, he did not deal with the ground crews or other directly. Instead, he delegated their selection to others; he was not familiar enough with ground crews to choose his own. Soon a full squadron including ground and administrative staff had been created and was based at Scrampton.

The new squadron began intensive training even before it was fully formed. The emphasis was on low-level, night flying over water. Crews accumulated roughly 1,000 flying hours in April alone, and two crews were thrown off the squadron for not meeting Gibson's high standards; another crew opted to leave when their navigator attracted Gibson's displeasure. No one on the squadron except Gibson knew the target much less that they would be using a new, secret weapon that had never been used in operations before.

On the late afternoon of the 16 May 1943, the curtain in the operations room was pulled back to reveal the target -- and many of those slated to fly concluded it was a suicide mission. But they had signed on for it and no one balked. (Below a snapshot of Gibson going aboard his Lancaster with his crew to set off on the Dams raid; his crew is collected beside the aircraft.)

Nineteen aircraft took off, but two returned for technical reasons, leaving seventeen to carry on with the attack. Only nine of these aircraft returned. In the meantime, however, they had made history with the successful breach of the Moehne and Edersee dams. -- and the RAF had the photos to prove it had been successful. (Below the Moehne Dam on the morning after the raid.)

This success was seized upon as a perfect propaganda tool in a bleak period of the war. It helped raise civilian and military morale -- especially in Bomber Command itself. Meanwhile, the success of the bouncing bomb convinced the Air Ministry to trust Barnes Wallis with the development of more ordinance and he went on to design the "Tall Boy" and "Grand Slam" (or Earthquake) bombs.

My novel Moral Fibre follows a pilot who is eventually posted to 617 Squadron -- long after the Dams Raid.

Find out more at: https://www.helenapschrader.com/moral-fibre-.html