European Aviation History

After the attack on the Ruhr Dams, the second most famous achievement of 617 Squadron was the probably sinking of the German Battleship Tirpitz. By the time 617 was tasked with her destruction, she had withstood more than 30 other attacks by conventional bombers, dive-bombers, torpedo planes, and mini-submarines. But 617 Squadron also found the Tirpitz a tough nut to crack. It took them three tries.    The Tirpitz was the terror of the Royal Navy because she was the largest battleship ever launched by a European power. She possessed tremendous firepower in eight 15-inch, twelve 6-inch, 16 4-inch and 28 smaller calibre guns. Despite being heavily armored, she had a top speed of 30 knots -- faster than any British battleship. Clearly, if she got in among the convoys, she would wreck havoc, and the Royal Navy were determined to prevent that. From 1942 onwards, the Tirpitz was based in Norway, threatening the convoys that kept the Soviet Union supplied with the munitions and equi...

  Based on aerial reconnaissance following 617's first assault, British intelligence wrongly concluded that the German Battleship Tirpitz was still serviceable. Only after the war did the British learn that 617's first raid had in fact rendered the great battleship incapable of conducting operations. On the misconception that the Tirpitz might yet sally forth to wreck havoc on the convoys bound for Russia, 617 was again ordered to "sink the Tirpitz ."   Meanwhile, under cover of low cloud, the Germans towed the Tirpitz down to Altenfjord, where the Germans moored it as a floating gun-battery to deter allied landings. Discovered there by British reconnaissance aircraft shortly after Oct 15, the move seemed to support the thesis that the ship was still seaworthy, i.e. that it had not been seriously damaged in the earlier raid. The move, however, put the German battleship with in range of Lancasters operating from the tip of Scotland --provided they had new, more powerf...

 Altogether 617 Squadron had five COs, none lasting longer than eight months. It was tough job. Yet while Gibson was the most famous and Cheshire the most influential the last to COs nevertheless made significant contributions to the war. Here a short summary of their tenure with "the Dambusters." Cheshire's immediate successor as CO of 617 Squadron was Group Captain James Brian "Willie" Tait, who took command of the squadron in July 1944. Tait had attended the Royal Air Force college at Cranwell before the war and was commission into the RAF on 1 August 1936. His first posting was to 51 Squadron flying Whitley bombers. He was operational from the start of the war and took part in the early, extremely dangerous and arduous raids on Berlin and the first raid against Italy. Flying operationally throughout 1940, he was awarded a DFC and was acting commander of 51 Squadron despite still having the substantive rank of Flight Lieutenant -- a grim indication of the cas...