Brave men one & all.It's a shame their contribution has been down played for so long.I bet none of the detractors of their mission would have the "cojones" for what could have been a one way ticket for all of them not just the 53 who never returned.
Just think if Barnes Wallis had never thought of the bomb & these brave men,many of whom had already completed more than one tour of duty,had not carried out the dam raids then a lot more lives would have been lost on the Normandy beaches & we may well be living if not part of the 3rd Reich then as very close neighbours.
God Bless them one & all.

Gibson salute on Dams Raid anniversary

Tomorrow, 16th May, is the 69th anniversary of Operation Chastise, the Dams Raid. The first aircraft, piloted by Flt Lt Norman Barlow , took off from RAF Scampton at 21:28, quickly followed by three colleagues. One of these, AJ-K, flown by Pilot Officer Vernon Byers, was the operation’s first of eight losses, shot down just over two hours later on the Dutch coast.
The Möhne Dam was breached at about 00:49 on Sunday 17th May 1943, and the Eder Dam at 01:50. Altogether, 53 aircrew were killed and three more taken prisoner. On the ground, there were 1294 casualties at the Möhne and 47 more in the Eder valley.
These are sobering figures, which we should remember when we commemorate the raid.
It is, however, fitting that Wing Commander Guy Gibson, 617 Squadron’s commanding officer, is being remembered on the anniversary of his greatest achievement in the home village of his maternal grandparents, Porthleven in Cornwall. As his own parents lived in India, Gibson spent part of his childhood in the village, and by all accounts had a very happy time there. A new bronze plaque will be unveiled, and there will be representatives of the RAF present and, weather permitting, a Lancaster flypast.