At the Royal Air Force Museum London in Hendon, it is now possible to use virtual reality technology to sample something of the Ruhr dams raid by No 617 Squadron in 1943, thanks to the launch of the Dambusters Virtual Reality Experience.
With 360° first-person views, spatialised audio and haptic feedback vests, visitors can find out a little of what it was like to be aboard a No 617 Squadron Avro Lancaster during Operation ‘Chastise’. The re-creation depicts the first mission by the unit to the Möhne Dam on 16 May 1943.
Participants suit up in a vest and step inside an accurate physical set of a Lancaster. They can reach out to feel the window, fuselage and desk near them. As the aircraft continues its mission, users will feel the roar of the Lancaster’s Merlin engines through their haptic vests.
The experience has been created by All Seeing Eye with input from No 617 Squadron’s official historian Robert Owen.
Also on display at Hendon in relation to the history of No 617 Squadron are a replica of the ‘bouncing bomb’, Barnes Wallis’ office and the original moulds of the first test bombs.
Tickets are £10; for more details, visit www.rafmuseum.org.uk.
