The Lancaster used by Wing Commander Guy Gibson on the Dams raid survived the war, but was ultimately scrapped. Nigel Price charts the history of this famous aircraft.
May 16, 1943. Britain and her Allies were locked in a desperate struggle with Hitler’s Germany and its partners – war in Europe had been raging for nearly four years and there was no end in sight. Destroying the Nazi’s industrial heartland was a prime objective for the RAF’s Bomber Command, and the newly-formed 617 Sqn aimed to strike a deadly blow by breaching the mighty Ruhr dams.
By 9pm on that fateful evening 75 years ago, the 19 crews who carried out the operation were at their Lancasters on their Lincolnshire base. The squadron commander, Wg Cdr Guy Gibson, and his men turned for a photo to be taken as they boarded their aircraft – ED932, coded ‘AJ-G’.
Just before 9.30pm Flt Lt Bob Barlow eased the first Lancaster off RAF Scampton’s runway and headed for the Ruhr along with the other aircraft from that wave. (Their journey time to the Sorpe Dam was the longest, hence why they took off first.) Ten minutes later Gibson and his crew were airborne, followed by the rest of his wave so that both formations would attack simulatenously.
Th…
