Arthur - Dambusters: a landmark oral history

MAX ARTHUR, who served with the RAF, is the author of The Sunday Times bestselling and award-winning Forgotten Voices of the Great War and Forgotten Voices of the Second World War. His other titles include the classic work on the Falklands campaign, Above All, Courage, and Symbol of Courage: A History of the Victoria Cross. He is the military obituary writer for the Independent.

Praise for Dambusters

A vivid and moving account of the personality clashes, hopes, fears and regrets surrounding one of the most famous bombing operations of all time Daily Mail

May well rival his seminal Forgotten Voices of The Great War... His prcis of the complex story of how the scientist Barnes Wallis overcame all the obstacles to breaching the Dams, in which British bureaucracy proved as daunting as German efficiency, is a masterpiece of concise storytelling Sunday Express

A gripping tale capturing the exhilaration of the expedition, while contrasting the sense of loss of 56 men of Bomber Command. A thrilling read for anyone with a nose for a good true tale News of the World

What a story. And I do not believe that it has ever been better told Stephen Fry

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My initial thanks are to Ed Faulkner, Editorial Director of Virgin Books, who commissioned me to write this oral history of the Dambusters, and to Davina Russell for her skills in editing the text, and Sophia Brown for her excellent work on the photographs.

Throughout the writing of this book I have had the remarkable assistance of Vicky Thomas, whose energy, enthusiasm and consummate skill not to mention her German translation abilities have greatly enhanced this work. I would also like to profoundly thank Robert Owen, Official Historian, No 617 Squadron Aircrew Association, who very kindly read through the manuscript and made a number of changes and suggestions, all of which I was happy to incorporate. He has also made it possible for me to contact the five surviving Dambusters. I am greatly in his debt. I am also particularly grateful to the distinguished military historian, John Sweetman, who gave me permission to use extracts from his landmark history, The Dambusters Raid, which also furnished a detailed framework and chronology.

I would also like to thank Bruce Hunter and Georgia Glover at David Higham Associates Ltd, for their kind permission to use extracts from Guy Gibsons outstanding book, Enemy Coast Ahead; Kevin Wilson, who has allowed me to use excerpts from his very fine book, Bomber Boys; Toby Groom and Jo Mitchell at the History Channel, for use of their documentary interviews; the ever-helpful Sound Archive of the Imperial War Museum; the archives of the RAF Museum; Simon Braithwaite at the Second World War Experience Centre; and the Lancaster Museum, Alberta, Canada. I would particularly like to thank the following publishers for permission to reproduce extracts: Above All Unseen, Edward Leaf, Haynes Publishing; Barnes Wallis: Dambuster; Peter Pugh, Icon Books; Dambusters the Definitive History of 617 Squadron at War, 1943-1945, Chris Ward, Andy Lee and Andreas Wachtel, Red Kite; Breaking the German Dams: Flying into History, Richard Morris and Robert Owen, Newsdesk Communications Ltd; Living with Heroes, Harry Humphries, The Erskine Press; The Dambusters, John Sweetman with David Coward and Gary Johnstone, Time Warner Books; The Dam Busters, Paul Brickhill, Pan Books; The Dambusters at 60, Lincolnshire Echo; Tim Robinson, editor of the Grantham Journal for passages from The Dambusters 50 Years, souvenir issue; We Will Remember Them, Jan van den Driesschen with Eve Gibson, The Erskine Press; Als Deutschlands Dmme brachen, Helmut Euler, Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart.

My thanks also to Channel 4, Windfall Films, the Daily Mirror and Delta Music for access to recorded interview material from their respective Dambusters videos/DVDs.

My gratitude also to my dear friends Sir Martin and Lady Gilbert for their support, and for the use of the map of the raid, taken from his newly published title, The Routledge Atlas of the Second World War, as drawn by Neil Hanson. A special thank-you, too, to Julia Pickles who transcribed many hours of recorded interviews.

Throughout the writing of this book, my very dear friend Ruth Cowen has, as always, given me great support, as have Don and Liz McClen and Susan Jeffreys and Lucia Corti has given me much love and laughter.

Finally, I owe a profound debt of thanks to the five surviving men of 617 Squadron who took part in the raid: Les Munro, George Johnny Johnson, Ray Grayston, Grant McDonald and Fred Sutherland, who have kindly allowed me to use their stories. They are the last witnesses to an extraordinary and daring operation, inspiring in both its conception and execution, which will live for ever in the annals of our nations history.

I NDEX

The following items may be used as a guide to search for information in the eBook.

5 Group, ()

1654 Heavy Conversion Unit, ()

44 Squadron, ()

50 Squadron, ()

57 Squadron, ()

83 Squadron, ()

97 Squadron, ()

106 Squadron, ()

542 Squadron, ()

617 Squadron

achievement, ()

briefing and preparations, ()

crew selection, ()

first wave, ()

formation, ()

losses, ()

one-operation squadron, ()

second wave, ()

team spirit, ()

third wave, ()

training, ()

Affoldern, ()

Air Attack on Dams (AAD) Advisory Committee, ()

Air Ministry, ()

Air Transport Auxiliaries, ()

Aircraft and Armament Development Advisory Committee, ()

aircraft numbers, ()

Albrecht, Wilfried, ()

Americans, ()

Ampen, ()

Antheor Viaduct raid, ()

Appleby, Sergeant Frank, ()

Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, ()

Arnsberg, ()

Astell, Flight Lieutenant William, ()

Atlantic Wall, ()

Augsburg raid, ()

Australians, ()

Avro company, ()

Avro Lancaster, ()

abortions, ()

altimeters, ()

armaments, ()

bomb-carrying capacity, ()

bombing heights and speeds, ()

and bouncing bomb trials, ()

casualty rates, ()

hydraulics, ()

manoeuvrability, ()

modifications, ()

and opposition to bouncing bomb, ()

personalisation, ()

power requirements, ()

spotlights, ()

temperature on board, ()

toilets, ()

training aircraft, ()

Avro Manchester, ()

Baader, Elfriede, ()

Bader, Group Captain Douglas, ()

balloons, ()

Balve, ()

Barlow, Flight Lieutenant Robert, ()

barrage dams, ()

Batson, Sergeant Ronald, ()

Berkenkopf, Pastor Joseph, ()

Berlin, ()

Bible, ()

bird strikes, ()

blind flying, ()

Boeselager, Max Freiherr von, ()

bomb-aiming, ()

Bomber Command, ()

and communications, ()

failure to follow up raids, ()

and ground crews, ()

and high-altitude bombing, ()

losses, ()

and low-level flying, ()

tours of operations, ()

bomb-sights, ()

Bonser, Sandy, ()

Boorer, Norman Spud, ()

bouncing bomb, ()

aiming and delivery, ()

development, ()

dummy bombs, ()

filming of, ()

hydrostatic fuse, ()