Reply With QuoteIt is sobering to note that all aircrew that participated in the raid have now died.
The debate on the usefulness of the raid will go on and on but we and the free world owe that generation a debt of gratitude.
A 24-year-old Guy Gibson led the bombing raid and earned the Victoria Cross
for repeatedly overflying the dams during subsequent bombing runs to draw enemy flack.
Also, a “Run free” for Nigger, Gibson’s black Labrador who was hit and killed by a car earlier that afternoon.
A hero in the truest sense of the word instead of a footballer or pop singer.
He was killed by friendly fire the following year aged just 26.
It is sobering to note that all aircrew that participated in the raid have now died.
The debate on the usefulness of the raid will go on and on but we and the free world owe that generation a debt of gratitude.
All of Bomber Command were brave men who took the fight to the enemy with no thought to their own wellbeing. They contributed to saving the world from fascism and are, as has been pointed out, true heroes.
Originally Posted by sprite1275
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Edit: And she's up...
Last edited by PickleB; 16th May 2023 at 17:25.
This has just flown past our place. Please excuse the rubbish phone pics but I was on a fairly high zoom. Was great to see it.
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Great men who no doubt saw themselves as just ordinary chaps doing what anyone would do. Heroes in the truest sense.
No apologies required. Great pics and thanks for sharing them.This has just flown past our place. Please excuse the rubbish phone pics but I was on a fairly high zoom. Was great to see it.
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I’d loved to have gone up to Derwent / Ladybower Dams to watch but am away in Scotland at the moment
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Just one word “respect”
I FEEL LIKE I'M DIAGONALLY PARKED IN A PARALLEL UNIVERSE
It's not the quality of the images , it's the emotion of the sighting. Thank you for posting.
We will remember them.
Nice bit of footage of the Lancaster returning to RAF Coningsby, yesterday evening.
PS - My late father was a wireless operator on a Lancaster.
Last edited by Seiko7A38; 17th May 2023 at 18:40.
One month tomorrow a couple of us are leaving for a European Frape in our V8's, Millau, Mont Blanc,Stelvio,Lake Constance,Mohne Dam and Ypres. Hoping to get some 50 foot flyover drone footage of the Dam.
Rather shocked the BBC on two seperate shows referred to the Dambusters as infamous!
“Don’t look back, you’re not heading that way.”
Interesting we celebrate a raid which targeted and killed many civilians. Do the same thing today and it’s a war crime.
Not sure we celebrate the raid, but the men, young men, who went on the raid. Don't think they targeted civilians either. My dad was one of them, not on that particular operation, but a navigator on bomber command and later on coastal command in Sri Lanka and thereabouts.
Last edited by EBB21; 17th May 2023 at 21:29.
I am not sure what that was about, terrible.
I celebrate the raid; it was a rare successful blend of crazy genius that was designed to hamper the manufacturing capabilities of our deadly enemy.
It was undertaken by brave men who demonstrated extraordinary skill and determination with no small loss to their own ranks; men who would not have been fighting had the enemy not attempted to invade our homeland in pursuance of their desire to dominate Europe.
All WWII civilian deaths are a source of sadness to me, but there will inevitably be civilian enemy casualties when it is necessary to prevent the enemy from inflicting heavy casualties on our own civilians.
We celebrate a raid which was undertaken to help put a stop to the Germans pursuing their disgusting Nazi agenda, by attempting to cause massive disruption to their war production.
It’s aim was never simply to target civilians.
Tell those in the death camps it was a war crime.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I think you’ve missed the point there, if it was a celebration about the Dresden raids you would have a point but not about this one. There is still a lot of controversy over the Dam raids whether they were worth it and even Gibson himself, some say he was shot down but the guy who’s mosquito he flew that night said he ran out of fuel as it was a Canadian built one who’s fuel tank selector was different from the very few British ones Gibson had flown previously and eye witnesses say they saw the cockpit lights on just before the crash as if they we’re looking for the fuel selector’s.
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Well said Sir.
I suspect the detractors would feel very differently if they had lived through those times.
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