The Dambusters Story The Dambusters Story, taken from "Fortress Without A Roof": The Allied Bombing of the Third Reich" by Wilbur H. Morrison. April 24, 1943: Harriss bombers had attacked the city centres of Brunswick, Munich, and Schweinfurt during the latter part of April, using Mosquito crews from 5 Group who dive-marked with red flares after the aiming points were identified visually.. Four 617 Squadron Mosquitos led by Wing Commander G.L. Cheshire, with Squadron Leader D.J. Shannon, Flight Lieutenant G.E. Fawke, and Flight Lieutenant R.S.D. Kearns, went to Munich April 24. They had to dive through intense flak while searchlights followed them during the laying of the red spot-flares. With incredible bravery, they lit up the aiming point within a hundred yards and permitted a devastating attack on the city. Remarkably, all returned safely, and Cheshire was singled out for special recognition and was presented with a Victoria Cross.... May 16, 1943 Earlier in the spring, British Wing Commander Guy Gibson had led a raid May 16 against three Ruhr dams with 19 of his 617 Squadron Lancasters. They had been training for weeks to drop new barrellike, counter rotating, 9,500-pound bombs specially designed by British scientist Dr. Barnes Wallis. To drop them precisely against the wall of each dam, a 240-mile-per-hour speed had to be maintained at exactly sixty feet above the water. Spotlights were attached beneath each bomber in such positions that when the aircraft was sixty feet above the water, their beams converged on the surface. The Mohere Dam was the first on the target list. Not only did it provide water for four million Germans, but its adjacent electric plant helped to power the huge Ruhr industries. After release of his bomb, Gibson flew back and forth over the lake while other Lancasters dropped their bombs until the dam was finally breached. For Gibson, it was an awesome sight as the lake emptied like "stirred porridge" into the valley below for fifty miles, engulfing cars as drivers frantically raced ahead of the tumbling waters. Most didnt make it, and as the avalanche of water inundated each car, its lights flickered uncertainly until they were extinguished. He wired home base at Granthorn, "Goner, from G George," indicating the dam had been breached. Gibson led the next wave to the Eder Dam. It was quickly blown open and two hundred million tons of water cascaded into the valley below, flooding coal mines and factories for 50 miles downstream. The dam at Sorpe was next, and Gibson went along to guide the last wave. Heavy fog and low clouds prevented release of the bombs effectively, so they turned for home. Of the nineteen bombers dispatched on the mission, only ten returned, and 56 out of 133 young men were reported missing, three of them ending up in prisoner-of-war camps. Gibson, who received the Victoria Cross for the mission, was later killed on another raid. The special squadron he founded, however, went on to win enduring praise for using a variety of Walliss special weapons. They were the only British squadron to adopt American-style bombing techniques of precision targets, and they were astonishingly successful. The breach in the Mohne Dam was closed September 23 before the rainy season, and the power plant repaired. The Germans diverted hundreds of antiaircraft guns to the dams for their future defence, so the raids could not be repeated.... June 5, 1944 The night before the invasion (D Day), two squadrons of Lancasters - including those of the highly skilled 617 Squadron - performed an unusual service to confuse the Germans about the exact destination of the invasion forces and to convince them that the Allies planned to land near Boulogne and Cape Antifer instead of Normandy. A special type of foil chaff "window" was dropped in bundles from a precise height so that these metal strips would simulate a large number of ships on German radar screens. So precise was the dropping along previously established flight paths that they simulated a convoy crossing the Channel at seven knots. Lancasters circled the Channel for five hours, flying a series of precise overlapping paths, each series coming closer and closer to the Normandy coast. This was a remarkable navigation feat and gained the Allies valuable hours to make their prescribed landings. The Germans were completely taken by the ruse.... Still other British forces from 3 Group released bundles of "window" to simulate a much larger force that the Allies actually had, even dropping dummy parachutists and machines that made noises like rifle fire and battle sounds as a diversion from the real airborne landings in Normandy...