Tonight , 81 years on, we remember Operation Chastise, more commonly known as the Dams Raid. On the night of 16/17th May 1943 Wing Commander Guy Gibson led an attack by 617 Squadron on German dams using a special bouncing bomb developed by Barnes Wallis. The Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley whilst the Sorpe Dam sustained only minor damage. Two hydroelectric power stations were destroyed and others were damaged along with factories, mines and housing. Of the 19 aircraft sent out (133 men), only 11 returned, 80 men survived, 53 men were killed during the raid, 3 were captured and taken prisoner. Only 48 men who took part survived until the end of the war. Gibson's log book shown here has entries during April 1943 for training flights made in preparation for the raid including 'To lake nr. Sheffield' (Ladybower reservoir was used for training flights to simulate the Moehne Dam), 'Cornish X Country at low level with dummy attacks on Lakes', 'Dummy attacks on Welsh Dams' etc. On 6th May 'Spotlight flying at 60ft at night'. On 16th May 1943 Gibson's log entry reads simply 'Led attack on Mohne and Eder Dams. Successful.' On the adjacent page he records 'Awarded V.C. 23.05.43.' The final log entry, a solo flight in a Lightning from Langford Lodge, is written on September 16th 1944. Just three days later on September 19th, Gibson piloted a Mosquito to Rheydt in Germany acting as Master Bomber for a raid on communications. His aircraft crashed in flames on the return journey at Steenbergen in Holland. The photos shown of the dams are original period examples. Lest we forget...
