Author Archives: charlesfoster
Bouncing bomb reaches US screens
If you haven’t yet caught up with the Windfall Films documentary Building the Bouncing Bomb, screened last May in the UK and later in Canada, you now have a chance to see it, if you live in the USA. It’s … Continue reading
Filed under Modern documentaries
The Dam Busters – Heffer’s view
If you watched The Dam Busters earlier today on ITV4, and are now paying your first visit to this blog, welcome. You may be searching for more information about the remake of the film, which is in the hands of … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Dambusters remake
Christmas is all around me, and so the feeling grows…
…and so the immortal words of Billy Mack from Love Actually ring out as another year draws to a close. This blog has just had its most successful year, with nearly 100,000 visits. So let me wish all of you, … Continue reading
Filed under Indescribable
Bill Townsend obituary
Wartime portrait by Cuthbert Orde, published in The Tatler, September 1943 The last pilot to land his aircraft safely on the night of the Dams Raid was Bill Townsend, pilot of AJ-O. He had been detailed as one of the … Continue reading
Filed under Bill Townsend, Obituaries
Dams Raid: how Cleveland heard the news
Dom Howard continues to add to his impressive collection of contemporary reports of the Dams Raid. Here’s the latest, from Cleveland, Ohio, dated 17 May 1943. You can check out the full array of scans on his Photobucket page.
Filed under Contemporary reports
BFI shows off Dam Buster stills
The British Film Institute has revamped its stills website, so that it now displays many more items from its collection. The first thing I searched for was, of course, The Dam Busters, where there are 24 items including most of the … Continue reading
Filed under Dam Busters 1955 film, Erwin Hillier
Hay spells it out
[Picture from The Dam Busters by Paul Brickhill, Evans Brothers, 1951 edition] Anyone who has read the later chapters of Paul Brickhill’s book The Dam Busters may recall the chapter devoted to a gadget called the Stabilising Automatic Bomb Sight … Continue reading
Vincent MacCausland – new pictures
I last wrote about Vincent MacCausland some eighteen months ago, and reported on some letters and pictures which had been found in Canada by Joel Joy. Joel has now pulled everything together in a Flickr page, and added some more … Continue reading
Filed under Vincent MacCausland
Dambuster pictures from the Bomber County
Deep in the heart of Lincolnshire lives Anna Haworth, photographer extraordinaire. She has a particular fascination with all things aeronautical, and most especially the Dambusters. There are loads of pictures on her Flickr page, which you can see here. And … Continue reading
Filed under Dambuster memorabilia, Modern photographs
The race to smash the German dams
James Holland’s film, shown on BBC2 last Tuesday night, is available for UK viewers to watch again on iPlayer until Saturday 19 November. Follow this link. So far, I can’t find any reviews posted online, but I have come across … Continue reading
Filed under Dams Raid crews, Modern documentaries
