Les Munro, the only Dambuster pilot still alive, shows no sign of slowing down now that he has reached his 90s. According to the Christchurch Press, last week he sat at the controls of a Dakota DC3 shortly after a 30 minute flight over Christchurch with a group of other 2nd World War veterans.
The vintage aircraft obviously brought back memories, as he commended the flight because he ‘could listen to the motors’ and get a sense of flying in a machine.
Les has always been an active sort. He went back to farming after the war, as well as being active in local politics. It’s good to see that he still has plenty of get up and go. Could the next gig for the nonagenerian be a cameo in the remake of THAT FILM, still ‘in development’ elsewhere in The Land of the Great White Cloud?
A cup of tea with William Hatton’s sister
Time to let go, chaps, time to let go
At South Africa 2010, the Germans again came out on top against England – as they have in every major tournament since 1966. Surely it’s time to bury the tiresome ‘Two World Wars and one World Cup’ taunt for good.
Ken Brown’s boots – and other memorabilia – stolen
Important Canadian air force memorabilia was stolen in a break-in at Calgary’s Aero Space Museum last week. The thieves raided the petty cash and charity collection boxes, as well as taking items used by various RCAF personnel in both the first and second world wars. Perhaps the most valuable were the swagger stick, flying hat and log book which were once owned by a First World war pilot, Lt Tim Thompson. Of most interest to Dambuster enthusiasts were the loss of a pair of flying boots given to the museum by Ken Brown, the pilot of AJ-F on the Dams Raid. (Whether he wore them on the raid itself is not recorded.)
There is a limited market for this sort of stuff — so if any readers see anything suspicious on EB*y or other sites, they should get in touch with the authorities immediately.
UPDATE: Someone obviously had a change of heart, as all the items have been returned anonymously! Latest report from the Calgary Sun.
The Dams Raid: a historical perspective
Digging about on the RAF Museum website, as one does, I came across what seems like a very interesting resource, the online version of the Journal of the RAF Historical Society. The society was established in 1986 and runs two or three seminars every year devoted to the whole range of RAF history. It also publishes a journal, and the first 36 numbers of these are all available online. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be either an index or a full list of contents, so I haven’t yet explored every single issue. However, I can say that issue no. 34 could be useful to anyone with an interest in the Dams Raid, as it contains a 26 page article by Wg Cdr T M Webster entitled ‘The Dam Busters Raid – Success or Sideshow?’
This is an interesting, factual account which starts well before the war, and the involvement of Barnes Wallis. Based largely on the book by John Sweetman, it deals with the identification of the Ruhr dams as important industrial targets and the various ideas which were developed for attacking them. Then it follows through the chronology of the planning, the raid itself and its aftermath.
The conclusion? Perhaps not surprisingly, it is that:
allying this precision [the accuracy of the bombing] to the dramatic post-raid reconnaissance photographs, the undoubted bravery of the crews involved and a pre-determination to use the raid for propaganda purposes it is hardly surprising that the Dams Raid remains the RAF’s most famous single operation and No 617 its most famous squadron.
All in all, the Dams Raid was an all-round success and not a slideshow.
You can download the whole (8MB) PDF here.
Dambusters not affected by MGM woes
Flg Off Robert Urquhart’s Logbook
pic: Bomber Command Museum of Canada
Over on the Key Publishing Aviation Forum member Simon Spitfire has posted images of Flg Off Robert Urquhart’s logbook, which I reproduce below. (If I have infringed anyone’s copyright, please inform me.)
Urquhart was the navigator in Henry Maudslay’s AJ-Z, which was shot down on the way home, after being damaged in the attack on the Eder Dam. He was Canadian, and had a DFC for completing a tour of operations in 50 Squadron.
Dams Raid: first hand accounts by David Shannon and Tony Burcher
These first hand accounts of the Dams Raid were posted on an Australian aviation art forum in 2008 by someone called Stephen Diver. They come from letters sent to the Diver family by David Shannon (pilot AJ-L) and Tony Burcher (rear gunner in AJ-M, piloted by John Hopgood). You will have to scroll down some way to read them all (and make sense of some pretty terrible typing and spelling!) but they make interesting reading.
Perhaps the most fascinating is Tony Burcher’s account of what his pilot John Hopgood said as he realised that his aircraft was badly damaged:
Then John said“Right well what do you think?” Should we go on? I intend to go on because we have only got a few minutes left. We’ve come this far.“There’s no good taking this thing back with us. The aircraft is completely manageable. I can handle it ok. Any objections?”I remember hearing Charlie [Brennan] (who as F/E would have been standing right beside John at this time) interrupt him by saying“Well what about your face? Its bleeding like..”and John interrupting him mid word by saying“just hold a handkerchief over it”.So I imagine for the remainder of the raids time Charlie would have been standing next to John in an attempt to try and stem the bleeding and keep his eye sight clear.I have no idea as to the nature of the wound and can only assume it to have been a head wound of some nature.Based on Charlies reactions,and he was normally a calm chap, I can only assume Johns wounds to have been severe in nature. I think anyone else would have probably turned around at that point and headed for home but not John.That was the type of man he was.
Sobering stuff.
[Hat tip Night Warrior on Lancaster Archive Forum]
One for the diary
Coming to a TV screen near you sometime in the autumn is a new production from BBC North and BBC Lincolnshire. This features actor Martin Shaw, sometime screen heartthrob Raymond Doyle, as he pilots a light aircraft over the route to the dams and tries out the technology used 67 years ago. It focuses mainly on how well the wooden bombsight and other instruments used at the time stand up today. We are promised new evidence ‘which reveals secrets which have remained hidden for the last 67 years’. It will be interesting to find out what this is!
Full transmission details will be posted shortly.
Video trailer for the programme here.














