65 years ago, the Dambusters

Sixty five years ago, on this night, a group of gallant young men flew a mission from which only half would return. They were the 617 Squadron later to be remembered as the Dambusters. That night they flew Lancaster bombers from England to the Ruhr valley and bombed out the Moehe and Eder dams. They flew across Europe at an altitude of 150 feet to avoid detection and once there they had to fly straight and level at an altitude of 60 feet between craggy hills along the reservoir with German anti-aircraft fire zeroing in on them. It was said that they flew so low that some German guns could not depress far enough to fire at them. Of the 19 aircraft that left England that night, only 11 returned, leaving 53 dead aircrew behind.

This was the generation of my parents and it is hard to realize that the frail, old, white haired men were the young men who flew the mission. They were in their late teens or early twenties and had lived through the Great Depression and now they were risking everything to stop Nazi Germany. Their C/O, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, winner of a Victoria Cross, was only 25 years old and most of his crews were younger than him. Many of them after having survived the raid would never see the end of the war. In fact of the 133 who left 53 died on the mission and most of the others would be dead before 1945. Of Gibson's crew none survived the war.
What must it have been like during those dark days, going out in those aircraft and knowing that you might never come home. Yet all of the crews of those 19 bombers were volunteers and were willing to put everything on the line. We should never forget these men and women who suffered much and were willing to pay the ultimate price so we could have our freedom today.
Here is a short video excerpt from about the commemoration flyby at Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire, which was used by the original pilots to train ahead of their famous raid.