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Interview with Les Munro
John Leslie Munro was born in the area of Gisborne, New Zealand. He only completed two years of secondary education because of the economic slump and in 1936 began work on a sheep ranch and then a mixed farm. On the outbreak of the Second World War,…
Interview with John James Smith
John Smith grew up near Corby surrounded by aerodromes so he was used to the sight of aircraft. He observed Lancaster aircraft practicing for the Dambusters raid over Eye Brook Reservoir. He also witnessed glider practice and was impressed by the…
Interview with John 'Snogger' Watkins
John Watkins was working in retail in Rotherham and in 1939 he joined 218 Squadron ATC. He joined the RAF in February 1942 at RAF Cardington, and did his initial training at Blackpool. In December 1942 he did his wireless training at RAF Yatesbury.…
Interview with Cyril Gosling
Cyril Gosling trained as an armourer at Kirby in Blackpool and was first posted to 49 Squadron where he worked on the guns and turrets. As part of his role he would go on flights in the bombers to check the guns accuracy by firing at drogues. On…
Letter to David Donaldson from Aunt Theresa
Sassoon
Thanks him for photographs and congratulates on award of Distinguished Service Order. Comments on Dams operation and other war news. Continues with family news and hopes the war will soon be over.
Theresa Sassoon was Siegfried Sassoon's mother. …
Theresa Sassoon was Siegfried Sassoon's mother. …
Lancaster with mid gun turret removed
A port side view of Lancaster AJ-P from the film of the Dam Busters. Its tail is up and is either landing or taking off.
History of Lancaster B.III ED 945
Ordered 1941 and built by A.V. Roe at Chadderton near Manchester as one of a batch of 620 between November 1943 and June 1943. Twenty of this batch either side of ED 932 (Gibson's aircraft) were modified as type 464 provisioning to enable Barnes…
No. 5 Group Operation Order No. B. 976
A Top Secret document referring to the operation to the Ruhr dams. There is a general section describing the purpose of the operation, a section on defences and the priorities of the attack. There is a list of 19 aircraft and their crew from 617…
No 617 Squadron and the operation to breach the dams
Album page with three clippings, one from from The Daily Telegraph and Morning Post dated Tuesday May 18 1943 showing a number of Lancasters over a city, captioned '617 Lancs'. One summarising the news from around November 1944, including the sinking…
Exhibition of Dambuster Pilots Wings
Top centre a title 'this photograph was taken the day after the attack on the dams of [..] pilots who took off for the dams only eleven returned'. Top centre a photograph of twelve pilots in two rows labelled 'Back row: Flt Lt Townsend, Flt Lt…
Mohne Dam
Reconnaissance photograph with lake on the left and a dam middle with breach with water flowing through. Captioned between pages 46-47 of 1956 Memoir [written vertically on LHS of page presumably for landscape orientation of photo] 'Mohne Dam. The…
Eder Dam
Reconnaissance photograph showing lake on left with breached dam half way up on left. Farmland fields top right. Captioned between page 47-48 of 1956 Memoir '[heading] 617 Squadron [/heading]
[caption - written vertically on LHS of page presumably…
[caption - written vertically on LHS of page presumably…
Damage descriptions for post operation photographs
Damage descriptions to go with post operation photographs of Cologne, Moehne and Eder Dams. Relates to photographs C.2550, CH.9687 and CH.9750.
Cuttings reporting and commenting on last operational flight by a Lancaster
Cutting annotated 15 Oct 1956, reports last operational flight of a Coastal Command Lancaster.
A magazine cutting January 1957 reports the last operational Lancaster flight.
A cutting of a letter suggesting that the Lancaster should be preserved…
A magazine cutting January 1957 reports the last operational Lancaster flight.
A cutting of a letter suggesting that the Lancaster should be preserved…
Mohne Dam
Three photographs from an album.
Photo 1 is a postcard of the dam, captioned 'Mohnetalsphere'.
Photo 2 is the dam breached.
Photo 3 is the lake behind the dam, captioned 'Am Mohnsee' and 'RAF Leave Centre 1946'
Photo 1 is a postcard of the dam, captioned 'Mohnetalsphere'.
Photo 2 is the dam breached.
Photo 3 is the lake behind the dam, captioned 'Am Mohnsee' and 'RAF Leave Centre 1946'
Ruhr dams breached and growing devastation in the Ruhr
Article 1. Headlines: Ruhr dams breached, daring low level attack by Lancaster, walls blasted out with 1500lb mines, vast damage by floods. Short account of Dams operation. Article 2. Headlines: growing devastation in Ruhr; flood waters sweep into…
Mohne dam breached
Two photographs. Top showing Mohne dam breached in the centre with lake on the rights. Bottom photograph shows the dam before the attack.
Bomber crew and presentation of silver aircraft
Top - seven aircrew wearing various uniform or flying clothing standing in line under the engine of a bomber. Mick Martin is third from the right. Bertie Foxlee is on the left. Bottom - 22nd June 1943 Hungaria restaurant in London following the…
Lancaster airborne
Head on view of a Lancaster with undercarriage down just above the ground. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'.
Lancaster at low level
Air-to-air view of rear quarter view of a four engine bomber with squadron letters 'AJ-G' airborne at low level with fields below. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'.
Lancaster at low level
Air-to-air view of rear quarter view of a four engine bomber with squadron letters 'AJ-P' and registration NX673' airborne at low level with fields below. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'.
On the…
On the…
Lancaster at low level
Air-to-air view of rear quarter view of a four engine bomber with squadron letters 'AJ-G' and registration 'NX679' airborne at low level with fields below. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'. The nose…
Two Lancaster aircraft airborne
Air-to-air view of two Lancaster aircraft airborne in echelon formation. Taken from the port side of the two aircraft. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'. On the reverse 'Shuter, Dick Lambert, Mike…
Lancaster at low level
Air-to-air view of rear quarter view of a four engine bomber with squadron letters 'AJ-G' and registration 'NX679' airborne at low level in a bank to the right with fields below. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The…
Lancaster airborne
Air-to-air view of rear quarter view of a four engine bomber with squadron letters 'AJ-G' airborne with clouds above. The aircraft carries a mocked up bouncing bomb for the filming of 'The Dam Busters'.
On the reverse 'Originally a 617 aircraft…
On the reverse 'Originally a 617 aircraft…