Dambusters

Dig even a little bit into Lancaster history, and it's unavoidable that the 'Dambusters' raid pops up very quickly. Officially designated Operation Chastise, the raid took place during the night of May 16/17, 1943, with the aim of destroying several dams in the heartland of the industrial Ruhr Valley, and so inflict damage to Germany's war effort. Specially adapted Lancasters carried 'bouncing bombs', designed by Barnes Wallis specifically to destroy the dams. These Lancasters had their dorsal gun turret removed, to compensate for the additional weight of the bomb.

Nineteen Lancasters in the especially created 617 squadron participated in the raid, carrying a total of 133 crew between them. Of these 19 Lancasters, eight did not return, and 53 of the 133 men were killed; a nearly 40% casualty rate.

Many books have been written about the Dambusters Raid; these are the four that I have:

The Foster book is especially poignant, being the only book to give biographies of each of the 133 men. For 53 if them, their biography didn't extend beyond May 1943 ....

Of course, there is also the movie from 1955. Keep in mind that the movie is not always historically accurate (it's a movie, after all).

Tangmere Military Aviation Museum has a display dedicated to 617 Dambusters squadron, which includes a nice diorama depicting three Lancasters near one of the dams.

And while we're talking Dambusters dioramas, have a look at this marvelous 1/32 diorama, created by Carl Robertshaw. Pleased to say, I know the artist personally ...

When it comes to my new collection of 1/144 models of Lancasters, it's only right that the first one should be a 'Dambuster Lancaster', and there are plenty of these available via eBay and other web-sites. Nearly all of these have the squadron code AJ-G on the fuselage, signifying it's a model of the aircraft (ED932) flown by Guy Gibson, the Commander of the raid.

Here is my 1:144 model of Guy's aircraft:

And of course, the model carries a 'bouncing bomb':

I said 'nearly all', didn't I? One 'Dambuster Lancaster' model I came across shows the squadron code AJ-C:

No specific information was given in the eBay listing or on the box that the model came in, but AJ-C is the aircraft piloted by Warner ("Bill") Ottley. This Lancaster was shot down, and six of the seven crew (including the pilot) were killed. A memorial plaque exists close to where the aircraft crashed, near Hamm in Germany.

Last, but certainly not least: let's not forget the roughly one and a half thousand people in the Ruhr Valley that were killed by the surging flood waters after the dams were breached, the majority of them prisoners of war and forced labourers ...

Lancaster, etc

As you may be aware, I have a long term interest in Spitfires and their history (see my Spitfire-focused blog). As such, it's hard to avoid coming across another iconic British WWII aircraft. I'm talking of course of the Lancaster. We even have a Lancaster-themed tin for tea bags in the kitchen!

Just as is the case for Spitfires, many books have been published on the Lancaster. Here are a couple of books on Lancaster history that I have ...

 

... plus a reprint of a 1943 manual, just in case I ever need to fly one 😀!

The Lancaster was designed and built by A. V. Roe and Company (aka Avro). Of course, the Lancaster wasn't the only aircraft designed and built by Avro. From the early 1900s on, they designed and produced and wide range of aircraft; think, for instance, of the Vulcan .... Two books on the history of Avro, and their aircraft, on my shelf:

For a long time, I was keen to start a collection of Lancaster models, similar to what I did for 1:72 scale Spitfires. What stopped me was simply practicality: a real Lancaster having about twice the wingspan of a real Spitfire, means I just wouldn't have anywhere to display a collection of 1:72 scale Lancaster models ... Until I found out they also come in 1:144 scale! A 1:144 Lancaster is only just a tad larger than a 1:72 Spitfire ... And a quick Google search showed there are indeed a fair few different 1:144 scale models of Lancasters and related aircraft out there.

So this is the start of a new collection, and a new blog to record my Lancaster models, as well as anything else Lancaster-related picked up along the way.

Talking of which, some time ago I stumbled across a rivet gun on eBay. Really an impulse buy; it wasn't expensive. Some research on the brand of the gun showed it was made by a company (Aircraft Materials Ltd) that was active in WWII selling equipment to the aircraft industry. 

Chances are that this rivet gun was used in the building of a Lancaster (or possibly a Spitfire). I can't ever be sure, so I'll simply hold on to that thought. 

Ok, buckle up: 1:144 scale Lancaster models coming to a blog near you soon!