Dambusters Book

[Lucky Six]

Have seen the new Dambusters book by Max Arthur but not seen any reviews. Was not in a position to 'flick' through the book to see if it was worth purchasing. Anyone have any comments?

[BEagle]

From a 'South American River' review:

There are many histories written about the Dams raid where you can glean the clinical facts - and there was the film ... but there's nothing like oral history to engage the imagination and bring you close to the people who were there. The Dambusters, far from being 'gung-ho' come over as men of enormous skill, courage and resourcefulness, with a strong camaraderie among the crews. Their own words ring true - some readily admit that Gibson wasn't universally popular - but none doubted his resolve and courage. The crews trained to the increasingly exacting demands by the designer of the new bomb - they recall hair-raising flying at just 60 feet, honing their bombing accuracy - and their accounts build the tension until, on the day of the raid, they learn their night's target and recall their emotions. The accounts of the flight out and the bomb runs on the dams are riveting as some aircraft and crews go down in flames - and as an added bonus, there are detailed recollections from Germans who found themselves under the breaking dams. It's a brilliant read and a great tribute to all involved in the raid, from Barnes Wallis and his work to develop the bomb, to Gibson and all his crews and ground crews of 617 Squadron. Can't recommend it enough.

[Rob82]

I've just finished reading this and found it enthrauling, Read it in 4 days. Such a different perspective on the raid. In my eyes definately a must.

[Lucky Six]

BEagle & Rob many thanks. If the man in the red suit does not leave it (which I doubt very much) I will hunt it down next week.

Merry Christmas to you both.

[BB954]

My wife gave me this book for Xmas and, having read both Paul Brickhill's book about 617 squadron and "Enemy Coast Ahead" by Gibson himself am finding it fascinating as it views the raid from a completely different perspective.

[Lucky Six]

Have just finished reading the book - it is a first class read. I notice that Stephen Fry wrote the forward who is the writer of the screenplay for the remake of the movie. It will be interesting to see whether he draws on the first hand accounts in the book for the movie.

[Double Zero]

I spent a lot of my childhood, and most of my working life at Dunsfold, with one of the - I believe 2 - surviving members of the actual dam-busting raid, Ray Grayston, Flight Engineer.

He never mentioned it, and was only found out when he wore a 'caterpillar club' tie, relating to a later raid, at a retirement party.

I have the honour of being clobbered in the head when as a toddler I got in the way of his powerful swing, which might explain a lot to my detractors !

Will try to track him down for his comments, but have just contacted another ex-Hawkers type who could only say he hadn't heard from Ray for a while.

We have quite a big display area on the 'Dam Busters' raid at Tangmere - though I must mention that some of our museum staff, and Arthur Gibson himself, expressed regret about the whole operation, partly because of the aircrew losses, also the fact that a lot of slave labourers - around 2,000, which the RAF didn't know about, were drowned.

The thing was a great PR success, but only disturbed the German war industry for 6 months at best - then again that time counts for a lot in total war.

[aviate1138]

The page that got my attention was when Albert Speer pointed out that the Eder Dam had nothing to do with the Ruhr and had some of the other dams [involved in power and steel production etc] been hit the result would have been catastrophic in terms of German weapons output.

Also the Sorpe damage was so nearly successful, Speer concluded that had the damage been a few inches lower and a trickle of water started it would inevitably have collapsed.

Fascinating stuff and what a bunch of heros and how often luck plays a huge part in the outcome.

The final Speer observation was that just a few bombs and incendiaries would have finished off the Mohne rebuild just before it's recovery in September '43. So much construction wood around for the incendiaries to set on fire.

So glad I bought the book.