63 Years ago tonight
 

Gentlemen,
Just a brief reminder if I may...
It was 63 years ago tonight that Guy Gibson and his squadron departed Scampton on their Dams raids.
Let us all spare just a few moments to remember them and all the other aircrew from every nation who have not returned to their loved ones.
God Bless you all and RIP
TSM
'Caruthers, a glass to fallen comrades Sir'

Hear, Hear

"These are only boys and I will never know
How men can see the wisdom in a war"

sw

I'm an ex-member of the Sqn, from recent times, and I was proud to take part in memorials both for this and the other notable raid by the Sqn.

I know there is a lot of cynicism around these days, and that there is also a lot of revisionist history about Bomber Command.

Guy Gibson doesn't seem to have stood the test of time for many people.

But, by God, it was an outstanding feat of airmanship by those involved, with huge losses inflicted, at a time when our country needed all the good news that it could get.

God bless those of you who flew on that raid and those of you who supported it.

This country owes men (and women) like you a massive debt, and it is to our shame if we should ever forget.

It's always a time for me to bow my head in remembrance - not only for this squadron, at this time, but for those of all 3 services, and for other nations who were asked, and expected, to fight tyranny.

Thank you.

Did I hear that there are plans to re-make the movie?

I was reading about it just the other day.

It is being made by the guy who made the Harry Potter movies. It seems David Frost is also involved in the production and has vowed that the film will be true to the event and to the memory of those who took part. They will use the kind of generated computer graphics they used in the Harry Potter films. He also said that when it came to Gibson's dog - it will be called Nigger. Quite right too.

They plan use the Lancaster based at East Kirby at the Aircraft Heritage centre for 'studio' shots.

This might be of interest too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire/as...ter_tour.shtml

First hand account here of Gibson the man - and what a man!

From the excellent Garbett and Goulding 'Lancaster at War 2'. ISBN 0 7110 0966X

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...as/GIBSON1.jpg
http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b2...as/GIBSON2.jpg

Not Harry Potter - it was reported to be Peter Jackson, who directed the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the recent King Kong remake.

More info here, with a denial from Jackson's "people" here.

Regardless of the movies, it was a magnificent achievement which is rightly remembered with pride throughout the Commonwealth.

Edit: Apologies, you are right of course. PPP

T'would be interesting to see a remake using modern technology - but I hope the financial backers don't insist on too many Americans in leading roles and the use of B-17s instead of Lancs.....

And the Hamster wheel starts again.....this has already been beaten to death on another thread (couldn't find it readily, but it's there).

1) I, too, hope that IF the movie is re-made, that it's historically accurate.
2) Who would you cast in the various roles - Gibson, Barnes-Wallis, etc?

Watched a terrible movie ("Submarine X-1") the other night about the X-craft subs used against the Tirpitz. For some reason, James Caan played the boss. In addition to overly dramatic training scenarios, one classic bit had the Germans staging a commando raid on the sub base to thwart the raid.

Naturally, the crews turned out to man the base defenses, going man to man with the German paras. Caan took out the German leader in a one-to-one. Right, are submariners trained as well in the martial arts as we flyers?

Smart RN
 

Brickhistory, agreed absolute rubbish. Did you notice how the gallant RN types had their stiff collars and ties completely in place after sorting out the nasties. Seem to remember a film about midget subs made a long time ago which was excellent.

Lie in the dark and listen. It's clear tonight so they're flying high,
Hundreds of them, thousands perhaps, riding the icy, moonlit sky.
Men, machinery, bombs and maps, altimeters and guns and charts,
Coffee, sandwiches, fleece-lined boots, bones and muscles and minds and hearts,
English saplings with English roots deep in the earth they've left below.
Lie in the dark and let them go; Lie in the dark and listen.



Lie in the dark and listen. They're going over in waves and waves
High above villages, hills and streams, country churches and little graves
And little citizen's worried dreams; very soon they'll have reached the sea.
Lie in the dark and let them go, theirs is a world we'll never know.
Lie in the dark and listen. And far below them will lie the bays
And cliffs and sands where they used to be taken for summer holidays.
Lie in the dark and let them go. Theirs is a world we'll never know.
Lie in the dark and listen.



Lie in the dark and listen. City magnates and steel contractors,
Factory workers and politicians, soft hysterical little actors,
Ballet dancers, reserved musicians, safe in your warm civilian beds.
Count your profits and count your sheep, life is passing above your heads,
Just turn over and try to sleep. Lie in the dark and let them go;
There's one debt you'll forever owe,


Lie in the dark and listen.



For all Bomber Command crews

Shackman:

That really sums it up.

Thanks

Shackman - can you 'attribute' that to anyone?

I think it's Noel Coward, circa 1944, BOAC.

I believe Archimedes to be correct - although I first saw (and copied and kept) it on the wall of one of the old Sqn buildings on a disused airfield in Lincolnshire in the days when kids could play in and around many of them. I'm not 100% sure but it was either Kirmington (long before it became Humberside Airport) or North Killingholme. It certainly wasn't Goxhill, 'cos that still had a load of abandoned hulks of US aircraft on it.

Again I haven't seen an original in print, but I have seen reference to it in connection with Noel Coward.

Shackman, VMT for sharing the poem with us, if it wasn't Noel Coward it deserves to be.

I can confirm that the poet was Noel Coward after he heard the bomber stream passing over London one night. It was AVM Harris who ordered that the bombers pass over London sometimes en-route to their targets to comfort the Londoners who had suffered the attentions of the Luftwaffe earlier in the war.

Many thanks for that Shackman (and Noel Coward I suppose!). My grandfather flew Lancs and made it through the war with many a tale to tell and the gongs to prove it. Sums it all up very well and I'm grateful even if most aren't.
No noise complaints in those days it seems.;)

I just happened upon this today, on the way home from dropping the kids at school. I saw the cross and the sun bleached poppy which drew my attention for a closer look.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...s/_B6O2895.jpg

The inscription reads:
3.12.43 200 yards from this cross, the crew of 9 Sqdn (Bardney) Lancaster DV334, crashed in fog, out of fuel, after surviving the horrors of a raid on Berlin, icing, flak, night fighters,

P/O Warwick
Flt SGT Butterfield
Sgt Graham
Sgt Jones
Sgt Davidson
Sgt Muon
458 aircraft on this sortie
40 failed to return
The aircraft crashed about three miles from Gamston airfield, so near and yet so far.

RIP

A friend of mine owns the Dambuster Inn in Scampton Village and had Sir David Frost & Peter Jackson in for a visit 2 weeks ago. The Dog's name is the only issue with regards to authenticity of the planned movie, it will change according to Sir DF.

The good news is that unlike the original, which followed Barnes W and his plight to find a way to win the war for the first part of the movie, the new film will concentrate on Wg Cdr Gibson's career prior to 617 Sqn.

The theme music is staying too!!!

Due out next December.