70 years ago NOW the dam burst. _. .. --. --. . .-. NIGGER

"70 years ago NOW the dam burst:"

And within minutes 1,700 civilians were drowned. Including 700 Female Slave workers from the Ukraine, a 90 year old Grandmother and a 6 month old baby..

War is just horrid.

Has 'The Merchant of Venice' been banned because of its treatment of Jews?

Then why is the RAF self-censoring?

Nice one pr00ne :yuk:

You could always celebrate by donning your anorak and marching with the ban-the-bombers or crawl into your self-righteous cave.

Yes, war is horrible but, to quote Basil Fawlty, "Well, we didn't start it".

+1 to the above.

And :D to this "Well, we didn't start it". :ok:

To quote Pvt Baldrick:

Analysis of which by Capt. E. Blackadder was as follows:

Thanks to Sky TV, I was able to watch the coverage from Scampton on Look North yesterday evening - very good. Then later the movie itself on DVD - still good after nearly 60 years!

I was delighted to see that Les Munro was there.

When I was in NZ last year, I bought a book of interviews with the crews - the title escapes me. My wife was looking at it and said "It's used! Someone has written on the title page." "What does it say?""There are some words and a signature - Les Munro". "That's not a used book; that's been signed by one of the pilots!"

Interestingly,Les's Lancaster was hit by flak on the inbound track and the intercom was disabled, so they had to abort, since the intercom was vital in getting the height right on the bomb run. He ascribes his survival as probably due to that lucky hit.

ahhh an escape hatch cheers!!...seems obvious now doh!

Skua, I'm with you. Why anyone puts Butler behind a microphone is beyond me. He was a useless pratt when he played for Wales and he has remained consistent ever since!

His ill-informed and ill-timed drivel detracted from what, otherwise, was a superb event.

I couldn't help but feel the BBC were an imposition on, if not an obstruction in, an almost private RAF event, especially given how uncomfortable some of the esteemed guests appeared when Dan Snow (who managed at least three uses of "iconic") went among them.
And, true to form, the Beeb's caption team managed to put 'Air Vice Marshall' on screen despite presumably having plenty of research material. The Corporation would have done better to have taken a step back and let the ceremony speak for itself.

Let's agree that the Beeb didn't make a great job of it (to put it mildly). In addition to all the other criticisms, decent researchers might have let the commentary point out the rather nice symmetry of Barnes Wallis' design for the VG 'Swallow' prefiguring the Tornado by a few decades!

But . . . at least they gave an hour of time to it; the public perhaps won't be as picky as we might be, and on balance it's surely good that plenty of people will have had the chance to see the event. It does no harm to keep reminding the taxpayers what airpower can do.

It's just a pity that the rather well-done follow-up Timewatch documentary was on so late last night. Good to hear a young historian tell the revisionists where to stick their 'no value' assessments of Chastise. OK, it took the Germans 'only' 5 months to sort it all out. If it wasn't any big deal, how come they devoted that much effort at a stage when they were struggling? And when Rommel arrived to take over the Atlantic Wall he found several holes in it - resources had been busy repairing the Ruhr! So ask the guys on D-Day if they think Chastise had been useful.

BBC website have Mick Martin listed as a pom.. Errh, no he wasn't..

Just been listening to Jeremy Vine in Radio 2....

...repeated several times as he reports on the BBMF Lancaster landing at Biggin Hill today.

Gave up as his excited breathless reporting was too much. He did admit that he is not an aviation aficionado.....No? Really?

I thought our Royal Air Force was a shining example last night with the Ceremony held at RAF Scampton. Just the right balance to commemorate all the crews that took part in Operation Chastise and the salute to those that never returned from the mission.

Just in case some people missed the BBC 2 coverage ... it has just been released on iPlayer.

BBC iPlayer The Dambusters 70 Years On

Just a shame the commentators made a few gaffs ...

During the Guard of Honour Right Dress ... Eddie Butler said "there's a bit of shuffling about" :ugh:

Just before the 617 Squadron Standard was Marched On ... Eddie Butler said of the Standard "it's an important badge" :ugh:

Here are some screen grabs of the BBC 2 OB for friends overseas without access to VPN to view iPlayer :ok:

All images are from the BBC.

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...psd23baba4.jpg

Well played F/L Dunlop and crew :D

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...ps23e8c3c2.jpg

Well played F/O Ward immaculate drill :D

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...ps98ef9de6.jpg

Arrival timing ... perfect :D

http://i1004.photobucket.com/albums/...psec78f429.jpg

Nice appropriate words from AVM Atha :D

Best regards ...

Coff.

Also available on BBC iPlayer

BBC iPlayer - Timewatch: Dam Busters: The Race to Smash the German Dams

BBC iPlayer - Dambusters Declassified: Dambusters Declassified

At 22:00 in the programme from last night, one of the Spits has a tail wheel, the other doesn't appear to. Is it retractable or......well, what? Anyone know?

Butler and Snow aside,

A well executed tribute by all comcerned
- to borrow the well-known phrase, dust in the eyes here.

And as said previously, that in credible fool Vine.

We talked of it all in my local at teatime; and how good it was to see the younger ones showing so much interest, and respect.

Mainly due to not actively seeking out production details to list and bleat about, I suspect I may have enjoyed the spectacle more than most.

It was great.

CG

Was lucky enough to be at the service in Lincoln Cathedral today. Superb event, Standard Party were immaculate and the flyby by the GR4's a wonderful prelude to the 4 circuits of the Lancaster over the Cathedral grounds. Bit windy which probably accounted for the dust getting into my eyes when the Merlins echoed across the city! Well done to all involved, especially the 617 crews who displayed such courage and fortitude in May 1943 and have continued to do so ever since.