Flying at 60 Feet!

[Charlie Farley]

Tonight i watched a superb documentary on the Dambusters Raid on the German Dams in 1943. Well worth a watch.
To say it took your breath away, is an understatement.
A few glimpses from the program.

110,000 RAF Bomber Command personnel flew during WW2, 55,000 casulties.
It turned out to be the most ' deadly' of any choice of service you could have undertaken. Chances of survival were 5 missions, in other words , 2 weeks !

The Squadron that undertook the mission was 617, that was comprised of 30% Commonwealth and USA personnel serving in the RAF.

Not to bore you, but this quote i remember :

" At first, we were instructed to approach the practise target from 200 feet, in the dark. Remember a Lancaster Bomber had a wingspan of 110 feet, much like a B-17 . This was soon reduced to 100 feet, at which point, the Altimeter ceased working ! Subsequently, the optimum bomb dropping altitude was deduced to be 60 foot, or lower ......

Upon returning from a practise mission this is a quote from a Canadian Navigator :

" We were returning home at 60 feet, for practice reasons, the 'SOB' pilot of another aircraft, flew under us !!"
:shocked: !!

Unbelievable, and with only 4 weeks practise.
They even had an Apache Gunship pilot try it, he was gobsmacked.

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

Enjoy.

 

[Charlie Farley]

As an aside, Squadron Leader Guy Gibson lead the raid .

After receiving his VC from King George ( Victoria Cross, Britain's Highest Medal for valour, in the face of enemy action ), Gibson wrote an account of his wartime career, " Enemy Coast Ahead " , and was sent on a lecture tour of the United States by the British government, partly to keep the new hero safe.

The tour was at a time when the first American airmen were coming home 'tour expired' after 25 operations.

During questions one young lady asked

`Wing Commander Gibson, how many operations have you been on over Germany?'

'One hundred and seventy-four.' Was his reply.

There was a stunned silence."

In December 1943 he was awarded the Legion of Merit (Commander) by the President of the United States of America.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Guy Gibson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Charlie Farley]

49 viewing The Paddock, and not one comment?
Shame on you....

 

[zollis]

Andrew you seem to be quite proud of Bomber Command.

What is your view towards the bombing of Dresden in 1945 ?







Z.C.

 

[Jon Briggs]

What is your view towards the bombing of Dresden in 1945 ?

Its still standing isn't it? Didn't finish the job did they.

 

[Jon Briggs]

Upon returning from a practise mission this is a quote from a Canadian Navigator :

" We were returning home at 60 feet, for practice reasons, the 'SOB' pilot of another aircraft, flew under us !!"

I remember this quote, it really was an incredible feat of flying ability. Heroes, every single one of them.

 

[Ian Anderson]

Andrew

I saw that documentary and it is extremely good.

Also a very good time to be shown as it's coming up to Armistice Day

Time to remember the brave men from all countries.

Ian

And FIFA Sod off

 

[Tony Hunt]

Flying Canberras in the 1960s in Cyprus, we used to fire 2" rockets from level flight at 60 feet at 350knots. The gravity drop would decide the range, but the impact footprint, although accurate in line, was pretty poor in range as it was so long.
The horizon got distinctly curved at that height!
In retrospect, I pity the poor Cypriots who lived under our run-in on the Larnaca range (now the airport), who used to get their windows rattled anything up to 8 times an hour, sometimes by 2 aircaft in battle formation.

 

[Charlie Farley]

Zollis,

Interested in Dresden ?
Then i'll tell you a little story.

At the end of WW2, various voices were heard in this country, denouncing
the RAF's use of an aerial bombing campaign against targets in Germany.
Infact, the politicians of the day, including some say Churchill, distanced themselves from the strategic decision and turned their backs on Air Marshal 'Bomber' Harris and Bomber Command. Infact, Bomber Command still remains the only branch of any of the Services, not to receive a Campaign Medal. Many brave men were made to feel guilty about their war service.

Well, one of those brave men survived the war and felt obliged to hide the fact of being in Bomber Command from his workmates. One of his night time missions had been to bomb light industrial towns in southern Germany.
At the time, they were not told why the target was to be bombed, just carried out their mission.

In 1947, whilst he was attending the cinema, a Pathe news film was showing before the main feature. This news film showed footage filmed at Auschwitz, more precisely, it featured close up footage of the Crematoria . The oven doors were clearly visible. As he watched the footage, one thing stood out more than any other... cast into the oven door was the name of the manufacturer of the ovens and the name of the small town he had bombed some 3 years before.
From that day on he felt vindicated and once more proud of his service.

As to Dresden, you may ask.
Firstly Hitler initiated the act of indiscrimate bombing of civilian targets, but
more to the point, Dresden had immense strategic value, both as a manufacturing centre and as a major transportation hub. Disruption of this was sound militarily.

 

[Mark]

God Bless all our Service Men and Women, past, present and future.

 

[Jeff Young]

It was an amazing mission. As you may recall the idea was to break the dams and flood the Ruhr, the hear of Germany's industrial sector. Can't remember how successful it ended up being but it was an amazing mission.

 

[Fran Hall RCR]

My kids and I had the pleasure of crawling inside one of the last flying Lancasters a few weeks ago on our trip back to the UK...A friend works for the organisation and we had special permission to actually get inside this superb machine.
RAF Coningsby houses the Battle of Britain collection ...Spitfires and the Lancaster.

Laying in the bomb sighters berth along with the tail gunners position gave me a new appreciation for these guys.....at 60 feet holy sh%t..!!!!


My Daughter is only 12 and you can see how tight the Lancaster is , it was quite an honour and was an incredible way to spend an afternoon

 

[Mark]

A couple of summers ago, I was in the field getting parts from my storage, when the Memorial Flight Lancaster came shooting across the field at little more than tree height. Seriously, I nearly S**t myself. Running outside I could see the Pilot through the window!

 

[zollis]

Andrew,

I read your " little story " found it interesting and balanced. No matter how much we discuss the events of 68 and 66 years ago , we are unable to change them . Hopefully there is a lesson to learn .

I have to say; The men whom flew at 60 feet at night ---- well --- they truly had BIG Family Jewels.




Z.C.

 

[Mick Ridley]

This book will make you realise what these men went through

See large image <SCRIPT type=text/javascript src="http://books.google.com/books/previewlib.js"></SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>GBS_setLanguage('en');</SCRIPT><SCRIPT type=text/javascript>GBS_insertPreviewButtonLink('9780141015040',{'alternativeUrl': '/browse/bookviewer?isbn13=9780141015040'});</SCRIPT>


Tail End Charlies: The Last Battles of the Bomber War




Full description for Tail End Charlies

• Night after night, they swallowed their fears and flew long distances through packs of enemy fighters to drop the bombs that could destroy Hitler and bring about the end of the war. Tens of thousands of young men never came back, blown up or bailing out from burning aircraft to drop helplessley into enemy hands. Yet history has condemned their brave and valiant actions, denouncing them for the destruction of German cities and civilians, rather than acknowledging them for the heroes that they are. For the first time John Nichol and Tony Rennell tell the story of the controversial last battles of Bomber Command through the eyes of the heroic men who fought them.

• 
  

 

[Charlie Farley]

Mick,

Dead right, i bought that book when it came out.
Also, i was lucky enough to talk to John Nichol about his research.
It really is a sensational read. No longwinded discussions about tactics , strategy and that stuff, just crammed full of detailed recollections of the guys at the sharp end. Some funny, but alas, too often , tragic. Like the tale of a B17 on its last mission of the 25 flight tour of duty. For our forum members in the USA, it also has many pages devoted to the stories of US Army Airforce crews.
I bought that book as i wanted to find out what my Father had gone through,
he was a Tail End Charlie on heavy bombers. After reading it, i realised why he never talked about his service. It wasn't until around 2007 that i even knew he had crash landed.
Just as an aside, the British used the Tail End monicer to denote the tail gunner, the Americans to denote the last plane in a formation.
If you are stuck choosing a Christmas present and the book might be of interest to the recipient, i guarantee they will thankyou for it.

 

[Anthony]

Mention of the Dambusters so I like to share my tenuous links. My wife's grandfather made the wingtips for Lancasters, I grew up near Chesil beach where the bomb designs were field tested and I am a Gibson although I don't believe actually related, well not that I have found so far