WWII Forums Quiz Part III

Not a bad wild guess, Martin. Priller´s the man!

His usual sarcastic way of saying things, I guess...

Over to you, Martin!

 

Who was the last 'Dambuster' home ?
And who was waiting to greet him at the steps of the aircraft ?

( For nit-pickers : I mean the pilot, and he didn't 'bust' a dam.... )

 

Oh dear !

OK, skip the second part - it's obviously not as easy as I thought ! ( Clue : I don't think you'll find the answer on the internet...)

 

Heh heh heh-- Rudolf Hess greeted him. Actually--I have no clue.

 

Errr - please... you at the back of the class ; pay attention !

 

Sorry Sir, but I wasn't paying atention either....please don't put me on detention....I mean, after all, that is a hard question...

 

Hard !? Hard !? It's a piece of cake....

 

Not the answer but interesting stuff, I´d think:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/1976275.stm

A set of medals awarded to one of the heroes of the Dambuster raids are to be sold by the man who prevented them going abroad 14 years ago.
Former RAF serviceman Geoff Wood bought the Distinguished Flying Medals at an auction in London, after it seemed a foreign buyer would buy them.

Despite not having the £6,000 for the medals, he bagged the historic set before handing them back to their original recipient, Sgt Douglas Webb.

Mr Webb flew 27 missions as a gunner on Lancaster bombers before being selected in March 1943 for the 617 Squadron, which attacked the Mohne, Sorpe, and Eder dams - flooding the German war industry.

Mr Wood, 80, of Heaverham, near Sevenoaks, Kent, gave the medals back to Mr Webb to wear on official RAF parades, on the understanding they would be returned upon his death.

Mr Webb died earlier this year, and the medals are expected to fetch more than £5,000 at independent auctioneers Spink on Thursday.

Mr Webb gave up his career as a photographer to join the RAF's World War II No 49 Squadron.

On April 16, 1943 Sgt Webb and his fellow crew members took off in their Avro Lancaster bomber, piloted by Flight Sgt Bill Townsend.

Their job was to fly over a dam not intended for bombing in a bid to draw fire away from the RAF's main targets, and their plane, O for Orange, was the last one back.

Also being sold with the medals is Sgt Webb's logbook, covering the period of the Dambuster raids, with entries by Wing Commander Guy Gibson

What happened to the medals in the end? Martin?

-----------

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/54811.stm

Monday, February 9, 1998

Dam Buster labs broken up
A small piece of British military history, the inspiration for one of the most famous war films of all time, is being consigned to the scrapheap in a few weeks. As Tom Heap reports, the giant water tanks at Teddington, Middlesex, in which Britain's "bouncing bombs" were tested during World War II are being demolished.

 

Can we buy those tanks?

 

More "other" stuff...

http://www.rafayork.co.uk/may2001.htm

George Chalmers was the last of the "Dambusters" to leave RAF employment. George lives in Harrogate, and started his war in 1939 as an AC1 Wireless Operator Air Gunner flying Whitley Bombers out of Dishforth. He was one of the original "bumfleteers" dropping leaflets on Germany. (If you don't know where "bumf" originated click here!)



George re-called doing his LAC exams in early 1940 before going on leave, and on returning to Dishforth from leave was very apprehensive about the results. He says he was called in by his Flight Sergeant and was amazed to be told to report to stores to collect, not his LAC propellor, but, Sergeant's stripes..... During his leave the Air Ministry had decided that all aircrews should be senior NCO's.

(Webmaster's Note - Surprisingly it was the Germans who had persuaded the Air Ministry - the Germans treated senior NCO and officer prisoners much better than they did other ranks - so because of the increasing numbers of aircrew being taken prisoner Air Ministry decided aircrews should be at least senior NCO's - How thoughtful!!)


Propably wrong but I answer: George Chalmers..



OPERATION CHASTISE
The legendary Dambuster raid, may 16/17/ 1943.
32.25" x 23.5".
L/E 700, 70 Artists proofs, 50 Portfolio.
Signed by George Chalmers, Ray grayston, Dudley Heal, Edward Johnson, George Johnson

http://www.scotgallery.com.au/airancom/taylor/rtnew2.html


The problem of how a bomber delivered weapon could breach a major dam was studied by Dr. Barnes Wallis, a distinguished aircraft designer and scientist. Concluding that an attack with a conventional bomb was out of the question, Dr. Barnes developed a 9250 pound cylindrical weapon which, when released at an altitude of sixty feet while rotating backwards at a rate of 500 rpm, would skip along the surface to the dam, roll to a point near the base, and then explode causing shock waves which would crumble the dam.

Recognizing the difficulty of delivering Barnes's weapon, a special squadron (617) led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson was created. The crews were handpicked by Gibson and began training for low level, night operations.

The Lancaster was chosen for the squadron because it was the only aircraft capable of lifting the weapon designed by Dr. Wallis. The problem of how to determine when the aircraft was at an altitude of precisely sixty feet was solved by installing two spotlights on the aircraft whose beams crossed at a distance of sixty feet.

http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/dambust.html

 

Kai - this is really interesting stuff and not only that, you are close - very very close - to the correct answer !!

Go on..............

Actually - if you read your first post super-carefully, it does actually say it : -

BILL TOWNSEND WAS THE LAST DAMBUSTER HOME !

and he got the CGM for it.

You deserve it anyway Kai - so over to you.....

[ 31. January 2003, 06:27 AM: Message edited by: Martin Bull ]

 

Martin, the second part you dropped,wasnt the dog was it? Err...not going to mention the name in case it offends?? Or am I totally off key?

 

OK - I'll digress because I really admire Bill Townsend's achievement.

As the last Lanc operating that night, AJ-O flew back across Germany and Holland with the sun actually rising ; 'AJ-O seemed naked to fighters and ground fire - a lonely minnow in a sea of hostility'. Townsend 'opened the taps' at absolute minimal height to reach 270 mph, pulling up frequently to avoid powerlines. As he tried to pass between the islands of Texel and Vlieland, a German heavy flak battery 'bounced' shells off the water and over the Lancaster. One engine had to be shut down; the Lancaster approached Scampton in broad daylight; Townsend landing downwind, into the sun on three engines and with his windscreen covered in oil from the front guns. Doug Webb later said that '..if it had not been for the absolutely superb flying that Bill (Townsend) put in, simply by going lower and lower, we could not have survived...'.

Exhausted by the strain of the operation, Townsend was irritated at the large number of people gathered at the steps of the Lancaster. A much-braided officer asked him how it had all gone. 'Wait until debriefing' snapped Townsend as he brushed past.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris was not amused......

( He can't have borne a grudge, though. CGM's are not awarded lightly ! )

Kai - your question....

 

Heheee...

So I actually answered your question...And I was looking for after-war info for the last place for the planes or something like that...

Ok. A picture question.



What does this have in common with this



And a short story as well, please!

 

Well, for a start they're both designed by Barnes Wallis.

Picture 1 shows the geodetic design of the Wellington bomber, picture 2 the 'Grand Slam', one of which was dropped 'live' in the UK during WWII at Godshill range in Hampshire, the other 42 being dropped on various specialized targets very late in the war.

A short story, hmmmmm....lemme see, how about this ?

According to legend, in the early stages of designing his 'Dambuster' revolving depth charge, Wallis asked for the loan of a Wellington to continue his experiments. A high-ranking civil servant is said to have asked, patronizingly, how the loan of such a valuable resource as a Vickers Wellington could be justified to higher authority ?

'If you told them that I designed it, perhaps that might help ?' said Wallis - and he got the Wellington.....

 

Sorry Mr. Bull--please dont hit my with the Yardstick again

 

Excellent, Martin!



More on his works:

Wallis proved that a 10 ton bomb dropped at 40,000 feet would go 135 feet into a normal surface and would create no crater as all energy would be directed into an earthquake effect with potentially devastating consequences. However, no one was particularly interested in what Wallis had written and many felt that his ideas were just ‘pie-in-the-sky’. No one had ever built a bomb that was 10 tons; no bomber had ever been built that could carry such a bomb and no plane flying then could fly at 40,000 feet. Some saw Wallis as an eccentric.

One part of his paper did attract attention. Wallis believed that Germany’s industrial heart could be destroyed – literally drowned – if the huge dams in the Ruhr were destroyed unleashing vast quantities of water into the Ruhr industrial sector. An ‘Air Attack on Dams Committee’ was formed in 1941 under the chairmanship Dr. Pye. The committee decided that the primary target should be the Möhne Dam which enclosed the Möhne and Hedve rivers. The dam was 130 feet high and 112 feet thick at its base. Even the top was 25 feet thick making it a formidable target to destroy.

A torpedo type bomb was out of the question as the Germans had already thought of that as a way of attacking the dam. Anti-torpedo nets protected the dam. Wallis came up with an idea he called "childishly simple". He believed that you could use a bouncing bomb that would clear the protective nets, that would smash into the dam wall, stay intact and then sink to a depth of 30 feet before exploding using a hydrostatic fuse (similar to the ones found in depth charges). To ensure that the bomb went down the dam wall, Wallis planned for the bomb to spin forwards after it had hit the wall – despite the fact that it would be dropped by a bomber spinning backwards.

Wallis received permission to develop the bomb – code-named ‘Upkeep’. The bomb was 50 inches in diameter, 60 inches long and weighed 9250 lbs. Of this weight, 6,600 lbs was powerful RDX explosive. The bomb was designed to be mounted across the bomb bay of a Lancaster bomber. It was spun using a system of V-shaped pivots to which was attached a small motor built into the bomb bay.

Upkeep was not an easy bomb to deliver and the elite of Bomber Command joined a brand new squadron called 617 in March 1943. The crew had to release the bomb while flying at exactly 220 mph and at a height of exactly 60 feet above the water. If the Lancaster was forced into a tight turn at this height, one of its wing tips would barely be above the surface of the water. Precision flying at its best was needed just to get the bomb in motion. To add to the difficulties, the crew had to drop the bomb at exactly 425 yards from the dam wall. There could only be 25 yards either side of this figure – a tiny amount of seconds given the speed the Lancasters would be flying at – and the fact that German guns would be targeting them. To add to the task, the attack was also scheduled to be carried out at night.

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/dambusters.htm

Anyway, what a mission and what skills they needed to pull it through! Amazing!

Ok, it´s your turn to ask, Martin!

 

OK - a 'quickie' : who committed suicide on 17th November, 1941 ?

 

General Ernst Udet?

 

I told you it was a 'quickie'.

Absolutely right, Panzerknacker - Udet it was ! Your question....