Aye, I'm pretty happy about that too. lol. He suppossed to be reassigned from his regular crew who were doing the decoy run. The crews were pretty loyal to each other and he refused to go. Just as well, the lancaster he was assigned to be on was shot down.
Man does that ever work... And yet at the same time it almost makes you feel guilty to laugh when you know the cost of the actual mission. The same guy posted the last six minutes of the movie that was used. With the man who designed the water skipping dam buster bomb stopping and asking if the losses he heard were true, and scenes of the empty rooms and empty seats in the dining hall.
I saw a documentary about the mission last year. As I recall one of the survivors talked about how the guy was seemed excited and eager to find out how well the bomb would truly work. And then his pained face when the speakers plane returned and he asked where the others were and said he wished the idea had never come to him.
It really was in many ways as crazy as the Star Wars idea of taking out a station by shooting a tiny vent. They had to come in at just the right height, flying level and steady, release the bomb and just the right moment, and then if it skipped the right number of times the right distance each time, the dam would be damaged. Anything off? Big splash of water and no damage.
Oh, and just for fun since there's so much explosive packed into the bomb it won't actually fit inside a Lancaster, so it will be mounted with half the bomb exposed out the bottom of the plane. No worries.
One thing is certain. Those were brave crews. It had to be terrifying, and they knew it was far from certain, but they went and did the job.
Well, I can laugh at this particular clip just because it points out where Lucas was ripping his ideas off from. The actual mission itself was a terrible blend of scientific brilliance and suicidal insanity. And the price was arguably too high for the results gained, but there was no real way to judge that at the time, especially given Britian's precarious circumstances at that point in the war.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-08-29 03:56 am (UTC)by the way, my dad was selected for the Dambusters mission.
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Date: 2007-08-29 06:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-29 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-08-29 08:21 am (UTC)I saw a documentary about the mission last year. As I recall one of the survivors talked about how the guy was seemed excited and eager to find out how well the bomb would truly work. And then his pained face when the speakers plane returned and he asked where the others were and said he wished the idea had never come to him.
It really was in many ways as crazy as the Star Wars idea of taking out a station by shooting a tiny vent. They had to come in at just the right height, flying level and steady, release the bomb and just the right moment, and then if it skipped the right number of times the right distance each time, the dam would be damaged. Anything off? Big splash of water and no damage.
Oh, and just for fun since there's so much explosive packed into the bomb it won't actually fit inside a Lancaster, so it will be mounted with half the bomb exposed out the bottom of the plane. No worries.
One thing is certain. Those were brave crews. It had to be terrifying, and they knew it was far from certain, but they went and did the job.
no subject
Date: 2007-08-29 09:37 am (UTC)