The Dam Busters, Barnes Wallis, Les Munro and Nigger The Dog
Without Prejudice
Today is the 100th Anniversary of the landing of The Anzac troops at Gallipoli, Turkey. My brother is there. He has always wanted to go. He told me he and his son went to Villers-Bretonneux once and were so moved by the French people's tribute to our Aussie Troops.
Thanks to Wikipedia,
Today is the 100th Anniversary of the landing of The Anzac troops at Gallipoli, Turkey. My brother is there. He has always wanted to go. He told me he and his son went to Villers-Bretonneux once and were so moved by the French people's tribute to our Aussie Troops.
Thanks to Wikipedia,
Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial
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The Villers–Bretonneux Australian National Memorial is a World War Imemorial, located near the commune of Villers-Bretonneux, in the Sommedépartement of France. The memorial lists 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived in France and Belgium, and the end of the war. The location was chosen to commemorate the role played by Australian soldiers in the Second Battle of Villers-Bretonneux. The memorial also serves as the Australian National Memorial to all the Australian dead during the Western Front of World War I.
Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, the memorial consists of a tower within Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, which also includes a Cross of Sacrifice. The tower is surrounded by walls and panels on which the names of the missing dead are listed. The main inscription is in both French and English, on either side of the entrance to the tower.
The cemetery originally included 60 hornbeam trees, planted in 1928. These were removed in 2009 as they reached the end of their lives, and were replaced by new trees as part of plans for the centenary commemorations in 2018.[1]The site for the memorial had been selected by Lieutenant General Sir Talbot Hobbs, commander of the Australian forces that had participated in the battle. A competition was held in
1925 to choose a design for the memorial. The competition was won by the Australian architect William Lucas, but both Hobbs and the head of the Imperial War Graves Commission, Sir Fabian Ware, disliked Lucas's design. Lutyens was approached after economic difficulties had led to the original memorial project being halted.[2] Hobbs, who was himself an architect, contributed to the design process, but died of a heart attack at sea while journeying to see it unveiled.
1925 to choose a design for the memorial. The competition was won by the Australian architect William Lucas, but both Hobbs and the head of the Imperial War Graves Commission, Sir Fabian Ware, disliked Lucas's design. Lutyens was approached after economic difficulties had led to the original memorial project being halted.[2] Hobbs, who was himself an architect, contributed to the design process, but died of a heart attack at sea while journeying to see it unveiled.
The memorial was unveiled on 22 July 1938 by King George VI, whose words were broadcast directly to Australia. Other dignitaries present included the French President Albert Lebrun, who also gave a speech, and the Australian deputy prime minister Earle Page. Accompanying the King was his wife Queen Elizabeth, whose brother was killed at the Battle of Loos. This memorial was the last of the great memorials to the missing of World War I to be built, and the Second World War broke out just over a year after its unveiling.[3]Every year on 25 April, an Anzac Day Dawn Service is conducted at the memorial by the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The service commences at 5.30am and is followed by community services in Villers-Bretonneux and Bullecourt.
During the unveiling ceremony, the King closed his speech with the words:
There is one movie I will watch every time it's on, like Casablanca or Arthur with Dudley Moore, not the dreadful new version with Russell Brand.
It's The Dam Busters.
I have hear the tale of Barnes Wallis, the British Boffin and his invention of the Bouncing Bombs ever since I was a little girl. At the knees of my parents.
I loved the word Boffin instead of inventor, I loved that he never gave up even in the face of terrible adversity, both professional and personal, that the pilots were brave and that the mission was a huge success, and was a morale boost for the whole of Britain.
My parents thrilled us with their tales of fighting the enemy in their very own backyard, as were all Britains.
They were prepared to fight the enemy, The Nazis, with broomsticks in their own gardens if they had to.
Barnes Wallis played by the Actor, Michael Redgrave, was a genius. When it was
decided that bombing the Ruhr Dams in Germany would wipe out the manufacture of The Bombs being dropped by the Nazis. He was assigned the task.
His Chief Of Command had a dog named Nigger, wouldn't happen today.
And the last surviving member of The Famous Dam Busters, died, today the 4th Of August 2015. Les Munro. One of the many heroes.
decided that bombing the Ruhr Dams in Germany would wipe out the manufacture of The Bombs being dropped by the Nazis. He was assigned the task.
His Chief Of Command had a dog named Nigger, wouldn't happen today.
And the last surviving member of The Famous Dam Busters, died, today the 4th Of August 2015. Les Munro. One of the many heroes.
A bomb or bombs would have to be able to take out the retaining walls of The Ruhr Dams.
Thanks to Wiki, again,
Initial testing of the concept included blowing up a plaster model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July 1942. The first full-scale trials were at Chesil Beach in January 1943. This demonstrated that a bomb of sufficient size could be carried by an Avro Lancaster rather than waiting for a larger bomber such as the Windsor to be built. Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Windsor. Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to resign. Sir Arthur Harris, head of RAF Bomber Command from a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham. Winterbotham ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[2] Over-riding Harris, Portal ordered on 26 February 1943 that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage. With
eight weeks to go, the larger bomb, code-named 'Upkeep', that was needed for the mission, and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
To be continued....
Thanks to Wiki, again,
Initial testing of the concept included blowing up a plaster model dam at the Building Research Establishment, Watford in May 1942 and then the breaching of the disused Nant-y-Gro dam in Wales in July 1942. The first full-scale trials were at Chesil Beach in January 1943. This demonstrated that a bomb of sufficient size could be carried by an Avro Lancaster rather than waiting for a larger bomber such as the Windsor to be built. Air Vice-Marshal Francis Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production thought the work was diverting Wallis from the development of the Windsor. Pressure from Linnell via the chairman of Vickers, Sir Charles Worthington Craven, caused Wallis to resign. Sir Arthur Harris, head of RAF Bomber Command from a briefing by Linnell also opposed the allocation of his bombers. Wallis had written to an influential intelligence officer, Group Captain Frederick Winterbotham. Winterbotham ensured that the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Charles Portal heard of the project. Portal saw the film of the Chesil Beach trials and was convinced.[2] Over-riding Harris, Portal ordered on 26 February 1943 that thirty Lancasters were to be allocated to the mission and the target date was set for May, when water levels would be at their highest and breaches in the dams would cause the most damage. With
eight weeks to go, the larger bomb, code-named 'Upkeep', that was needed for the mission, and the modifications to the Lancasters had yet to be designed.
To be continued....
