Dam Busters : The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943

The story of the British-made bombs, Upkeep and Highball, successfully dropped on Nazi dams “ has never been told in such depth before” ( Daily Mail , UK). The night of May 16, 1943: Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand-pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich’s war machine. It was a suicide mission from the outset. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks in order to hit the dams when water levels were still high enough for the bombs to be effective. The visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis hadn’t even drawn up plans for his concept when the bouncing bomb was green-lighted. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks, became one of the most successful and significant bombing raids of all time. “Holland has delved into the new trove” of declassified documents “to shed light on this weapons program, the politics of its development and the eventual mission” ( The Wall Street Journal ). “An impeccably researched work in the style of a fast-paced techno-thriller.” — Publishers Weekly “Extremely detailed but never dull . . . Holland offers a definitive, nuts-and-bolts history.” — Kirkus Reviews “A well-written study of engineering and invention operating under great pressure. . . . For all World War II history buffs.” — Library Journal , starred review

The story of the British-made bombs, Upkeep and Highball, successfully dropped on Nazi dams “ has never been told in such depth before” ( Daily Mail, UK).
 
The night of May 16, 1943: Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand-pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich’s war machine.
 
It was a suicide mission from the outset. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks in order to hit the dams when water levels were still high enough for the bombs to be effective.
 
The visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis hadn’t even drawn up plans for his concept when the bouncing bomb was green-lighted. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks, became one of the most successful and significant bombing raids of all time. “Holland has delved into the new trove” of declassified documents “to shed light on this weapons program, the politics of its development and the eventual mission” ( The Wall Street Journal ).
 
“An impeccably researched work in the style of a fast-paced techno-thriller.” — Publishers Weekly
 
“Extremely detailed but never dull . . . Holland offers a definitive, nuts-and-bolts history.” — Kirkus Reviews
 
“A well-written study of engineering and invention operating under great pressure. . . . For all World War II history buffs.” — Library Journal, starred review

The night of 16 May, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge 9000lb cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the industries supplying the Third Reich's war machine. From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission: to fly low and at night in formation over many miles of enemy-occupied territory at the very limit of the Lancasters' capacity, and drop a new weapon that had never been tried operationally before from a precise height of just sixty feet from the water at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany. More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks. When visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis's concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn't even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time An account of the daring May 1943 mission to destroy three heavily defended German dams documents the ten-week race to create the necessary weapons and orchestrate a bombing raid that nearly cost the lives of its pilots