0:00:03 > 0:00:07'The RAF's last air-worthy Lancaster Bomber.
0:00:07 > 0:00:11'A relic of a war that will soon be beyond living memory.'
0:00:13 > 0:00:17As a pilot, I've always been fascinated by the wartime exploits of Bomber Command.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22I've known some of the veterans.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26And I own and fly one of the aeroplanes that they trained in.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31'The classic movie about an impossible mission
0:00:31 > 0:00:33'which succeeds against all the odds,
0:00:33 > 0:00:36'The Dam Busters is one of my favourite films.'
0:00:36 > 0:00:40It's gone! Look! My God!
0:00:40 > 0:00:47This has to be one of the most iconic scenes in the history of war cinema.
0:00:47 > 0:00:53'But I want to know whether the movie has distorted our view of the true history of the raid.'
0:00:54 > 0:00:59What I'm hoping to find out is the truth behind
0:00:59 > 0:01:03one of the most famous war stories of them all.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09I'm going to retrace the route taken by 617 squadron
0:01:09 > 0:01:12during its famous raid
0:01:12 > 0:01:17and rediscover some of the forgotten secrets of the Dam Busters.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22'I'll be hearing from the RAF's last survivor from the raid.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26'His crew's efforts didn't feature in the film.
0:01:26 > 0:01:30'And taking to the skies with a former RAF Harrier pilot
0:01:30 > 0:01:32'and navigating for him.'
0:01:32 > 0:01:37By my reckoning, we should be turning now, and I can't see the river.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41- I'm going to override you this time. - Please, please!
0:01:41 > 0:01:43'Or at least try.'
0:01:43 > 0:01:46You're taught resourcefulness, courage...
0:01:46 > 0:01:49'He was the dashing wing commander who led the raid.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51'But who was the real Guy Gibson?'
0:01:52 > 0:01:58- He was arrogant.- Gorgeous. An absolutely charming young man.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13TRIUMPHANT MUSIC
0:02:13 > 0:02:17'In London, the bright lights of Leicester Square receive...'
0:02:17 > 0:02:22'The film created an upsurge in national pride in an era of post-war austerity,
0:02:22 > 0:02:25like the raid itself,
0:02:25 > 0:02:27'boosting beleaguered Britain's morale.'
0:02:29 > 0:02:32'Cheers and admiration greet the princess who wears...'
0:02:32 > 0:02:38'And perhaps this is where the film and the legend of the Dam Busters started to become one and the same.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46'55 years after its release, The Dam Busters retains its power
0:02:46 > 0:02:50'as a piece of wartime storytelling.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55'The stars Richard Todd as Wing Commander Guy Gibson
0:02:55 > 0:02:58'and Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallis, the inventor.'
0:03:00 > 0:03:05In the movie, their double act personified the bravery
0:03:05 > 0:03:09and ingenuity that summed up
0:03:09 > 0:03:13perhaps the most spectacular and daring raid
0:03:13 > 0:03:15in the history of aviation warfare.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20'Over the years, the movie has been accepted by many
0:03:20 > 0:03:23'as the definitive version of the story.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25'But a lot of it was pure fiction.'
0:03:27 > 0:03:31Guy Gibson's trip to the theatre did not throw up the ingenious
0:03:31 > 0:03:36twin-lamp method for accurately measuring the height of the aircraft above the water.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'No, far less dramatically,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44'it was a scientist at the Ministry of Aircraft Production
0:03:44 > 0:03:49'who came up with the idea which was crucial to the success of the operation.'
0:03:49 > 0:03:54The written sources for the film were two books,
0:03:54 > 0:03:56Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast Ahead
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and Paul Brickhill's The Dam Busters.
0:03:59 > 0:04:01Now, according to those who know,
0:04:01 > 0:04:05both are riddled with inaccuracies.
0:04:05 > 0:04:09And then much of the information that director Michael Anderson required
0:04:09 > 0:04:13for strict historical accuracy was still classified as secret.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Just take me through these timings again
0:04:18 > 0:04:20and I'll write them down.
0:04:20 > 0:04:23'If I'm to follow the route of 617 squadron,
0:04:23 > 0:04:25'I'll need to do my homework.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29'Especially as they expect me to navigate the route.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31'Former RAF fighter pilot Chris Norton
0:04:31 > 0:04:36'led One Squadron into battle during the conflicts in the Gulf and Kosovo.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40'He's my pilot. I'm beginning to understand what I'm letting myself in for.'
0:04:40 > 0:04:44Wow. That's daunting.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47So they'll probably have had fairly significant blind areas...
0:04:47 > 0:04:54'We'll be joined along the way by former RAF Red Arrows pilot Dave Slow in a second aircraft.'
0:04:54 > 0:04:58The whole thing is mindboggling. That they could navigate at night,
0:04:58 > 0:05:03being shot at, and not being able to see out, either.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09It's probably an advantage, I suppose. You just rely on your stopwatch
0:05:09 > 0:05:12and your compass and let the captain worry about the rest.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20Lights out, pressure's rising.
0:05:20 > 0:05:24RPMs good. Warning lights out.
0:05:25 > 0:05:27'It's time to get airborne.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31'And later, I'll be following the training routine of 617 Squadron.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47'This is RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, home of the Dam Busters.
0:05:47 > 0:05:49'It's a very different place today.
0:05:49 > 0:05:53'There are no longer combat aircraft based here.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57'But you can almost feel the ghosts of the past.'
0:05:57 > 0:06:00'Spring 1943.'
0:06:00 > 0:06:06'Airmen specially selected from across Bomber Command were brought together here to form 617 Squadron
0:06:06 > 0:06:08'under the tightest possible secrecy.'
0:06:08 > 0:06:11We had no idea what the targets were going to be.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16And security was at an absolute premium.
0:06:17 > 0:06:24All letters were censored and even the public telephone outside the station was monitored.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30'They trained for mission impossible not knowing their weapon or their target.
0:06:30 > 0:06:35'Time and again they honed their low-flying skills over British dams.
0:06:35 > 0:06:37'For Johnny and the other young airmen,
0:06:37 > 0:06:41'the unknown danger of their mission to come was on hold
0:06:41 > 0:06:43'as their intensive training began.'
0:06:43 > 0:06:49Flying at 100 feet, which was the prescribed height for our training, was great.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52Lying in front, I'd see the ground just whizzing past.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56Low level cross-countries all done by map-reading,
0:06:56 > 0:06:59because it wasn't feasible
0:06:59 > 0:07:04to use the navigation aids at that height.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10Decelerating, 140. Letting down.
0:07:10 > 0:07:15'So what's it like to fly so low? We're about to find out.
0:07:15 > 0:07:19'We're heading down to the height that 617 Squadron would've trained at,
0:07:19 > 0:07:21'100 feet from the ground.'
0:07:21 > 0:07:24- I'm just going to weave round these houses.- Good idea.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29'The legal minimum flying height for civilian aircraft is 500 feet.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33'We have special permission from the Civil Aviation Authority.'
0:07:33 > 0:07:36In 1943,
0:07:36 > 0:07:40this was the best way to stay alive if you were over enemy territory.
0:07:40 > 0:07:45Too low for night fighters and radar.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49But, of course, it's very challenging flying this low.
0:07:49 > 0:07:51But this is in broad daylight.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54Imagine doing this at night.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55No.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Are you comfy at 100 feet yet?
0:07:58 > 0:08:02- Me?- Yeah.- Oh, yeah.- It's funny how quickly it happens, isn't it?
0:08:03 > 0:08:06This is exactly the sort of training they would've done.
0:08:06 > 0:08:11And the beauty of it is that they knew
0:08:11 > 0:08:13they couldn't get in trouble, no matter what they did,
0:08:13 > 0:08:18they'd be over villages and whatever and learning to navigate.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21But, of course, this is the day,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25so you've got lots and lots of visual resolution.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29Whereas at night, you don't have any of that.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33And the way they simulated that is they put blue film over the windscreen
0:08:33 > 0:08:35and they wore yellow goggles.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40If you look at the amount of risk they carried in training, it's just amazing, really.
0:08:42 > 0:08:46'As the navigator, flying at this height is difficult for me.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49'Instead of the panoramic view you get at 1,000 feet,
0:08:49 > 0:08:54'down here you see very little and you reach the horizon in seconds,
0:08:54 > 0:08:56'so navigation is challenging.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59'Luckily, Chris is alongside me.'
0:08:59 > 0:09:02We've got this coming up on the nose.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05- Then we're going to come back down there.- Right.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13'This is where 617 Squadron prepared for the raid.
0:09:13 > 0:09:18'The twin towers of the Derwent Dam in the Derbyshire Peak District.'
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Fortunately for us, the weather's lovely.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23So we're going to be in the hills of the Peak District
0:09:23 > 0:09:28practising getting into the very difficult terrain
0:09:28 > 0:09:33that they had to contend with when they were in the Ruhr hills.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37What Gibson did is, he spent a long time poring over maps,
0:09:37 > 0:09:40trying to find as many features as he could in the UK
0:09:40 > 0:09:43that he could mimic with what would happen on the raid.
0:09:43 > 0:09:49And then he got the guys flying round those features again and again until they could find them in their sleep.
0:09:49 > 0:09:53They learned all the mistakes of navigation or the tricks of navigation they would use later.
0:09:55 > 0:09:57'Chris knows this valley well.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01'He once flew down it in a Harrier Jump Jet at night at 400 miles an hour.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03'But he's never been down it this low.'
0:10:03 > 0:10:07This was the Dam Busters' other secret weapon.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10This is an exact replica
0:10:10 > 0:10:13of the bomb sight that they used on the raid.
0:10:13 > 0:10:15If you believe the film, that is.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29'But this man knows the real story better than anyone else alive.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34'Johnny Johnson occupied the bomb-aimer's position in the Lancaster
0:10:34 > 0:10:36'piloted by the American Joe McCarthy.'
0:10:36 > 0:10:39We had to make our own bomb sights.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44And they consisted, basically, of a plywood triangle
0:10:44 > 0:10:48with pins in the three points.
0:10:48 > 0:10:53I didn't use one at all. I had no need to use one on the actual attack.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58'That's because Johnny's crew was dispatched to attack the Sorpe Dam,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02'a very different structure to the Eder and the Mohne.'
0:11:02 > 0:11:06We wondered what it was all about, how we'd do it. We didn't know until we got there.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09The Sorpe had no towers
0:11:09 > 0:11:16and it was almost impossible to approach for a head-on attack because of the hills around it.
0:11:16 > 0:11:19And so the practice was going to have to be
0:11:19 > 0:11:22coming down over the hills on one side,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24flying across the dam
0:11:24 > 0:11:29and releasing the bomb as near as you could to the centre of the dam.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33We weren't spinning it. It was going to be an inert drop.
0:11:33 > 0:11:36So it was up to me as the bomb-aimer
0:11:36 > 0:11:39to estimate when was the right time to drop it.
0:11:39 > 0:11:44We weren't very happy about that, but there we are. We had to get on with it.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47'On the tenth attempt, he released the weapon, hitting the target,
0:11:47 > 0:11:49'one of only two crew to do so.
0:11:51 > 0:11:56'But despite causing serious damage, the waters were held back.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59'Although urgent repairs were needed.'
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Well, could it really have worked?
0:12:03 > 0:12:06We're about to find out.
0:12:06 > 0:12:10'Back at the Derwent, it's time for our own experiment.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13'Holding the sight steady is extremely hard.'
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Almost impossible.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21- Get your wings level as soon as poss.- Will do.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24'The sight is a nightmare to hold steady.'
0:12:24 > 0:12:28OK. Coming in, coming, coming, coming.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Coming, coming, coming.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Coming. Bomb's gone now!
0:12:33 > 0:12:36I think we got it that time.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39- It's very fast and furious at the end, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:12:39 > 0:12:44'We're all full of admiration for the men who first did this.
0:12:44 > 0:12:48- I still can't believe they managed to get a Lancaster in there.- I know.
0:12:48 > 0:12:52This has got to be nimble compared to a fully-laden Lancaster.
0:12:52 > 0:12:54Absolutely.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57'Because the wooden sight proved hard to use,
0:12:57 > 0:13:01'the bomb-aimers improvised, with surprising results.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04'Believe it or not, this was one device.
0:13:04 > 0:13:06'A length of string.
0:13:06 > 0:13:10'Again, the two forward points were used to measure the drop distance
0:13:10 > 0:13:13'when lined up with the twin towers of the dam.'
0:13:13 > 0:13:16OK, wing's a little...
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Steady, steady. Steady. Come by, come by, come by.
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Level, level.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25Get it level. Get it level, get it level.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27OK. All right.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Hold it, hold it. Level up. Level up.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35- Bomb gone!- Good effort! It's miles away, isn't it?
0:13:35 > 0:13:39That's phenomenal. I loved that. That was good.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43I couldn't decide if we were on the left that time.
0:13:43 > 0:13:48But you could see how absolutely crucial it was to get the wings level.
0:13:48 > 0:13:53There's no point in letting the bomb go when you've got any bank on, otherwise it goes off to the side.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55I prefer the string.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59'I now feel I know a bit more about the problems of dropping a bouncing bomb.
0:13:59 > 0:14:02'But what exactly was it?'
0:14:02 > 0:14:07'A bouncing bomb that'll skip across the surface of the water and explode against the dam wall.'
0:14:09 > 0:14:12'Codenamed Upkeep,
0:14:12 > 0:14:15'this ingenious device was only ever used on this one raid.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17'The secret to its operation
0:14:17 > 0:14:22'was applying backspin through a belt mechanism before release.
0:14:22 > 0:14:24It made the revolving depth charge
0:14:24 > 0:14:27'skip across the surface of the water before hitting the dam wall
0:14:27 > 0:14:31'and exploding at a set depth to cause maximum damage.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39'In the movie, the bomb is the wrong shape and size,
0:14:39 > 0:14:44'because its real dimensions were classified as secret until 1973.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49'Dr Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the special dam-busting bomb,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52'and Air Marshal Sir Robert Saundby and Lady Saundby.'
0:14:53 > 0:14:56'But after the premiere,
0:14:56 > 0:15:01'the retired air marshal complained of a fundamental misconception in the film.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04'Wallis, he complained in a letter to the New Statesman,
0:15:04 > 0:15:07'was not behind the idea to attack the dams.'
0:15:08 > 0:15:13Plans were being hatched to attack the German dams
0:15:13 > 0:15:15was as early as 1937.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20And the idea of exploding a depth charge against the dams
0:15:20 > 0:15:23was being discussed before the outbreak of the war.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25I've got an idea for destroying the dams.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28The effects on Germany would be enormous.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31I know all that. I've read the report.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- Do you really think you can knock down a dam with that thing?- Yes.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38It looks clever enough on paper,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40but that goes for all these wheezy ideas.
0:15:40 > 0:15:44- When you try to make them work, they fall down flat.- This one doesn't.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48- How do you know?- We've tested it and proved it. I've got some films here.
0:15:49 > 0:15:55Barnes Wallis is depicted as the genius inventor,
0:15:55 > 0:15:59frustrated by bureaucracy and the scepticism of the War Office.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03That's not strictly true.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09'The real Barnes Wallis did feel a huge burden of responsibility
0:16:09 > 0:16:13'for the airmen who had to deliver his invention.'
0:16:13 > 0:16:17One was endangering those men's lives
0:16:17 > 0:16:21simply to make an idea work.
0:16:21 > 0:16:28But, mind you, the doing was done by Guy Gibson and 617 Squadron, not by me.
0:16:30 > 0:16:33'What can't be disputed
0:16:33 > 0:16:37'is the bravery of those young men who took to the skies.'
0:16:38 > 0:16:42Their courage, audacity
0:16:42 > 0:16:44and sacrifice
0:16:44 > 0:16:48is rightly celebrated in this movie.
0:16:48 > 0:16:53'Two months after 617 Squadron was formed, their task was finally revealed.
0:16:54 > 0:16:57'They'd fly at night, 60 feet above the water,
0:16:57 > 0:16:59'at more than 200 miles an hour.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01'Possibly under heavy fire,
0:17:01 > 0:17:07'they'd drop their single untried weapon in an attempt to break the dam walls
0:17:07 > 0:17:11'and destroy German armament factories in the valleys below.'
0:17:13 > 0:17:17Under the light of the full moon,
0:17:17 > 0:17:20seven young men climbed into each Lancaster.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27They'd all trained exhaustively,
0:17:27 > 0:17:30honing their individual skills,
0:17:30 > 0:17:35each of them depending on their fellow crew members for their survival.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43It's hard to imagine how they were feeling
0:17:43 > 0:17:47as they sat cramped in their cockpits waiting for takeoff.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55'The 19 Lancasters left RAF Scampton in three waves.
0:17:55 > 0:17:58'Flying low over the North Sea, they crossed the enemy coast
0:17:58 > 0:18:00'and on deep into the Ruhr Valley.
0:18:00 > 0:18:05'They pressed home their attack on three dams, breaching the Mohne and the Eder.
0:18:05 > 0:18:10'But the air crews paid a terrible price for their bravery.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16'Of 19 Lancasters, only 11 come home.'
0:18:16 > 0:18:19My dad called it a suicide mission.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23So courage,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26absolute courage beyond any fear.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30'John Fraser survived the wreckage of his crashed plane
0:18:30 > 0:18:34'due to the heroism of his pilot, John Hopgood.'
0:18:34 > 0:18:38They were badly hit and Dad released the bomb.
0:18:38 > 0:18:43Hopgood tried to take the aircraft up approximately 300 feet
0:18:43 > 0:18:46so that the crew could bail.
0:18:46 > 0:18:53My dad managed to pull his chute out and it got caught in the slipstream
0:18:53 > 0:18:59and the chute opened and he bailed at very, very low altitude, extremely low,
0:18:59 > 0:19:04and he said the treetops looked awfully damn close.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13This memorial commemorates the airmen of 617 Squadron
0:19:13 > 0:19:16who lost their lives in World War II.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19More than a quarter of them fell
0:19:19 > 0:19:22on that first raid in May 1943.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39'But on the German side, the consequences of that raid were catastrophic,
0:19:39 > 0:19:42'in human terms as well as industrial.'
0:19:46 > 0:19:48Are you there?
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Nearly 70 years on,
0:19:51 > 0:19:55these scenes of devastation could be seen as insensitive.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01Even triumphalist from today's perspective.
0:20:02 > 0:20:05So many innocent people were killed.
0:20:08 > 0:20:10But this was wartime.
0:20:14 > 0:20:17'The next stop off on our journey is where it all began,
0:20:17 > 0:20:20'RAF Scampton, home of the Dam Busters.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38'This was the officers' mess when 617 Squadron was based here.'
0:20:38 > 0:20:42You know most of the chaps, I think. Carry on, please.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46- Hello, sir.- Hello.- McCarthy, sir.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52'In the movie, this is where Gibson meets the officers from his new Squadron for the first time.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54'And this is where that scene was shot.'
0:20:56 > 0:20:58Just extraordinary.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04Even derelict, it's so atmospheric.
0:21:06 > 0:21:10And this is the officers' mess at Scampton.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16You can imagine it filled with rumbustious young men
0:21:16 > 0:21:18not long out of school.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22Probably even had mates killed last week, yesterday.
0:21:22 > 0:21:26And there would've been a fantastic amount of horseplay in here.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30I mean, they probably played cricket and rugby right here.
0:21:32 > 0:21:34And got drunk right here.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36And who could blame them?
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'A short walk from the officers' mess at Scampton
0:21:46 > 0:21:50'is another relic of the raid, steeped in the history of the squadron.'
0:21:54 > 0:22:00I'm trying to put myself in Guy Gibson's shoes, as it were,
0:22:00 > 0:22:06the night before the raid, sitting in this office with that awesome responsibility on his shoulders.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11At the age of 24.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14It just... It doesn't compute, you know?
0:22:20 > 0:22:23I get nervous sometimes
0:22:23 > 0:22:26if I'm just going off in my plane on my own.
0:22:26 > 0:22:31There's just that little tension, you know, about...being a pilot
0:22:31 > 0:22:35and just knowing where you're going and the things that could go wrong.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Just imagining that with all of those lives, all of those crews.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52The Nazis, they have their German youth movement,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55where they're taught the foulest things in life,
0:22:55 > 0:22:57and you're quite the opposite.
0:22:57 > 0:23:01'This was Guy Gibson addressing the boy scouts.
0:23:01 > 0:23:03'He was patriotism personified.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07'Barnes Wallis described him as "all guts and go."
0:23:07 > 0:23:11'But if you strip back the layers of Boy's Own legend from the movie,
0:23:11 > 0:23:13'a far more complex figure emerges.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17'So who was the real Wing Commander Gibson?
0:23:19 > 0:23:23'This most English of heroes was born in 1918 in India
0:23:23 > 0:23:28'during the British Raj, only moving back to Britain when he was six years old.'
0:23:28 > 0:23:32Gibson was basically insecure in that he had a very dysfunctional family.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36At the age of six, his parents split up.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39His mother became an alcoholic by the time he was 12
0:23:39 > 0:23:44and he didn't have a family life in any sense. That meant that he was,
0:23:44 > 0:23:48throughout his life, an insecure person and somewhat lonely.
0:23:49 > 0:23:55'There was nothing in his early life that gave clues to the wartime hero he would become.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00At the school, he was sound but unspectacular.
0:24:00 > 0:24:03He was lance corporal in the OTC
0:24:03 > 0:24:10and he didn't shine in sports, so he was not therefore, in any sense, an outstanding personality.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13His one love was flying
0:24:13 > 0:24:17and from 1935, he got it into his mind that he actually wanted to fly,
0:24:17 > 0:24:19and that gave him a sense of purpose.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24He had, in his room, a collection of Biggles books,
0:24:24 > 0:24:29and on the wall was a photograph of Albert Ball, the VC of the First World War,
0:24:29 > 0:24:34and I think that may well be his inspiration for wanting to fly.
0:24:34 > 0:24:38When he goes into the service in 1936,
0:24:38 > 0:24:42he then has to acquire a military personality.
0:24:42 > 0:24:46And that's where I think you have a difference between what he was as a person
0:24:46 > 0:24:50and what he was as an officer in the RAF.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52I was a sergeant then
0:24:52 > 0:24:57and one of his, I suppose, shortcomings, if that's the right word,
0:24:57 > 0:25:01was that he couldn't mix with the lower ranks too well.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04He was a strict disciplinarian.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07The other thing about him was that he was quite small, quite short.
0:25:08 > 0:25:12And one got the impression that short men
0:25:12 > 0:25:15were more for arrogance than they were for anything else.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18And I remember, on one occasion,
0:25:18 > 0:25:26on an evening meeting, Gibson really tore a young Canadian pilot to pieces
0:25:26 > 0:25:29because he'd rung his girlfriend in Lincoln the night before
0:25:29 > 0:25:33and said sorry, he couldn't make it, "we've got something on."
0:25:33 > 0:25:38That was all he said, but as far as Gibson was concerned, that was a breach of security.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41And so we knew exactly what the position was.
0:25:43 > 0:25:47He was not a natural leader. He was a manufactured leader
0:25:47 > 0:25:52in the sense that he adopted an attitude which he felt was the way of running something
0:25:52 > 0:25:55in much the same way as a school was run.
0:25:55 > 0:26:02Maybe years later, one of the rear gunners on 617 Squadron said he was, "a product of his environment"
0:26:02 > 0:26:06and by that he meant that he'd come from a public school,
0:26:06 > 0:26:08which was a hierarchical organisation,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12where the prefects controlled the boys,
0:26:12 > 0:26:14and he applied this to the RAF,
0:26:14 > 0:26:17he made sure that the lower ranks saluted him,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20because he felt that that was part of discipline.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24Without saluting and without smart uniforms, you didn't have efficiency.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29He is not only insecure and lonely, but he's rather gauche socially.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Gibson as the commander was much more of a martinet,
0:26:36 > 0:26:39much more a disciplinarian than he appeared in the film.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44You saved my life. I'll never forget it.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48He appeared as sort of an almost jovial person.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51What are you messing about for? I told you, I'm not going.
0:26:51 > 0:26:56- This new squadron, are you going to fly with it?- Of course.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00- You'll need a crew, won't you?- Of course, but I'll get one all right.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02- Ooh, you want to get rid of us. - I didn't say that.
0:27:02 > 0:27:08Gibson's crew from his old squadron eagerly signed up to join him.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12But that's not the way it happened.
0:27:13 > 0:27:18'In fact, only one member of his old crew joined him at 617 Squadron.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22'Flight Lieutenant Hutchinson, his wireless operator.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25'Whilst on leave, he met actress and showgirl Eve Moore,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29'who was older than him, at a party in Coventry.
0:27:29 > 0:27:32'They were married the next year, in 1940.'
0:27:32 > 0:27:35In her words, he stalked her.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37He used to go to all her plays
0:27:37 > 0:27:42and the other cast said, "There's that RAF boy sitting in the front row."
0:27:42 > 0:27:46My husband's efforts, and all the boys in the services with him,
0:27:46 > 0:27:48can bring this war to an end so quickly.
0:27:48 > 0:27:51So much the better. Then we can enjoy ourselves.
0:27:51 > 0:27:54'But hundreds of miles away in Lincolnshire,
0:27:54 > 0:27:58'her husband was shouldering the immense burden of leadership alone.
0:27:59 > 0:28:05'He befriended a member of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, Margaret Masters.
0:28:05 > 0:28:07When I first met Guy,
0:28:07 > 0:28:11I'd gone out to help either operate on
0:28:11 > 0:28:15or bring in a very badly injured officer.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19After kneeling on the floor for some time
0:28:19 > 0:28:24and holding what was left of a badly injured arm...
0:28:26 > 0:28:29..my knees rather hurt.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32It was a very hard floor.
0:28:33 > 0:28:39And I looked at a pair of legs behind me and said, "Can I borrow your legs to lean against?"
0:28:41 > 0:28:45I didn't know at the time that they were Guy's legs.
0:28:45 > 0:28:48That's how I first met him.
0:28:48 > 0:28:55My first impressions were that he was a typical officer,
0:28:55 > 0:28:58full of his own importance at times,
0:28:58 > 0:29:04but there was something about him that I wanted to know... more and more.
0:29:04 > 0:29:08And I did. He was charming.
0:29:11 > 0:29:15I'd found that he was at a bad spot.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20In fact, his marriage was broken.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23And he was lonely,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25unhappy,
0:29:25 > 0:29:27but he loved his job.
0:29:28 > 0:29:31Everything was flying.
0:29:31 > 0:29:35'This is the first time Margaret has spoken publicly about their relationship.
0:29:35 > 0:29:39'She recalls a fantasy world they escaped to.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43'In it, they shared a life together in a place they called Honeysuckle Cottage.'
0:29:43 > 0:29:49Each meeting was adding a little bit to the cottage.
0:29:49 > 0:29:52I could tell you how many teaspoons we had.
0:29:54 > 0:30:00We did it that much. It was just a form of escapism
0:30:00 > 0:30:02from the life we were leading.
0:30:04 > 0:30:09Which, on one hand, was very, very dangerous...
0:30:10 > 0:30:15..and on my behalf, was very, very painful at times.
0:30:18 > 0:30:24We used to drive out and sit and just chat, just generally.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27We found out about each other's lives.
0:30:27 > 0:30:29Do you think he was in love with you?
0:30:29 > 0:30:31I hope he was.
0:30:31 > 0:30:34Yes, I was.
0:30:35 > 0:30:38I'd be a fool if I wasn't.
0:30:38 > 0:30:43Wing Commander Gibson VC who led the great Lancaster raid on the Ruhr dams...
0:30:43 > 0:30:48'Immediately after the dams raid, Guy Gibson inevitably became a national hero,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52'receiving a Victoria Cross for his leadership.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55'His bravery was extraordinary.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57'After dropping the first bomb,
0:30:57 > 0:31:01'he flew in a further three times with the attacking bombers
0:31:01 > 0:31:04'to draw the fierce enemy fire away from them.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10'Guy Gibson died in a plane crash over Holland the following year.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15'The Petwood Hall Hotel in Woodhall Spa.
0:31:15 > 0:31:20'It's where the 617 Squadron officers' mess was eventually based.
0:31:21 > 0:31:26'Chris Norton and I are staying here tonight, before embarking on our flight to Germany.
0:31:26 > 0:31:29'Inside there's a bar dedicated to the memory of the squadron
0:31:29 > 0:31:32'and its defining moment.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35'Chris knows the feeling of going into battle,
0:31:35 > 0:31:38'and was himself awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross,
0:31:38 > 0:31:40'one of Gibson's many wartime honours.'
0:31:40 > 0:31:43You've been to war yourself
0:31:43 > 0:31:46and had to, presumably,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51lie awake a night, or at least know that tomorrow morning's the day you go into action.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53What's that like?
0:31:55 > 0:32:00- Erm, the first time you go into action, everybody's anxious. - I should imagine.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04They're mostly anxious about not making a mistake.
0:32:04 > 0:32:08I think they're less anxious, albeit there's still an anxiety there,
0:32:08 > 0:32:11that they might not come back.
0:32:11 > 0:32:16Now, it was probably more certain in 1943 than it is today
0:32:16 > 0:32:20that you're not going to come back. The chances of not coming back were quite high.
0:32:20 > 0:32:25In the case of the Iraq War, which is when I was commanding One Squadron,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28then there were a lot of people who didn't believe in that war.
0:32:28 > 0:32:33I guess, in the Second World War, the issues were much clearer.
0:32:33 > 0:32:38- Exactly, it was a war of national survival.- Yes. Absolutely.
0:32:38 > 0:32:41And the whole country was at war.
0:32:41 > 0:32:43Whether you were a labourer or a driver
0:32:43 > 0:32:47or a wife, a nurse, a pilot or a soldier,
0:32:47 > 0:32:50everyone was at war.
0:32:50 > 0:32:54'In about ten hours' time, we'll be setting off to follow Guy Gibson's route.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59'I wonder how well he slept the night before the raid.'
0:33:14 > 0:33:16- Morning, Martin.- Morning.
0:33:16 > 0:33:19- How are you?- You all right? - Yes, thank you.- Good to go?
0:33:19 > 0:33:23'The time has come to retrace the route taken by 617 Squadron.
0:33:23 > 0:33:26'But first, an impromptu navigation briefing.'
0:33:26 > 0:33:29Briefing on the wing, always the best way.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32'I must admit to some last-minute nerves.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36'I'm about to navigate the longest flight I've ever undertaken in a light aircraft
0:33:36 > 0:33:39'across some of Europe's busiest skies.
0:33:39 > 0:33:41'Oh, well, here goes.'
0:33:42 > 0:33:45Takeoff.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49'We'll be in close formation with a second plane
0:33:49 > 0:33:51'that will follow us as far as the coast.
0:33:51 > 0:33:55'This is the start of a 400-mile flight that, in 1943,
0:33:55 > 0:33:58'changed the course of the war.
0:33:59 > 0:34:02'When the Dam Busters left Scampton, there was no tarmac.
0:34:02 > 0:34:06'Their runway was made of grass. But some things haven't changed.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09'As the crews headed for enemy airspace,
0:34:09 > 0:34:15'each must have wondered whether they'd ever see a familiar landmark, like Lincoln Cathedral, again.'
0:34:15 > 0:34:19It's extraordinary to think that that's pretty much what they saw.
0:34:19 > 0:34:22To put yourself in their position.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25Not much has changed, really.
0:34:25 > 0:34:29You're looking out of the window of an aeroplane at the cathedral.
0:34:29 > 0:34:33There were so many Bomber Command bases around Lincolnshire
0:34:33 > 0:34:38and whilst they would've been in small villages,
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Lincoln was that big landmark.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45'So, onwards over the familiar towns and villages
0:34:45 > 0:34:48'and across the vast expanse of the Lincolnshire Fens.'
0:34:48 > 0:34:55So who were the men who set out for Germany on that day in May in 1943?
0:34:55 > 0:34:57The movie suggests that they were veterans,
0:34:57 > 0:35:01handpicked by Guy Gibson himself.
0:35:01 > 0:35:04'But that wasn't the whole story.
0:35:04 > 0:35:06'Some where there quite by chance.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09'Jack Liddell was the youngest Dam Buster,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12'but he'd already been thrown out of the RAF.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15'He was just 15 at the outbreak of war.
0:35:15 > 0:35:18'But that wasn't about to stop him joining up,
0:35:18 > 0:35:21'even if he had to lie about his age.'
0:35:21 > 0:35:25He joined underage, and when the authorities found out his real age,
0:35:25 > 0:35:30they threw him out. So he went to the London Fire Service
0:35:30 > 0:35:32and worked with them during the Blitz.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35Working for the London Fire Service in the Blitz
0:35:35 > 0:35:39was as dangerous as anything. I mean, a lot of firemen were killed.
0:35:39 > 0:35:44So he did join eventually again
0:35:44 > 0:35:47and got trained up as a gunner.
0:35:48 > 0:35:52'Vic Townsend served with Jack Liddell on the same bomber crew.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54'He now lives near Sydney, Australia.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59'These postcards are mementos of their Lancaster bombing raids
0:35:59 > 0:36:02'whilst serving together on 61 Squadron.
0:36:02 > 0:36:07'This is the view young Jack would've had from his position as rear gunner.'
0:36:07 > 0:36:12I met Jack Liddell in 1942
0:36:12 > 0:36:14after we'd come back from Canada
0:36:14 > 0:36:18and been pushed into a number of time-wasting activities
0:36:18 > 0:36:21because there was a bottleneck in training.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24And I never knew him as Jack Liddell.
0:36:24 > 0:36:28He was always called Killer, cos he never fired his guns in anger.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31They said to all of us,
0:36:31 > 0:36:35"You can do a period of instruction or you can join this new squadron
0:36:35 > 0:36:40which we are just forming, but we cannot tell you anything about it."
0:36:40 > 0:36:44Nobody volunteered. Nobody wanted to volunteer blind.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47But Jack Liddell said,
0:36:47 > 0:36:54"I can't instruct nobody. I can fire a gun. I'll go to the new squadron."
0:36:54 > 0:36:58So that's how he got to the Dam Buster squadron.
0:36:58 > 0:37:01So he went on the Dam Busters raid and didn't come back.
0:37:01 > 0:37:06'That's because the Lancaster that Jack Liddell was aboard, piloted by Robert Barlow,
0:37:06 > 0:37:12'crashed over Germany, killing all of its crew. But more of that story in a moment.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16'Leaving the English coast, we drop as low as the Lancasters
0:37:16 > 0:37:20'of 617 Squadron would've done to avoid enemy detection.'
0:37:20 > 0:37:244570 for Amsterdam, Golf Yankee Mike.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28'For the last 45 minutes, we've been flying east over the North Sea.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32'Back then, it was a dangerous place, bristling with enemy ships.
0:37:32 > 0:37:36'A fact that the crew of 617 Squadron were well aware of.'
0:37:36 > 0:37:42- It wasn't operation certain death, but it was operation quite likely to die.- Yeah.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48We're going to come back onto the track here,
0:37:48 > 0:37:52which is this point here. So I'll hit that point there for you.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56- OK.- Then you've got it, so you'll know where you stand.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00- 100 feet. There you go.- Cracking.
0:38:01 > 0:38:03'The Dutch aviation authorities
0:38:03 > 0:38:07'have given us special permission to cross the coast at a height of 100 feet.'
0:38:07 > 0:38:11They would've gone as low as they dared. Some of the pilots were extremely low.
0:38:11 > 0:38:18- 40 feet they were reputed to be able to fly at.- This looks a lot less than 100 feet to me.
0:38:18 > 0:38:21You're the expert, but I reckon that's a lot less than 100 feet.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24I've got 100 feet on the altimeter.
0:38:24 > 0:38:31'So, even in daylight with no enemy menace to threaten us, low flying is difficult.'
0:38:31 > 0:38:34That's the Dutch coast ahead and, in 1943, we'd be flying into
0:38:34 > 0:38:38a lethal hole of antiaircraft fire,
0:38:38 > 0:38:41so your best chance was to stay low.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44But that had its dangers, too.
0:38:45 > 0:38:50'As Pilot Officer Jeff Rice, flying in the second wave of Lancasters, found to his cost.'
0:38:50 > 0:38:54You were so low that you had to hop over the sand dunes.
0:38:54 > 0:39:00You couldn't judge the distance above the water because of the moon.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03And the last thing you'll see will be a shadow coming up to meet you.
0:39:03 > 0:39:05- And it's yours.- And it's yours.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09There was an enormous bang followed by a second bang.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13His engineer said to him, "You've lost the bomb"
0:39:13 > 0:39:16and he then had to pull the aircraft up
0:39:16 > 0:39:18but, of course, the water was so violent
0:39:18 > 0:39:21that it not only went down through the fuselage,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24but it hit the top of the fuselage in the cockpit where he was.
0:39:24 > 0:39:29'Incredibly, Jeff Rice managed to pull the bomb out of the water
0:39:29 > 0:39:33'in what surely must be one of the greatest escapes of the war.
0:39:33 > 0:39:36'And he headed for home, his mission over.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39'With the tail wheel disabled by the impact,
0:39:39 > 0:39:42'the landing back at Scampton was dangerous
0:39:42 > 0:39:45'and left the rear gunner, Sergeant Burns, trapped in his turret.'
0:39:45 > 0:39:51So poor old Burns has to be cut out of the rear turret by the ground crew.
0:39:52 > 0:39:56'The day after the raid, the surviving pilots were photographed together.'
0:39:56 > 0:40:00Gibson quizzed Rice as to why he'd lost the bomb.
0:40:00 > 0:40:06He told him and he looked at him and he said, "Bad luck. I almost did the same thing."
0:40:11 > 0:40:15You're right of track at the moment.
0:40:15 > 0:40:18- Very good. 143, is that right?- Yes.
0:40:18 > 0:40:23So, that's exactly what they did. If I'd got you out of track by not flying properly,
0:40:23 > 0:40:26you'd have said, "come left ten" for about a minute
0:40:26 > 0:40:32- and then turn me back onto my heading. - OK, that's what you want to do.- OK.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35'We're crossing the Zuiderzee, Holland's inland sea.
0:40:36 > 0:40:41'And following the Dam Busters' wake seems simple. Flying in broad daylight, that is.'
0:40:41 > 0:40:46The only thing you wouldn't want to do in here is fly past a flak ship.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49We are absolutely beautifully on track.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52We've got perfect visibility
0:40:52 > 0:40:54and nobody's shooting at us.
0:40:54 > 0:40:59'Drifting off the route plan cost more than one Lancaster the lives of its crew.
0:40:59 > 0:41:03'For them, flying at 100 feet or less at night, it was understandable.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06'But even in the day, navigation isn't simple.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08'As I'm finding out.'
0:41:08 > 0:41:11I think I'm slightly right of track.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14- I've got you bang on.- OK.
0:41:14 > 0:41:18By my reckoning, we should be turning now.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20And I can't see the river.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26I think we missed it. I think it was back there.
0:41:26 > 0:41:30I don't think so. I think the river is coming up on our right-hand side.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35- OK.- So I'm going to override you this time.- Please!
0:41:35 > 0:41:39If you just think about the emotion that's going on as you're thinking,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42"I haven't seen my point. I'm starting to get worried."
0:41:42 > 0:41:45My point's late.
0:41:45 > 0:41:46'He's right, of course.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50'But in the industrial sprawl of southern Holland, it's easy to make a mistake.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55'In 1943, it could've been a fatal error.'
0:41:55 > 0:42:02- It's the confusion, isn't it?- Yeah. - You see something go past and you think, "Right, that's me"
0:42:02 > 0:42:07- and then you're getting more and more doubt in your own mind.- Yeah.
0:42:07 > 0:42:10Crossing the border.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13WOMAN SPEAKS ON RADIO
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Bye-bye.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17We've just crossed the German border
0:42:17 > 0:42:22and in 1943, these were very dangerous skies,
0:42:22 > 0:42:28as Flight Lieutenant Robert Barlow and the crew of E-Easy were just about to find out.
0:42:29 > 0:42:33'It's thought a combination of enemy fire and pylons
0:42:33 > 0:42:37'conspired to bring down the Lancaster, with the loss of all seven crew,
0:42:37 > 0:42:40'near to Haldern in northern Germany.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45'But when the embers cooled from the crash site,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49'the Germans were able to recover the top-secret weapon intact.'
0:42:49 > 0:42:52They knew that the Germans had recovered one of the bombs
0:42:52 > 0:42:56and they were afraid that they would be able to adapt it and use it.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01'Weapons experts quickly went to work analysing the bomb.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05'These technical diagrams show how full a picture they had of the weapon.
0:43:07 > 0:43:13'And along with the bomb, they had one of the surviving members of the Lancaster that crashed in flames
0:43:13 > 0:43:17on the other side of the Mohne Dam, Flight Sergeant John Fraser.
0:43:17 > 0:43:22He was in solitary confinement for seven days
0:43:22 > 0:43:24and he was interrogated.
0:43:24 > 0:43:31He did describe some details, being forced to.
0:43:31 > 0:43:36I would say that he probably wasn't treated very well.
0:43:36 > 0:43:38'German transcripts of his interrogation
0:43:38 > 0:43:42'show how Fraser gave away top-secret information,
0:43:42 > 0:43:47'including details of his training and his own role as bomb-aimer.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51'He also divulged technical details of how the weapon was deployed.
0:43:51 > 0:43:55'And this seldom-seen top-secret German footage
0:43:55 > 0:43:57'shows just how far advanced their plans were
0:43:57 > 0:44:00'to deploy a similar weapon against British targets.
0:44:00 > 0:44:06'Codenamed Kurt, it was a rocket-assisted bouncing bomb.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12'So the same dams used by 617 Squadron to train for the raid
0:44:12 > 0:44:15'were now themselves under threat of attack.
0:44:15 > 0:44:19'These German plans showed the fears were justified.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22'Enemy reconnaissance had pinpointed the reservoirs
0:44:22 > 0:44:27'which presented the maximum opportunity to damage the British war effort.
0:44:27 > 0:44:33'A month after the dams raid, Winston Churchill was so worried about a copycat raid by the Germans,
0:44:33 > 0:44:36'he personally sought assurances from the War Cabinet
0:44:36 > 0:44:39'about the readiness of British defences.'
0:44:39 > 0:44:43For the five dams close to Sheffield, we deployed a total of 5,000 troops.
0:44:43 > 0:44:48We put smoke-screened balloons, antiaircraft guns,
0:44:48 > 0:44:53and in some of the dams, we actually put a metal structure on each side of the dam
0:44:53 > 0:44:57with wires slung down between them
0:44:57 > 0:45:00so that you couldn't have low-flying aircraft attacking.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12'It's bank holiday in Germany and the crowds are out enjoying the sun.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14'This is the Mohne Dam,
0:45:14 > 0:45:19'now a place of leisure as well as an abiding memorial to a national disaster.
0:45:19 > 0:45:25'It's hard to believe this mighty stone structure was ever breached.'
0:45:25 > 0:45:27It's huge.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30- It's big. - There's a lot of water in it.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36'From up here, it makes me shudder to think of that dam coming down.
0:45:36 > 0:45:42'But when it did, the devastation brought upon this beautiful place was total.
0:45:46 > 0:45:48'Maria Nierhoff was 16 years old
0:45:48 > 0:45:52'and living in the town of Neheim, about four miles from the dam.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57SHE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:45:57 > 0:45:59TRANSLATOR: Our house stood here.
0:46:01 > 0:46:06Our neighbour, Herr Schaker, said to us, "Save yourselves, the Mohne has been breached."
0:46:06 > 0:46:09'The water poured down the valley,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12'destroying towns and villages for many miles.'
0:46:12 > 0:46:15SHE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:46:15 > 0:46:17TRANSLATOR: You heard this roaring sound
0:46:17 > 0:46:20and as soon as we heard that roar of the water,
0:46:20 > 0:46:23we were lucky we could run straight up the hill. We just ran and ran.
0:46:23 > 0:46:28How times changes the perception of what's an enemy
0:46:28 > 0:46:31and what's good and what's bad.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35And really it was a political regime that was making this bad,
0:46:35 > 0:46:38not the people or the country.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42That being said, it's now against the Geneva Convention
0:46:42 > 0:46:46- to bomb water.- Really? - Yeah. So it's an illegal target.
0:46:46 > 0:46:49If we were ever sent again for such a thing,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53then bombing a dam is completely illegal, ever since the Geneva Convention.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02'Maria is retracing her footsteps.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07'This journey of about two miles probably saved her life.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11TRANSLATOR: We just kept running.
0:47:11 > 0:47:15When we arrived at the top of the hill, we stopped at the cross and sat underneath it.
0:47:20 > 0:47:24There was one neighbour, they had four children.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27They must have been asleep and not woken up. I don't know.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30One man was home on leave and said to his wife,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32"You go up the hill with the baby"
0:47:32 > 0:47:37and he went back to help this family with the four children.
0:47:37 > 0:47:41He died along with that family. They all died. It was just how it was.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50There were several people at the cross. They had run up the hill.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54It was a very clear night, so they could see everything.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57They came in their planes and they shot at us.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00Like I said, if I hadn't been there, I wouldn't have believed it.
0:48:00 > 0:48:03There were no men there, just women and children.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06It was just war. That's how it was.
0:48:11 > 0:48:13So many people died.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17We were lucky that we went up that hill, or we might have died, as well.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22'Today we arrive in peace time
0:48:22 > 0:48:25'in the land of our close European allies.'
0:48:25 > 0:48:31For us, it's a thrill. For them, it's a different thing altogether.
0:48:31 > 0:48:36It's hard, really, to say what my thoughts are,
0:48:36 > 0:48:38because there's so many conflicting thoughts.
0:48:40 > 0:48:44'All these years later, Maria's memories are still vivid.'
0:48:44 > 0:48:47SHE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:48:47 > 0:48:50TRANSLATOR: Then in the morning, we came down.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53Everything was underwater. All the houses had gone.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Our house was simply no longer there. Not even the foundations.
0:48:57 > 0:49:03There was nothing left of it. All the houses had gone. We just couldn't believe it.
0:49:04 > 0:49:08'Of the estimated 1,600 people who died,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12'it's reckoned that more than 900 were foreign forced labourers.
0:49:12 > 0:49:18'By comparison, the Eder Dam breach caused a fraction of the casualties.'
0:49:18 > 0:49:23Four bombs hit the dam before the breach was confirmed.
0:49:24 > 0:49:30And then where I'm standing here, a tsunami was triggered this way
0:49:30 > 0:49:36and 135 billion litres of water, an unimaginable amount,
0:49:36 > 0:49:38came cascading down the valley.
0:49:38 > 0:49:43Guy Gibson looked down and thought it was an absolutely wonderful sight.
0:49:43 > 0:49:46And, of course, to them it was. The raid was successful,
0:49:46 > 0:49:51they'd done their duty, they hadn't been killed on the way, they hadn't missed the dam altogether.
0:49:51 > 0:49:57And yet, down here, it must have been awful.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02And it's hard to equate the peacefulness and the calm
0:50:02 > 0:50:05and a nice afternoon in the sun...
0:50:05 > 0:50:09There are people strolling backwards and forwards, sitting on benches, having picnics,
0:50:09 > 0:50:13and this was the scene of such utter terrible devastation.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18And, for me, it's poignant, as well,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21cos I read about this raid when I was 15
0:50:21 > 0:50:26and it's something, if you're interested in aeroplanes and war stories,
0:50:26 > 0:50:31that is right in the centre of your imagination, and here I am where it happened.
0:50:31 > 0:50:36And I can imagine and hear the Lancasters pulling up and getting out over there.
0:50:38 > 0:50:44And yet, there's a sort of overtone of sadness, as well, the futility of it all.
0:50:44 > 0:50:48In the end, it didn't really accomplish very much at all.
0:50:49 > 0:50:52'That sentiment strikes a chord in modern-day Germany.'
0:50:54 > 0:50:56HE SPEAKS GERMAN
0:50:56 > 0:51:00TRANSLATOR: So, on the German side, we see them as war victims.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03We see this event as a day of commemoration
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and also as a warning of the futility of war,
0:51:06 > 0:51:10and we hope that such events are never repeated.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14In England, it is remembered very differently.
0:51:14 > 0:51:18In some reports, the German casualties are forgotten about
0:51:18 > 0:51:21and the attack is seen in pure technical terms
0:51:21 > 0:51:25as a military operation against a target.
0:51:25 > 0:51:28'When this squadron photograph was taken after the raid,
0:51:28 > 0:51:3253 members of 617 Squadron were already dead.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36'Nearly 70 years on, and just a handful survive.'
0:51:41 > 0:51:45'One of the last two Dam Buster veterans has died at the age of 91
0:51:45 > 0:51:48'at his home in Lincolnshire.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51'Flying officer Ray Grayston was a member of 617 Squadron.
0:51:51 > 0:51:54'His funeral will be held at Boston Crematorium.'
0:51:59 > 0:52:03'Ray Grayston was part of the crew that breached the Eder Dam.
0:52:03 > 0:52:09'On a later raid, he was captured after escaping from his doomed Lancaster before it crashed
0:52:09 > 0:52:12'and he spent the rest of the war as a German prisoner.'
0:52:12 > 0:52:16Obviously very sad, the passing of Ray. He was a great guy.
0:52:16 > 0:52:20Very modest. Wore the badge of hero reluctantly.
0:52:20 > 0:52:26The ingenuity, the spirit of these young men,
0:52:26 > 0:52:30who were just doing a job and did it really well
0:52:30 > 0:52:33in such a short space of time, should be remembered.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37What we're capable of being able to do when we're called upon.
0:52:37 > 0:52:42And I think that's very much lacking today and we should remember that.
0:52:42 > 0:52:45LAST POST PLAYS
0:52:50 > 0:52:55'And on the anniversary of the raid, they are still remembered.
0:52:56 > 0:53:02'At this year's commemorative service, there was only one dams raid veteran attending.
0:53:02 > 0:53:05'Johnny Johnson.'
0:53:05 > 0:53:09My father was pilot of AJ-T on the dams raid.
0:53:09 > 0:53:14I get to see Johnny Johnson, my dad's bomb-aimer.
0:53:14 > 0:53:21He's the last living member in the UK that we know of.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23There's only four of them in the world,
0:53:23 > 0:53:27so it's just really great to come back and see somebody
0:53:27 > 0:53:30that was in my dad's crew.
0:53:30 > 0:53:35You look at what these people did, left their jobs and their schools
0:53:35 > 0:53:40when they were 18, 19, 20 years old and went out to fight a war,
0:53:40 > 0:53:45not knowing how long it was going to take or if you'd ever come back.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51And then they came back and then, after the war, it's like they dropped it
0:53:51 > 0:53:53and just went on with their lives
0:53:53 > 0:53:59and it was a part that they all just sort of let lie.
0:53:59 > 0:54:03And they don't brag or anything like that.
0:54:03 > 0:54:07It's just wonderful to honour those people.
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Not much was said when they returned from war. Not much at all.
0:54:11 > 0:54:16And my dad didn't talk much to my mom about it.
0:54:16 > 0:54:21And, as a little girl, I just remember my father loved flying
0:54:21 > 0:54:26and I was a Dam Buster's daughter
0:54:26 > 0:54:31and he busted dams and I didn't know what the heck that was as a child.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35It was just funny. I thought it was funny.
0:54:35 > 0:54:42And now when I look back years later, and I can reflect on what these men did,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46to go out on the night of a raid like that
0:54:46 > 0:54:48and to be talking about, "We might not come home"
0:54:48 > 0:54:55and to fly and do that, I can't imagine the courage it took.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04This has been an amazing journey for me.
0:55:04 > 0:55:09I've learned so much about a story that I knew very well,
0:55:09 > 0:55:11and there was a lot more to learn.
0:55:11 > 0:55:18And now I'm about to realise a boyhood ambition.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49You guys really do have the best job in the world.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01There is a clear area up there through the clouds.
0:56:08 > 0:56:15'Today's flight is all about marking perhaps the most important act of wartime defiance
0:56:15 > 0:56:17'in this nation's history.'
0:56:20 > 0:56:26This is the Battle of Britain memorial flight Lancaster,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30one of only two left flying in the world.
0:56:30 > 0:56:35This is the end of a memorable personal journey for me
0:56:35 > 0:56:39and the fulfilment of a boyhood dream, really.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41I can't believe I'm doing this.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45'It's the 70th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Britain.'
0:56:46 > 0:56:52Today, this grand old lady is on ceremonial duty.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57We'll be giving a lot of pleasure to people on the ground
0:56:57 > 0:57:04as well as memorialising some of the brave men who lost their lives flying in these wonderful things.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08'What could evoke the British wartime spirit better
0:57:08 > 0:57:13'than the white cliffs of Dover and a Spitfire flying in close formation?
0:57:13 > 0:57:17'On the ground, thousands have gathered,
0:57:17 > 0:57:20'including some of the veterans themselves.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25'All have come to see us fly past in honour of those who died defending this country.'
0:57:25 > 0:57:31Seeing the Battle of Britain memorial flight Spitfire join us
0:57:31 > 0:57:36and then do an attacking run, that's a sight I never thought I would see in this life,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39believe me, but it was very exciting.
0:57:39 > 0:57:43'Just when it seems it really cannot get any better,
0:57:43 > 0:57:45'it just has.
0:57:45 > 0:57:50'Squadron leader Stuart Reed has asked me to join him on the flight deck.'
0:57:50 > 0:57:53If you'd said to them the best part of 70 years ago,
0:57:53 > 0:57:58"We'll still have one flying in honour of what you're doing" they would never have believed it.
0:58:02 > 0:58:06'Ceremonial duties performed, it's time to head for home.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10'So what have I learned along the way?
0:58:10 > 0:58:14'Well, the Dam Busters story and the men who made it possible,
0:58:14 > 0:58:17'it's not like the movie at all.
0:58:17 > 0:58:24'Oh, no. In truth, it's far more unbelievable.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27'A far more amazing story than that.'
0:58:27 > 0:58:31MUSIC: "Dambusters March" by Eric Coates
0:58:32 > 0:58:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd