Over seventy years ago two New Zealanders took part in one of the most daring and famous RAF operations of World War 2. On May 17, 1943, a squadron of specially modified Lancaster bombers took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire to attack secret targets in Germany - the Ruhr Dams. The crew were members of a specially formed unit, No. 617 Squadron, which became known as the Dambusters.
Using top scientist Barnes Wallis's secret weapon, the famous "bouncing bomb", the squadron breached two out of three of the dams and caused widespread destruction.
But it came with great cost on both sides - eight aircraft failed to return and 53 members of the unit were killed. In Germany, it is thought that up to 1400 people lost their lives in flooding.
The Boffins, Bravery and Bouncing Bombs exhibition, opened by the Air Force Museum of New Zealand, is now in Stratford. It explores the background, build-up to, and dramatic events of, this famous raid and also looks at what the squadron achieved after the raid and the stories of the New Zealanders who served with this elite unit during the war.
Later immortalised in a feature film, archive film footage of the people and technology involved in this remarkable attack will also be on display. Part of the exhibition showcases the simple but brilliant scientific devices that were used to drop a spinning cylindrical bomb at a precise height, speed and distance to damage the dams.
