Engineer
Dr. Barnes Wallace spent his last peaceful night at his cottage in Effingham, and in the morning, like all Britons, heard a rather strange speech by Chamberlain. What can he, the Vickers aircraft designer, do to shorten the war? Original ideas one after another visited his head. Wallace thought WHERE and HOW the bombing could cause critical damage to Germany. Military production is scattered, they cannot be destroyed with one air strike. But maybe there are key points?
Coal mines! Drifts and tunnels hundreds of meters underground are invulnerable. Bombs can only bring down the shaft of the mine, along with the lift, but the destruction can be quickly repaired.
Oil! The Ploiesti oil fields are outside the range of British aircraft. German production of ersatz gasoline is numerous and well protected. Also a dubious goal.
Hydroelectric power plants are "white gold"! There are 3 dams in Germany - Möhn, Eder and Zorpe. Everything in the Ruhr industrial area, they fully provide water and energy to this huge industrial complex. German industry requires 8 tons of water to produce 1 ton of steel.
The Myeong Dam forms a lake, maintaining the water level so that barges with ore and coal can freely approach the factories. The volume of the lake is over 130 million tons of water. The Eder dam locks the river of the same name, creating the Eder reservoir. Zorpe forms a lake on a tributary of the Ruhr.
The dams are colossal. Myeong is 34 meters thick at the base and 8 meters on the ridge, and has a height of 40 meters. A 500-pound bomb will barely scratch concrete. The Zorpe dam is no less strong, although it is built of soil. Two huge earthen mounds are fortified in the center by a concrete wall.
Breaking dams will not only destroy hydroelectric power plants and deprive factories of water and electricity. Huge masses of water will rush down into the valleys, sweeping away autobahns, bridges, railways on its way.
Huge dams cannot be damaged by conventional aerial bombs. Even with a direct hit, a huge explosive charge is needed (according to calculations, up to 30 tons), none of the available RAF bombers will lift such ammunition. But the required power of the charge can be radically reduced by correctly positioning it in space.
First, the entire volume of water trapped in the reservoir presses on the dam and keeps its structure in a stressed state. Concrete works well in compression, but does not resist tension well.
Secondly, during an explosion, water behaves like an incompressible medium. If the charge is detonated at the optimum depth from the pressure side of the dam, then a significant part of the shock wave will not dissipate in space, but will go into the wall, causing irreversible damage. Further, streams of water will completely wash out the dam.
This is all great, Wallace thought … but there is one major problem. Myehn, Eder and Zorpe were protected by anti-torpedo nets, which meant that the bomb had to be precisely placed in a narrow strip of space between these obstacles and the dam wall (which was almost impossible) or another way had to be found.
Gibson
The engine failed during the flight to Stuttgart and the Lancaster could not maintain altitude. Guy Gibson lost formation, but remained on the same course. Over Stuttgart, he gave full throttle to 3 engines and bombed on the target, rushed back under cover of night, nestling to the ground. This was Gibson's 173rd flight. He held the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the Air Force and the Victoria Cross for Flight Merit. He was 25 years old.
On the same day, Guy Penrose Gibson was summoned to a meeting with Ralph Cochrane, Air Vice Marshal.
- First of all, I want to congratulate you on the new buckle for your order, Lieutenant Colonel.
- Thank you, sir.
- I can suggest to make another flight.
Gibson shrugged and said, a little wearily:
- What kind of flight, sir?
- Very important. Now I can't say anything. Unless: you will command the operation.
Gibson answered slowly:
“Yes … I think so, sir.
This is how the 617 Squadron RAF appeared in March 1943 - an elite bomber squadron that was responsible for the sinking of Tirpitz, the destruction of the Saumur railway tunnel, the bombing of German bunkers, an imitation of a sea convoy and, of course, Operation Chastise, which will be discussed today.
Vickers Type 464
In 1943, based on Barnes Wallace's calculations, a plan was created to destroy German dams from the air. Dr. Wallace solved the puzzle by observing children at play as they made pebbles jump on the surface of the water. To achieve this effect, the bomb had to be given rotation while still aboard the Lancaster - after being dropped, having jumped several times on the surface of the water, it easily overcame all the anti-torpedo barriers, and then, after rebounding from the surface parapet of the dam, fell into the water on the pressure side.
This plan, in turn, gave rise to new problems. According to the calculations, the bomb must be dropped from a height of exactly 18.3 m, the distance to the target at this moment is 390 meters, the speed is 240 mph. Lancaster flew this distance in 4 seconds!
The drop distance was determined simply: the width of the dam was known (it was determined from aerial photographs), which made it possible to make a simple optical rangefinder.
Determining the height was more difficult. The usual means - barometric or radio altimeters were not suitable for this - the flight altitude was too low. We found an ingenious solution: 2 searchlights were installed in the nose and tail of Lancaster, one directed vertically downward, the other at a certain angle to the vertical, the rays intersected at a distance of 18.3 m from the aircraft. During the flight, the searchlights gave two spots on the surface of the water and the pilots corrected the flight altitude based on them. When the spots merged, the required height was reached.
After training, the 617 Squadron pilots managed to maintain the required altitude on the combat course without much difficulty. But the pilots did not feel great joy. When an aircraft enters a well-defended facility at 60 feet, the crew is at great risk. And with the spotlights on …
The original Vickers Type 464 bomb (aka Upkeep) was a cylinder with a diameter of 1.5 meters and a weight of 4 tons, of which 2997 kg were torpex. Before dropping, the bomb was spun up to 500 rpm.
Flood Germany
On May 16, 1943, the reconnaissance Mosquito returned with fresh images of the dams, the water in Möhne was only 4 feet from the ridge. The reservoirs were completely filled after the spring thaw. A moonlit night will help the pilots find their target.
Exactly at 21.10 the first five Lancasters took off. In total, 19 bombers flew on the mission that night. Each carried outlandish ammunition and 96,000.303 British rounds. The shores of England were slowly melting behind.
The aircraft flew to the target at low altitude in an open formation. The flight route avoided well-known anti-aircraft artillery positions and night fighter airfields. However, the planes of Barlow and Byers did not reach the target. Nobody knew where the anti-aircraft guns had shot them down.
The leader's crew was the first to attack the Myung Dam: the bomb successfully rolled onto the pressure side and exploded there. The dam has resisted. The target was covered by about 10 anti-aircraft guns, but Gibson's Lancaster was not damaged.
After the water in the lake had calmed down, Hopgood's crew went on the attack. Suddenly a red flame blossomed on the left wing tank, and a trail of fire began to follow the Lancaster. It looks like the bombardier was killed, the Upkeeper bomb flew over the parapet and landed on the electrical substation. The plane desperately lifted its nose, gaining altitude, but a terrible orange flash swallowed the Lancaster, the wings flew off, and the flaming fuselage crashed into the ground, burying the pilots.
The third bomber received two rounds in the wing, but was able to put his "Upkeep" right on target. Another explosion shook the dam. The lake began to boil, white in a column of water soared hundreds of meters in height. When the water calmed down, the dam was still standing.
The fourth Lancaster went on the attack. The crew of "A Apple" achieved a direct hit, but the dam withstood the blow this time too.
Finally, Mutleby's crew came out on target. At this time, the planes freed from the bombs circled over the positions of the anti-aircraft gunners with the searchlights and side lights on, trying to distract the attention of the Germans. When the water wall settled down, the concrete body of the dam suddenly cracked and disintegrated under the pressure of the water. Millions of tons of water, foaming and hissing, rushed through the hole, a multi-meter water shaft rushed down the valley, sweeping away everything in its path.
The remaining aircraft were re-targeted at the Eder Dam. The dam lay in the folds of the hills, which made the attack even more difficult, and worse, the valley was foggy. From six approaches, the pilots were unable to hit the target. On the seventh run, the bomb went off without delay and the attacking Lancaster was destroyed by the explosion. The next attack turned out to be fatal for Eder.
The situation was worse for the second wave attacking the Zorpe dam. Only the fifth bomber managed to attack the target, but unsuccessfully - there was no hole. Three planes of the reserve group were urgently called. After several attacks, the pilots made a hit - the dam cracked, but still resisted.
The two remaining reserve aircraft were sent to reserve targets: one unsuccessfully attacked the Ennerpe dam, the second was shot down by anti-aircraft guns.
On that night, out of 19 Lancaster ships, 9 did not return to base, 56 pilots were killed.
results
According to German archives, 19 bombers in one sortie destroyed two large dams, 7 railway bridges, 18 road bridges, 4 turbine power plants, 3 steam power plants; 11 factories were destroyed in the Ruhr valley, 114 enterprises were left without electricity.
The dams were quickly repaired, but not because the damage was minor. Urgent repairs only underscore how important the dams were for Germany, all the necessary human and material resources were immediately removed from other facilities.
The Big Whipping (which is how Chastise is translated) became a legendary operation of the Second World War, during which the pilots of the RAF showed their professionalism and desperate courage.
