In May 1943, a specially formed RAF squadron began a bold mission under the moonlight - but its success cost a lot. In 1976, the BBC spoke with a pilot who kept him alive.

Throughout April 1943, Jack Buckley practiced low-level night flight and navigation as part of the RAF 617 Squadron, performing secret missions. The security of Chastise operations is so tight that a hasty squadron of 133 pilots from the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand actually knows what they are training.

There is a lot of speculation, "but no one is close to the facts," Barkley recalled the BBC in an interview with the RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire in 1976. "Someone has a bright idea that we might drop tanks in the desert, and there are other distant ideas (for example) against Tirpitz (German warship). " Ultimately, the 617th Squadron will be called by the name of the bold and dangerous mission they are about to begin - the Denbsters.

May 16, 1943, 21:28 82 years ago this week, the first of 19 specially modified Lancaster bomb attackers aimed at undermining the precise raids of the Third Reich war machine. Their target was the three huge dams of Moon, Ed and Thorpe in the Ruhr region of the heart of Germany's military industry.

The dam is providing water and hydroelectric power to surrounding German factories that make weapons. It is believed that if the dam is destroyed, the flood caused will cause catastrophic damage to the Nazi war and morale. A plan to attack the dam was proposed earlier in the war, but given that the flight route was strictly defended, no aircraft could carry enough bombs to destroy them at that time, so the mission was considered impossible. But the plane that took off in May 1943 was carrying a powerful new weapon - the bouncing bomb.

Codenamed Maintenance, the special explosives were invented by aircraft engineer Dr. Barnes Wallis. Wallis realized that if the smaller bomb was in the right position, underwater detonating near the bottom of the dam, it might have the desired effect. He designed a barrel-shaped bomb that jumps over the water like a stone when it is degreased. This allows the explosives to bypass the protective underwater mesh placed around the dam to prevent torpedoes.

But for bombs to work, they must be reduced from the exact height and the correct speed. The aircraft needs to fly over water at an altitude of only 60 feet (18m) and an altitude of 232 mph (373 km). This will cause the bomb to bounce until it hits the dam, and its rear spin will cause it to run along the side of the dam until it reaches 30 feet (9m) and explodes. Wallis modeled this trajectory by sweeping over marble in his back garden through a water-filled bathtub.

These weapons are still too large to be installed into Lancaster's Bomb Bay, so the aircraft were modified so that the bombs could be carried underneath, and many of the aircraft's armor had to be unloaded so that they were light enough to fly.

617 squadron bombers started in three waves, each targeting a different dam. Buckley is the first wave of nine aircraft led by Guy Gibson, a 24-year-old squadron commander. When Dave Shannon flew into the back gunner, Buckley told the BBC that he remembered "happy we were on the road" when the plane took off from the runway. "We set the route for the enemy's coast. It was a full moon, almost like sunlight," he said.

Dangerous missions require excellent flight skills and precise navigation. To avoid radar, Lancaster needs to fly at a location with known air defense guns and on an externally braided flight route. When they deviated from the route, at least three aircraft were shot down, while the other two crashed because they flew low enough to hit the high voltage power cord.

Lancaster in Buckley was one of those who arrived at the assembly on the 2,000-foot-long (650m) Möhne Dam. Gibson decided to bomb, while others circled, waiting for the opportunity. The Möhne method is particularly harmful. The crew was surrounded by trees-covered hills, and the gunner was exposed to the gunner when the tower fell to the water. When it comes to the bomber's turn, four other Lancasters have abandoned the bombs, and one plane crashed after being exploded by enemy fires and their own bounced bombs. But Moon Dam is still standing.

Since Lancaster's altimeter is not accurate enough, spotlights were installed at both ends of the aircraft to tell the pilot at the correct altitude. "We circled and had to go 60 feet, we had a spotlight on the nose of the plane, a spotlight on the tail, and they just gathered at 60 feet," Barkley said. "The fifth was (pilot David) Marterby, well, he successfully put down his weapon. We were running and Gibson called back-the dam had disappeared."

When the dam broke out, a 30-foot (10m) flood rushed into the breeze, sweeping everything in the path. But when Gibson "ordered himself, (and flew) Henry Maudslay and Les Knight went to Eder Dam with him, Buckley didn't have much time to enjoy his relief."

The Ed Dam was not defended by an air defense gun, but its short approach was to start with a steep dive, making it a more challenging target. "Well, we had to go down the very steep hill, immediately descend, at the exact height, and then go all out to lift the other side to get out of the valley. It's very difficult," Barkley said. "Eventually, we actually attacked five times and successfully hit the dam itself, which caused the violation."

Knight's plane followed Barkley's plane. Another bounce bomb hit Eder, causing the bomb to collapse and poured a million tons of water into the Ruhr Valley. Only two Lancasters managed to reach Sorpe's third goal. And because the dam is built from thousands of tons of concrete covered by the earth, it is able to withstand the bombs falling on it and suffer only partial damage.

The damage caused by the raid was widespread, with 330 million tons of flooding from damaged dams spreading about 50 miles (80 kilometers). Twelve war production plants and two power plants were destroyed, scoring more and more. The mines were flooded and the damaged Moon Dam was swept away 30 miles (48 kilometers) below each bridge. Thousands of acres of farmland were flooded and livestock were submerged in the influx of water.

But human costs are also very high. Estimates vary, but were killed in 1,200 to 1,600 people, most of whom were civilians. The casualties included 749 prisoners of war, many of which were enslaved female workers from Poland, Russia and Ukraine. They are located in a camp beneath Ed Dam and are submerged in floodwaters. Of the 19 Lancaster bombers that left that day, eight caused damage or shot down. Of the 133 crew members, 53 were killed. Three other men were arrested and became prisoners of war.

George'Johnny' Johnson, part of the formation of the attack on the Sorpe dam, told the BBC's Hardtalk in 2018 that he remembered he was tortured when the inventor of the bomb heard about the death toll of the crew. "Barnes Wallis cried and said, 'I killed all these young people. I will never do something like this again.'"

Johnson said in his testimony to the BBC that year: “I still feel like what we do, we have to do our best, but it made me realize how much other impact the war has had on non-combatants, civilians, the number of people killed.”

Dambusters Raid's long-term strategic impact remains controversial. After the attack, Hitler sent a forced labor to repair the losses, and war production in the Ruhr Valley recovered again within a few months. The dam was rebuilt in just five months and worked all day and all night. Hitler youth, German troops and prisoners of war were marshalled to repair bridges and factories. Even the electricity loss in the area lasted for two weeks. But the raid did mean that Hitler was forced to pay a lot of manpower and money for the reconstruction efforts, diverting resources from troops that could have fought on the Eastern Front, or taking Nazi coastal defenses away from resisting the invasion of the European Allies.

The pilot of the surviving 617 squadron was called a hero on his return, and the raid made front page news. Later, it will immortalize in the 1955 film The Dam Busters, starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave, which, along with their exciting theme tunes, helped solidify the attacks of British national folklore.

Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross, while the 33 pilots involved were honored for their role in the raid, and both Johnson and Buckley were awarded the outstanding flying cross. A year later, Gibson's plane died when it returned from a mission in Germany. Only 48 of the 133 people participating in the raid will live to see the end of the war.

"After reporting, we went to the chaos, ate some food, and started a great party," Barkley told the BBC in 1976. It was a noisy celebration that lasted for two days. Although many of his comrades were suddenly lost, there was no time to mourn the survivors before they returned to the flight. "Well, we're used to the whole war, so we can't do it. We drank their health and that's all."

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