Return Of The Dambusters What 617 Squadron Did Next

Author : John Nichol
Publisher : William Collins
ISBN 13 : 9780008100858
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Return of the Dambusters written by John Nichol and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2016-06-20 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: (Previously published as 'After the Flood') Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol sets out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood. RAF 617 Squadron's destruction of the dams at the heart of the Ruhr made them heroes and celebrities of their time. But this elite squadron was also called upon for a hundred more of the most secret and dangerous specialist precision attacks. As bestselling author John Nichol discovers, 617 would drop the largest bombs ever built on battleships, railway bridges, secret weapon establishments, rockets sites and U-boat construction pens. They were involved in attempts on the lives of enemy leaders, both Hitler and Mussolini, created a 'false fleet' on D-day which fooled the Germans, and knocked out a German super gun which would have rained 600 shells an hour on London. Of the 77 men who made it home from dams raid, only 45 survived to see the victory for which they fought - as 617's reputation called them into action again and again.

Author : John Nichol
Publisher : Abrams
ISBN 13 : 1468316117
Total Pages : 350 pages
Book Rating : 4.17/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Return of the Dambusters written by John Nichol and published by Abrams. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A history of the RAF’s 617 Squadron during World War II, from bombing Nazi battleships to attempts on the lives of Hitler & Mussolini, and more. The Dambusters had another nickname—they were the “Suicide Squadron,” and these daring flyers were the go-to forces for dangerous precision attacks. They dropped the largest bombs ever built on Hitler’s prize battleship, Tirpitz, as well as rocket sites and secret weapon establishments; they were involved in attempts on the lives of enemy leaders, including Hitler and Mussolini; and they created a false fleet on D-Day, which fooled the Germans, among other crucial missions. but they also suffered brutal losses, with seventy-five percent of 617 Squadron killed in action by the end of the war. In this awe-inspiring book, John Nichol—himself a former RAF flight lieutenant—retraces the path of 617 Squadron’s most dangerous sorties, the ones largely lost to history. With the sensitivity of a fellow soldier, Nichol gains unprecedented access to the surviving Dambusters, whose moving personal stories add depth to this impressively researched history. The result is a tense, poignant story of courage by men who braved death time and time again in the name of freedom. Praise for Return of the Dambusters “A truly epic tale of courage and sacrifice—an intensely moving epitaph to the men of Bomber Command.” —Andy McNab, bestselling author of Bravo Two Zero “A straightforward account considers all sides to these precise missions.” —Kirkus Reviews “This is both an exciting book and a saddening one . . . a tale of victory, in the end, magnificently told in lip-biting detail.” —The Daily Mail (UK) “Drawing on interviews with survivors, as well as archive material . . . the book is [a] story of human suffering in the air and on the ground.” —The Times (UK)/

Author : John Nichol
Publisher : William Collins
ISBN 13 : 9780008100841
Total Pages : 384 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book After the Flood written by John Nichol and published by William Collins. This book was released on 2015-07 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former RAF Tornado Navigator and Gulf War veteran John Nichol set out on a personal journey to discover what happened to 617 Squadron after the flood. The role RAF 617 Squadron in the destruction of the dams at the heart of the industrial Ruhr has been celebrated in book, magazine and film for more than seventy years. On the 17th May 1943, 133 airmen set out in 19 Lancasters to destroy the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams. 56 of them did not return. Despite these catastrophic losses, the raid became an enormous propaganda triumph. The survivors were feted as heroes and became celebrities of their time. They had been brought together for one specific task -- so what happened next? Of the 77 men who made it home from that raid, 32 would lose their lives later in the war and only 45 survived to see the victory for which they fought. Few are aware of the extent of the Dambuster squadron's operations after the Dams Raid. They became the "go to" squadron for specialist precision attacks, dropping the largest bombs ever built on battleships, railway bridges, secret weapon establishments, rockets sites and U-boat construction pens. They were involved in attempts on the lives of enemy leaders, both Hitler and Mussolini, created a "false fleet" on D-day which fooled the Germans, and knocked out a German super gun which would have rained 600 shells an hour on London. In After The Flood, John Nichol retraces the path of 617 Squadron's most dangerous sorties as their reputation called them into action again and again.

Author : Alan W. Cooper
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 147382835X
Total Pages : 219 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Dambusters written by Alan W. Cooper and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2013-06-26 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seventy years ago, 133 airmen of 617 Squadron, later known as the Dambusters, set out to destroy the Ruhr Dams in Germany. This one operation amongst many carried out by Bomber Command has become one of the most well known in the whole history of WWII. Indeed, a very successful film was made about it which became a classic, etching the dramatic events of the Dambuster raids in the minds of young and old alike. The book covers every facet of this enthralling episode.It also works as a poignant tribute to the 53 men who were killed on the operation, as well as the men who returned from the operation but were later killed on further sorties with 617 and other squadrons. Cooper brings together various narrative threads, focussing on stories recorded in document form and acquired on a first-hand basis to give a real insight into the daily operations of the squadron.

Author : John Nichol
Publisher : Clipper Audio
ISBN 13 : 9780008148270
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4.79/5 ( download)

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Download or read book After the Flood written by John Nichol and published by Clipper Audio. This book was released on 2016-01-02 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Tim Bouquet
Publisher : Orion
ISBN 13 : 1409144178
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.75/5 ( download)

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Download or read book 617 written by Tim Bouquet and published by Orion. This book was released on 2012-12-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside story of today's Dambusters, 617 Squadron RAF, at war in Afghanistan. In May 1943, 617 Squadron RAF executed one of the most daring operations in military history as bombers mounted a raid against hydro-electric dams in Germany. 617 Squadron became a Second World War legend. Nearly 70 years later, in April 2011, a new generation of elite flyers, now flying supersonic Tornado GR4 bombers, was deployed to Afghanistan - their mission: to provide close air support to troops on the ground. Tim Bouquet was given unprecedented access to 617's pre-deployment training and blistering tour in Afghanistan. From dramatic air strikes to the life-and-death search for IEDs and low-flying shows of force designed to drive insurgents from civilian cover, he tracked every mission - and the skill, resilience, banter and exceptional airmanship that saw 617 through.

Author : Colin Burgess
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1760859249
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.44/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Australia's Dambusters written by Colin Burgess and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2021-07-07 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A truly comprehensive account of 617 Squadron, RAF, ​who carried out one of the most dangerous and audacious aerial bombing raids of World War II. It was the evening of 16 May 1943. Nineteen modified Lancaster bombers from 617 Squadron RAF, under the command of youthful Wing Commander Guy Gibson, roared into the night sky from their Lincolnshire base. They were on a top-secret Bomber Command mission, codenamed Operation Chastise, now regarded as one of the most dangerous and audacious bombing raids of World War II – an attack on the formidable, well-defended dams of Germany’s Ruhr Valley. Slung beneath the belly of each aircraft was one of the war’s greatest secrets – a bouncing bomb. Against the odds, and flying straight and level into the teeth of terrifying enemy fire, they succeeded in breaching the two principal dams. Many of the 133 airmen involved that fateful night hailed from Australia, and several would be counted among the 56 who would not return to base next morning. The Dams Raid led to the men of this gallant company – often referred to as a suicide squadron – taking on even more hazardous operations in the final two years of the war. Under valorous leadership, and now armed with massive Tallboy and Grand Slam ‘earthquake’ bombs, they obliterated vital Nazi installations, destroying such defiant targets as the heavily defended Kembs Barrage and the German battleship Tirpitz, often at a terrible cost in lives. First published in 2003, this deeply researched, revised and updated edition of Australia’s Dambusters offers a truly comprehensive account of the most famous bombing raid of the war through the words and stories of the courageous Australian airmen and others who flew on this and later perilous missions, remembered and forever immortalised as the Dambusters.

Author : Max Hastings
Publisher : Collins
ISBN 13 : 9780008280529
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Chastise written by Max Hastings and published by Collins. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A masterly history of the Dambusters raid from bestselling and critically acclaimed Max Hastings. Operation Chastise, the overnight destruction of the Möhne and Eder dams in north-west Germany by the RAF's 617 Squadron, was an epic that has passed into Britain's national legend. Max Hastings grew up embracing the story, the classic 1955 movie and the memory of Guy Gibson, the 24-year-old wing-commander who won the VC leading the raid. In the 21st Century, however, Hastings urges that we should review the Dambusters in much more complex shades. The aircrew's heroism was wholly authentic, as was the brilliance of Barnes Wallis, who invented the 'bouncing bombs'. But commanders who promised their young fliers that success could shorten the war fantasised wildly. What Germans call the Möhnekatastrophe imposed on the Nazi war machine temporary disruption, rather than a crippling blow. Hastings vividly describes the evolution of Wallis' bomb, and of the squadron which broke the dams at the cost of devastating losses. But he also portrays in harrowing detail those swept away by the torrents. Some 1,400 civilians perished in the biblical floods that swept through the Möhne valley, more than half of them Russian and Polish women, slave labourers under Hitler. Ironically, Air Marshal Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris gained much of the credit, though he opposed Chastise as a distraction from his city-burning blitz. He also made what the author describes as the operation's biggest mistake - the failure to launch a conventional attack on the Nazis' huge post-raid repair operation, which could have transformed the impact of the dam breaches upon Ruhr industry. Chastise offers a fascinating retake on legend by a master of the art. Hastings sets the dams raid in the big picture of the bomber offensive and of the Second World War, with moving portraits of the young airmen, so many of whom died; of Barnes Wallis; the monstrous Harris; the tragic Guy Gibson, together with superb narrative of the action of one of the most extraordinary episodes in British history.

Author : Alan W. Cooper
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 178383062X
Total Pages : 250 pages
Book Rating : 4.26/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Men Who Breached the Dams written by Alan W. Cooper and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-08-19 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published to acclaim in 1982, this was author Alan Cooper's first publication before he went on to become a prolific writer of aviation history. As we approach the 70th Anniversary of the Dam Buster Raids, this re-print will make a timely addition to the library of any enthusiast wishing to mark the occasion, and any curious readers who wish to expand their knowledge of this key operation in World War II history. Painstaking research went into every aspect of an operation, which at the time and ever since has captured the imagination of the world. This forms an evocative history of one of the most successful operations of the Second World War carried out by the famous 617 Squadron and led by Guy Gibson. This account includes the whole lead up to the final mission; the development of the bouncing bomb, the forming of 617 Squadron and the intense course of training carried out to make the operation a success. The raid itself is viewed from both British and German camps; many of the aircrew who took part in 617 operations give their accounts, as do several Germans, including Albert Speer, the Armaments minister. There is a remarkable eyewitness account of the raid from a man who was a gunner on the Mohne dam itself, telling of the damage after the raid and how he and his companions shot down one of the attacking aircraft. The investigation is completed by an in-depth study into the effects of the operation, how far it proved successful and the true extent of the devastation it caused. Overall, the book recreates the excitement and aura of danger and uncertainty, which surrounded the Dam busters' mission, giving the reader the full story of one of the greatest episodes of the war. 'A fascinating record which will be difficult to better' Group Captain W.S.O. Randle, Aerospace

Author : Chris Ward (Military historian)
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Dambusters written by Chris Ward (Military historian) and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: