The Dam Busters Page #5

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They say it's a special squadron

to kidnap Hitler.

- Who's that big dark fellow by the table?

- That's Young, Gibson's second in command.

Dinghy Young, they call him,

because he always comes down in the sea.

And paddles home

in his rubber boat.

Oi! Here's Gibson.

He's done 1 7 3 sorties already.

Stay there, N*gger.

Stay there, boy.

You know most of the chaps,

I think.

All right, carry on, please.

- Hello, sir.

- Hello, Dinghy.

- McCarthy, sir.

- Oh yes, of course. Glad you're with us.

Hello, Maudslay. You two chaps are going

to be my flight commanders.

- What's it all about, sir?

- You'll find out, sooner or later.

- You've met Mickey Martin, haven't you?

- Yes, of course. Hello, Mickey.

I wanted you for this.

You're the low-flying expert.

You'll be able to tell us all about it.

Low-flying? Fine.

- Hello, sir.

- Hello, Hoppy. Hello, Shannon.

I found N*gger outside.

Can I stand him a beer?

Don't give him

more than a pint.

Right.

Don't drink it too quickly

or you'll get hiccups.

Well, sir... when are we

going to get something to fly in?

They're sending the first batch

of Lancs tomorrow.

That makes the ten they promised us

to get started with.

Have them flown and tested tomorrow.

We can begin this afternoon

dividing the crews into flights.

The first job will be

to fly over every big

lake in England and Wales

and photograph them.

- Lakes?

- Lakes.

- The crews are in the briefing room, sir.

- All right, I'll come.

Right, you can sit down.

Well... here we are all together

for the first time.

You're wondering what it's all about

and I can't tell you

because I don't know myself.

But I do know it's a big thing.

And if it comes off,

it will have results

that may do quite a bit

to shorten this war.

Discipline is going to be essential.

So is security.

It's unusual for a crowd like you

to be formed into a new squadron

so you're going to be talked about.

Rumours are flying about already

but you have got to keep your mouths shut!

All here will depend on secrecy.

If we can surprise them,

then we'll play hell with them.

But if they're ready for us,

then the hell is going to come

from the other side.

Now I understand that the job,

whatever it is,

has got to be done at low level.

So the first thing

is to practise low-flying

day and night until we can do it

with our eyes shut.

Come in.

- Hello, Mutt.

- This is Wing Commander Guy Gibson.

Oh, good morning.

I'm glad you've come.

- My name is Barnes Wallis.

- Morning, sir.

Well, I'll leave you to it.

See you later.

- Right. Thanks.

- Thanks a lot, Mutt.

Would you like to put those things down?

Give me that.

Thank you.

I don't smoke but there's sometimes

have a cigarette in here...

- Yes, there we are.

- Thank you.

Well, I don't suppose you know

very much about all this at present.

I don't know anything

about anything yet.

- But you know the target.

- No, not the faintest idea.

My dear boy... Well, I thought

they would have told you.

This makes it very awkward.

Isn't that what I'm here for,

to be told by you?

Oh no, not the target.

That's dreadfully secret.

I'm afraid I can't tell anybody

whose name isn't on this list.

Still, I'll tell you as much as I dare.

Well you see, there are certain objects

in the enemy territory

that are very big and quite vital

to this war effort.

They're so big that ordinary bombs

won't hurt them.

But I've got an idea

for a special type of bomb

only it would have to be dropped

at very low level.

Oh, they've told us about low-flying.

Oh, they have?

Oh, well that's something.

Well, I don't know

if you're scientifically minded...

In any case, it wouldn't be necessary

for you or any of your crews

to understand the theory

and mathematics of the weapon.

I'd like to try and understand it

if I can.

You would?

Oh, splendid.

I'll explain it all to you later

on paper.

But first of all,

I'd like you to see some films.

You can leave your things here,

it's only in the next room.

Ready?

Right, this way.

- Er, are you ready?

- Yes, sir.

Bring up a couple of chairs.

Right.

Now these are the first dropping tests

at Chesil Beach, near Weymouth.

Here comes the Wellington.

Mutt Summers is the pilot

and I'm working the release gear.

Now in a moment, you'll see the bomb.

There it goes...

Now watch.

Now we switch to one of the big

testing tanks at Teddington.

These pictures were taken much earlier,

when I was experimenting with miniatures

but they show

what the bomb does underwater.

There it goes.

Now that's exactly how a full size bomb

would behave.

At 30 feet down, an hydrostatic pistol

would automatically explode the charge.

Well, you can see now why this low-flying

is so important.

Each aircraft will only be able

to carry one bomb

and it must be dropped from exactly 150

feet at a speed of 240 miles an hour.

Above or below that height and speed

and it just doesn't work.

Take a chair, won't you?

I'm sorry, we're tied so closely, but it's

all a question of gravity and mathematics.

I'm afraid I'm asking

a great deal of you.

Do you think you can fly

it to those limits?

Well, it's hard to say off hand.

The altimeter does no good

at that level

but they've given me

some of the best pilots in the Air Force.

So we'll see what we can do.

Have you tested the full size bomb yet?

No, it's being assembled now.

I hope to try it in a week or ten days.

Do you really mean

that a five ton bomb

can bounce along the water

like a ping-pong ball?

It's been hard to persuade some people

that it will

but I've every reason to believe it will

behave exactly like those miniatures.

How far from the target

do we drop the bomb?

Ah, that's the third factor that I'm afraid

requires absolute accuracy.

I've got a little more work to do on it

but I think it'll be 600 yards.

Did you invent this thing

out of your own head?

Well... yes...

I think I may say I invented it.

Well I think it's terrific.

I thought so at one time,

but I'm beginning to

think that the job of

inventing it was small

compared with the job of dropping it.

Well, we'll do our best.

I'm talking right in the dark at present.

If only I knew what the target was...

Yes... Well, I've told you

as much as I dare.

I hope they'll tell you the rest

when you get back.

Well, Gibson, there it is.

That's your main target:

The Mhne dam.

So that's it.

I thought it was going to be the Tirpitz.

If you can blow a hole

in this wall, you'll

bring the Ruhr steel

industry to a standstill

and do much other damage besides.

I'm showing you the targets

but you'll be the only man in the squadron

who knows, so... keep it that way.

Very good, sir.

These are the models of the two other dams:

The Eder and the Sorpe.

- But the Mhne is the most important.

- I see, sir.

Come along and study these

as often as you like.

We're having regular reconnaissance

to see what they're doing over there

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