The Dambusters Raid

This 2001 documentary gives the facts and many details about one of the most innovative and daring efforts in World War II. Operation Chastise was an RAF mission organized from scratch in less than two months. Better known as the Dambusters Raid, it involved several firsts. A new bomb had to be invented. Aircraft had to be greatly modified. A new method of bombing had to be tried. Special flying methods were needed to deliver the bombs. The planes had to fly below 200 feet to avoid radar and fighter attack. Then, they had to drop their bombs just 60 feet above the water at a precise distance from the dams. And flight crews needed to be trained in all of this and ready in seven weeks. It would be the first time in history that an air force used low-level nighttime precision bombing. —Simon Jack