Avro Lancaster ED864 Giclée Art Print

High quality art print of Avro Lancaster ED864, an Avro Lancaster B.III (Special) of No. 617 Squadron, specially refitted to take part in Operation Chastise, better known as the Dambusters Raid.

The Dambusters Raid saw nineteen Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron attack several dams in the Ruhr Valley in Germany: the Möhne, Eder, Sorpe, and Edersee dams. Flying on the night of 16/17 May 1943, each of the Lancasters carried an Vickers Type 464 'Upkeep' mine, better known as a bouncing bomb, which Barnes Wallis had designed specifically for the mission. The Lancasters flew in low to avoid detection, and bounced their Upkeep mines along the surface of the water and into the dam.

Lancaster ED864 - which was designated AJ-B by No. 617 Squadron - was flown by Flight Lieutenant Bill Astell DFC. The flight engineer was Sergeant John Kinnear, the navigator was Pilot Officer Floyd Wile, the bomb aimer was Flight Officer Donald Hopkinson, the wireless operator was Warrant Officer Abram 'Albert' Garshowitz, and the two gunners were Sergeant Francis Garbas and Sergeant Richard Bolitho. ED864 sadly crashed during the raid, and none of the crew survived; they were buried in Borken, and reinterred after the war in the Reichswald Forest War Cemetery.

This illustration by Rob Wisdom is a high-quality Giclée art print on cotton-rich fine art paper.