Avro Lancaster ED912 Giclée Art Print

High quality art print of Avro Lancaster ED912, 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 ED912 - also known by its No. 617 Squadron designation of AJ-N - was piloted by Knight, with Grayston, Hodbay, Kellow, Johnson, Sutherland and O'Brien completing the crew of seven. Part of the first wave of Lancaster bombers, ED912 attacked the Eder Dam and, with its bouncing bomb, created a major breach in the structure. ED912 then returned intact, and three of the crew were decorated. Knight received a DSO, while Hodbay and Johnson received DFCs.

Six of the crew survived the war, while Leslie Knight sadly lost his life in September 1943. With his Lancaster bomber hit and going down, Knight managed to bring the aircraft to an altitude from which his crew could safely eject; Knight himself stayed in the Lancaster as it crashed, guiding it away from the Dutch village of Den Ham. He was buried in the village, and a memorial to him was later erected at the crash site.

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