Avro Lancaster ED925 Giclée Art Print

High quality art print of Avro Lancaster ED925, 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 ED925, designated as AJ-M by No. 617 Squadron, was piloted by Flight Lieutenant John Hopgood. Flight engineering was provided by Sergeant Charles Brennan, navigation by Flight Officer Ken Earnshaw, and the wireless was operated by Sergeant John Minchin. The bomb aimer was Flight Sergeant John Fraser, and the gunners were Pilot Officer George Gregory and Pilot Officer Anthony Burcher.

Their target was the Möhne Dam, and though their bouncing bomb bounced over the dam, they did destroy an associated power station. Having been hit by anti-aircraft fire earlier in the night, ED925 crashed on the far side of the dam, and five of the crew sadly lost their lives. Only heroic flying by John Hopgood allowed time for some of crew to bail out. 

John Fraser and Anthony Burcher, the two survivors, were captured and sent to a POW until the end of the war. Fraser would go on to have three children - naming his firstborn son John Hopgood Fraser in tribute to his former crewmate - in his native Canada. Burcher lived in Britain for some time after the war, and later returned to his native Australia.

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