High quality art print of Avro Lancaster ED936, 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 a 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 ED936 - No. 617 Squadron AJ-H - was flown by Pilot Officer Geoffrey Rice, with a crew consisting of flight engineer Sergeant Edward C Smith, navigator Flight Officer Richard Macfarlane, wireless officer Warrant Officer Bruce Gowrie, bomb aimer Warrant Officer John Thrasher, and gunners Sergeant Thomas William Maynard and Sergeant Stephen Burns.
Flying over the North Sea with the second of three waves of Lancaster bombers, ED936 twice hit the water, losing its bouncing bomb in the process. Rice turned ED936 around once the extent of the damage was clear, and returned to RAF Scampton, and - after some issues with the undercarriage were resolved - landed safely.
Rice would survive the war, but sadly the other six members of the crew would not. The crew's Lancaster was shot down above Belgium in December 1943, and didn't have enough time to bail out; Rice, thrown clear of the explosion, was the only survivor. The six members of the crew were buried in Gosselies Communal Cemetery.
This illustration by Rob Wisdom is a high-quality Giclée art print on cotton-rich fine art paper.
