The night of May 16, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand-pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to head deep into the German heartland and destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich's war machine.
From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then, just sixty feet above the water and at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany, they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally.
More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks, while the water levels in the dams were still high enough for the bombs to be effective. When the visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis's concept of the bouncing bomb was green-lighted, he hadn't even drawn up the plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time. James Holland's Dam Busters is meticulously researched and brilliantly told, sure to be the definitive history of this incredible raid.
The night of May 16, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from an RAF airfield in Lincolnshire, England, each with a huge nine-thousand-pound cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to head deep into the German heartland and destroy three hydroelectric dams that power the Third Reich's war machine.
From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission. First the men had to fly extremely low, at night, and in tight formation over miles of enemy-occupied territory. Then, just sixty feet above the water and at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany, they had to drop with pinpoint precision a complicated spinning cylindrical bomb that had never before been used operationally.
More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks, while the water levels in the dams were still high enough for the bombs to be effective. When the visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis's concept of the bouncing bomb was green-lighted, he hadn't even drawn up the plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time that, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time. James Holland's Dam Busters is meticulously researched and brilliantly told, sure to be the definitive history of this incredible raid.
Dam Busters : The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943
437Dam Busters : The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943
437Related collections and offers
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780802122780 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Pgw |
Publication date: | 11/11/2014 |
Pages: | 437 |
Sales rank: | 157,553 |
Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d) |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Explore More Items
At the end of the nineteenth century,
Erik Larson—author of #1 bestseller IN THE GARDEN OF BEASTS—intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World's Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their
Erik Larson has been widely acclaimed as a master of
In Thunderstruck, Erik Larson tells the interwoven stories of two men—Hawley Crippen, a very
In a one-of-a-kind graphic novel collaboration between the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Martian and the beloved illustrator behind Sarah’s
Jasmine Bashara never signed up to be a hero. She just wanted to get
“A novel that would have delighted
The bestselling author ofThe O'Reilly Factor, The No Spin Zone, and Who's Looking Out for You? talks straight to kids this time. He is as demanding, direct, and wry asever--but he's also more
One day in 1957, in the third-grade classroom of St. Brigid’s parochial school, an exasperated Sister Mary Lurana bent over a restless young William O’Reilly and said, “William, you