The Dambusters
The 16th May 2008 saw the return of surviving members of 617 Squadron to their old training ground in North Derbyshire 65th years to the day of the famous raids.
Two of the surviving aircrew and a number of ground crew along with Air Force representatives met in the shadow of Derwent dam’s tower to remember their friends and colleagues.
They were joined by Richard Todd (star of the film), Barnes Wallace’ (the designer of the bouncing bomb) great nephew and thousands of people who lined the entire Derwent valley to see the Battle of Britain Memorial Flights Lancaster bomber retrace the training route of the squadron.
The Lancaster was joined by two current 617 squadron Tornado GR4’s in the flypast as well as the BBMF’s Spitfire, Hurricane and Dakota.
On a personal level it was the first chance in 15 years to pay tribute to my heroes since seeing the 50th Anniversary fly pasts after skipping school for the day in 1993 and was certainly a personal highlight of my photography career.
Restrictions on access to the dam wall meant I had to plan carefully where to position myself. I decided upon a point high up on the ledge on Derwent Edge which offered panoramic views of the run down from Derwent to Ladybower.
The results as you can see were very rewarding looking down on the aircraft low in the valley. The most exciting part of the day and the moment that produced my favourite photograph was when the pilot of the Lancaster pointed the nose right at us, clearing the top of the ledge at tree top height.
Because of the popularity of this page on my old site and requests for it to be reuploaded on the new site. I have for the first time uploaded all of the images from the day. Plus two other images from previous events.
Since originally writting this page I have been involved with the Derwent Dam museum and the amazing Vic Hallam. I’m vary proud to announce that some of these images are on display and prints are available.
Copyright © 2010 Rob McPherson All Rights Reserved