Introduction

On the night of 16 May 1943, the specially formed 617 Squadron flew 19 modified Lancaster bombers to Germany on a mission that was to become one of the most famous episodes of the Second World War, the Dambusters raid. We retell the story using original documents and images from The National Archives.

You can see Barnes Wallis' concept drawings for the 'bouncing bomb', 617 Squadron's log books of the Dams raid, the first air reconnaissance photos of the successfully breached Dams and many more fascinating historical records.

The idea