A British World War II Lancaster bomber performed a flypast Thursday over a reservoir used for practice runs by the legendary “Dambusters” airmen to mark 70 years since their daring raid over Nazi Germany’s industrial heartland.
The four-engined aircraft was joined by two Spitfires and two modern-day Tornado jets as they swept over the Derwent Reservoir in Derbyshire, northern England, where the Royal Air Force trialled the ‘bouncing bomb’.
The devices, which literally bounced on water towards their target, were used to attack three dams in the Ruhr Valley either side of midnight on May 16, 1943.
The raid, which breached two of the dams and damaged a third, was immortalised by the 1955 film “Dambusters”.
Thursday’s flypast began when the Lancaster took off from RAF Scampton airbase in Lincolnshire, eastern England, the same site from where 19 of the bombers had set off in darkness across northern Europe on their mission 70 years ago.
The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and 617 Squadron flew the aircraft over the twin towers of the reservoir before passing the nearby Chatsworth stately home where crowds gathered to mark the occasion.
Later, a sunset ceremony was set to take place at RAF Scampton, where veterans and invited guests will gather for the event set to include a further flypast.
The Dambusters raid had required the men to fly the Lancaster bombers at just 60 feet (18 metres) above the ground.
The raid, which left an estimated 1,600 people drowned in the Ruhr Valley, was seen as a morale boost for wartime Britain at the time despite the fact that 56 of the 133 airmen failed to return alive.
However, its direct effect on the Nazi wartime economy has been downplayed by historians in recent decades.
UK flypast marks 70 years since Dambusters raid
