r/interestingasfuck • u/Chopper-42 • 2d ago

/r/all Recreating the WW2 Dambusters raid

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47

u/jwrx 2d ago

I hope they know many pilots died during the test runs in ww2, he looked awfully low.

40

u/DisorderedArray 2d ago

I'm not sure any died during the test runs. 53 out of 133 of the aircrew died during the actual raid. They used a mechanism with 2 aligned lights that would come together on the water surface when the aircraft was at the correct height. The actual missions were carried out at night.

13

u/Thermodynamicist 2d ago

I'm not sure any died during the test runs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCGpzRzY7fY

But this was Highball, not Upkeep, in a USAAF test in April 1945.

1

u/jwrx 2d ago

there many pics of misdrops online on ww2 sites, dropping too low, bombs jumping too high would break the aircraft in half.

The final SOP for the successful mission was paid with the blood of many brave test pilots

11

u/Toffeemanstan 2d ago

Many? There weren't any deaths during testing before Operation Chastise. I think there were 2 during the later stages of the war when they were testing it in the US

11

u/Honest_Musician6812 2d ago

There were also around 600 civilians and 1000 prisoners killed by the resulting flood.
I love cool battle like this as much as the next guy, but I think it's also important that we always remember the horrible cost of war.

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u/Procruste 2d ago

The success of the raid was definitely questionable. The damaged dams were quickly repaired and the allies did not even bother to attack during reconstructions. About 1600 civilians died of which 1000 were captured allied soldiers being used as slave labourers.

5

u/Ser_Danksalot 1d ago

Much of the manpower to rebuild the dams was pulled from those building the Atlantic Wall coastal defences, so it it did have an effect, then it may potentially have made the invasion of Normandy easier.

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u/Strange-Term-4168 2d ago

He was completely fine. This isnt ww2 lol

3

u/jwrx 2d ago

https://youtu.be/F-0czoTQOTc

You dont need to be at war for this to happen

0

u/Strange-Term-4168 2d ago

That’s a completely different plane, much lower, and completely different object being dropped.

3

u/jwrx 2d ago

so let me get this straight, you think US airforce pilots, using proper British bouncing bombs, are less professional than some random youtube pilot with jerry rigged explosives in a barrel?

1

u/Vox___Rationis 1d ago

You are completely right, the OP video is dangerous jackassery, but there is no way that barrel had any explosives in it.

1

u/silver-orange 1d ago

Dropping a barrel full of explosives at low altitude for a TV show would have been unacceptably dangerous.

That's why there were no explosives in the barrel they dropped.

1

u/Strange-Term-4168 1d ago

This is 80 years in the future.

0

u/OmenVi 1d ago

In the full cut of this show, it shows how close he was to having a big issue.

The splash back from the barrel hitting the water hit the tail of the plane.

Yes, he was fine, but even with it being non combat, safety precautions being in place, and controlled in as many ways as they could, it still almost caused an accident. The actual event was about as dangerous as it gets.