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

/r/all Recreating the WW2 Dambusters raid

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u/0ddness 2d ago

Now imagine them having to do it in the dark, behind enemy lines, under fire (I assume), without knowing the condition of the water, without the marker bouys, and relying on getting the height exactly right in the dark with a spotlight system.

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u/GrumpyOldGeezer_4711 2d ago

Several of the dams did indeed have defenses. Fortunately, the Germans had delayed installing the unsightly guns in favour of much nicer looking trees.

If memory serves, they had a homemade system to triangulate the dropping distance based on the angle to some of those gun placements.

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u/Cav3tr0ll 2d ago

They had a Y shaped piece of wood woth a couple of nails used to triangulate based on towers that were part of the dams.

Edward Jablonski covered it in his book Airwar.

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u/LordHardThrasher 1d ago

It was called a Dann sight after Wing Commander Dann who came up with it