- The Dam Busters (book)
"The Dam Busters" is a 1951 book by
Paul Brickhill aboutBritish Royal Air Force Squadron 617, commanded by Wing CommanderGuy Gibson V.C. duringWorld War II . The squadron became known as the "Dam Busters" because ofOperation Chastise , a mission using highly specialised bombs to destroyRuhr dams inGermany . The book also covers the subsequent history of 617 Squadron, as an elite squadron specializing in attacking difficult targets with outsize weapons.The original edition of the book did not include some of the details of the dams raids, as these were still classified at the time, most significantly that the weapons bounced on the water surface before reaching its target. Later editions included these details.
In 1954 a
film "The Dam Busters" was made based on both Gibson's "Enemy Coast Ahead " and on Brickhill's book. Named after the latter, the movie starredRichard Todd as Gibson andMichael Redgrave asBarnes Wallis .A new
remake , "Dambusters", produced byPeter Jackson and David Frost, directed byChristian Rivers and scripted byStephen Fry , will commence filming in 2009.Citation
*"The Dam Busters", Paul Brickhill, Evans Brothers Ltd, 1951 ISBN 0-330-23618-0
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