(Ebook) The Dam Busters: An Operational History of Barnes Wallis' Bombs by Stephen Flower ISBN 9781445618289, 1445618281

(Ebook) The Dam Busters: An Operational History of Barnes Wallis' Bombs by Stephen Flower ISBN 9781445618289, 1445618281

Barnes Neville Wallis CBE FRS RDI FRAES (1887-1979) was this generations most famous inventor and designer of Aeronautics and their related weaponry, he was also someone who was both passionate about his chosen field of work and devastated personally at the resulting loss of human life from that work. He was the rarest of human beings in that he saw the true evil of warfare for what it was much as Robert Oppenheimer did. Barnes Wallis started his illustrious Aviation Carrer in 1913, but his connection to 617 RAF Squadron and his work in creating innovative Bombs are what he will always be known for the most.

This is due chiefly to the mythology (and in some cases inaccurate retelling) that has arisen about his and the squadron formed to turn his ideas into reality. An Australian Spitfire Pilot who was shot down in 1943 called Paul Brickhill (1916-1991) started this mythology with his readable but inaccurate history of these events by publishing his book 'The Dambusters' in 1951 which was then turned into a much loved, but inaccurate film in 1954 with Richard Todd (1919-2009) and Sir Michael Redgrave (1908-1985) in the lead roles along with an up and coming Australian Actor called Bill Kerr (1922-2014).     

Thanks to the publics adoration of the film and book of The Dam Busters, Barnes Wallis is remembered thanks mainly to Michael Redgrave's portrayal and indeed notable similarity to him. His name is still a household name all these years later not just in England, but in almost every Country in the Commonwealth. 

However this is only a very small part of the joint history of Barnes Wallis and the Aircrew and Ground Staff of 617 RAF Squadron.

The Author seeks to remedy this issue, by not just detailing the use of 'Upkeep' in the destruction of two German Dams and the Damaging of another or the human cost to those involved in those attacks, but also covers the even more effective 'Earth Quake Bombs' - "Tallboy'' and ''Grandslam'' - from the design to