Dambusters footage

[rickshaw]

[zenrat]

Some of the colours are a bit odd and some of it looks suspiciously like it's been generated by AI from a photo, but it was worth watching (even though, as we all know, the world was black and white until 1960).
Thanks.
I watched it with the sound down so I have no comments on the soundtrack.

 

[PR19_Kit]

I watched it with the sound up, and it was a pretty good commentary, but many of the shots were taken from the 1955 movie, rather from real footage of the raid. I've seen the movie HUNDREDS of times and know it off by heart now!

Lots of the shots were of PA474, the BoB Memorial flight Lancaster, but there were some interesting shots of Wellingtons purporting to be Lancasters, and some even more interesting shots of Mosquitos dropping the smaller Highball bombs.

The shot of the dummy model damn being blown up early on was taken at the Building Research Centre at Watford and they were one of my customers in the 80s, and the damn model was STILL there then!

[rickshaw]

I noticed the odd shots of Wellingtons and Mosquitoes.  What always interested me about the Mosquitoes was that when the movie was made, Highball was still classified but in the movie they clearly showed it being tested!  Oops!  Someone gave the moviemakers the wrong can of film obviously.  I always thought the cameraman on the tests was a brave man 'cause one of the test bombs came damn close to him.  The Wellingtons were clearly a mistake.  The Lancasters were clearly all from the movie and a damn fine movie it always was.  I wonder how much formation though they did in the real raid?

[zenrat]

IIRC the first test drops were done with a Wellington piloted by Mutt Summers (as he was Vickers chief test pilot).
Brickhill includes details in his book.

<edit>  Just realised I have James Holland's book next to me.
December 4th 1942 Mutt Summers piloted a modified Wellington which dropped a test bomb at Chesil Beach.  Barnes Wallis was bomb aimer.