Operation Chastise - The Dambusters & Real History

[Twelvefield]

Judging by some of the posts from some people (ie. no jets in WWII), I'm guessing that some gamers have missed out on their WWII history. While Bomber Crew is by no means realistic, Operation Chastise was a real mission to blow up dams in the German industrial heartland. When the dams were blown, several factories and power plants would be flooded and the Nazi electrical grid would be cut.

The Germans were well aware of this, so they protected these dams with heavy anti-aircraft flak and airbases. The Allies thought that it might be possible to drop torpedoes into the water upstream to blow the dams, but the Germans were prepared for this attack as well: they had arranged anti-torpedo nets across all approaches and fortified the concrete so that conventional bombs could not penetrate the dams.

The Allies has "earthquake bombs" (bunker busters) that could blow the dams but no aircraft capable of dropping them on this type of target. Engineer Barnes Wallace concieved of a backwards-spinning bomb that could skip across the top of still water like a stone being skipped across the surface of a lake. The bomb would jump over the nets and then sink to the bottom of the dam where hydrostatic shock would do the most damage. The spinning bomb was much smaller than an earhquake bomb, but since its delivery was precise, it could do as much damage if dropped correctly.

That's what the waving lights are in the bombsight when you do this mission: when the lights converge, the bomb is spinning at the right velocity and the airtcraft is true with heading and airspeed, then the bomb will reach its target based on newtonian physics.

The Bomber Crew Chastise mission is very much watered down compared to the real Operation Chastise. You can read about it in Paul Brickhill's excellent book "The Dam Busters". The book goes into great detail uncovering the science and innovation behind the mission, it reads much like "The Martian" in that very smart people used their wits and good science to overcome hurdles that were otherwise impossible to solve. There's also a good movie based on the book, and then a so-so movie and book (633 Squadron) that is fictional but based on Chastise - this became the basis for the Death Star trench run in Star Wars. There also used to be a good computer game version of The Dam Busters for the Amiga, and there's the well-crafted boardgame Enemy Coast Ahead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142889/enemy-coast-ahead-dambuster-raid

[Racer D]

That moment when

You wake up and feel the need to show a Steam forum you know more than the average joe.


Don't tell me missions like Overlord are based on real things too??

[sherman503]

Originally posted by Racer_D:

That moment when

You wake up and feel the need to show a Steam forum you know more than the average joe.


Don't tell me missions like Overlord are based on real things too??

You were sarcastic right?

[Sylvine]

Originally posted by sherman503:

You were sarcastic right?

You mean WWII is real ? :O

[Racer D]

Yes :)

But, perhaps uncalled for. Maybe there should actually be a pinned subject here with underlying info about these bombing raids.

[BloodCat]

One oversight in that mission is the bomb detonating on impact. Actually it should've sunk to an optimal depth before detonating. See, me knows smurt tings tu!

[Twelvefield]

Originally posted by Racer_D:

actually

You never need to use the word "actually". It has no function.

I always wake up both sarcastic and with the need to show STEAM forums how smart I am. Even so, the book is a very good read. You can always learn something new!

[Racer D]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

Originally posted by Racer_D:

actually

You never need to use the word "actually". It has no function.

It actually does!

[Twelvefield]

Originally posted by Racer D:

That moment when

You wake up and feel the need to show a Steam forum you know more than the average joe.

[slapworthjr]

Originally posted by Twelvefield:

Judging by some of the posts from some people (ie. no jets in WWII), I'm guessing that some gamers have missed out on their WWII history. While Bomber Crew is by no means realistic, Operation Chastise was a real mission to blow up dams in the German industrial heartland. When the dams were blown, several factories and power plants would be flooded and the Nazi electrical grid would be cut.

The Germans were well aware of this, so they protected these dams with heavy anti-aircraft flak and airbases. The Allies thought that it might be possible to drop torpedoes into the water upstream to blow the dams, but the Germans were prepared for this attack as well: they had arranged anti-torpedo nets across all approaches and fortified the concrete so that conventional bombs could not penetrate the dams.

The Allies has "earthquake bombs" (bunker busters) that could blow the dams but no aircraft capable of dropping them on this type of target. Engineer Barnes Wallace concieved of a backwards-spinning bomb that could skip across the top of still water like a stone being skipped across the surface of a lake. The bomb would jump over the nets and then sink to the bottom of the dam where hydrostatic shock would do the most damage. The spinning bomb was much smaller than an earhquake bomb, but since its delivery was precise, it could do as much damage if dropped correctly.

That's what the waving lights are in the bombsight when you do this mission: when the lights converge, the bomb is spinning at the right velocity and the airtcraft is true with heading and airspeed, then the bomb will reach its target based on newtonian physics.

The Bomber Crew Chastise mission is very much watered down compared to the real Operation Chastise. You can read about it in Paul Brickhill's excellent book "The Dam Busters". The book goes into great detail uncovering the science and innovation behind the mission, it reads much like "The Martian" in that very smart people used their wits and good science to overcome hurdles that were otherwise impossible to solve. There's also a good movie based on the book, and then a so-so movie and book (633 Squadron) that is fictional but based on Chastise - this became the basis for the Death Star trench run in Star Wars. There also used to be a good computer game version of The Dam Busters for the Amiga, and there's the well-crafted boardgame Enemy Coast Ahead.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Chastise
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/142889/enemy-coast-ahead-dambuster-raid

Every mission in the game is based off of actual Lancaster missions.