Osprey Publishing

No 617 'Dambuster' Squadron Aviation Elite Units 34

by  Alex Bateman

Reviewed By  Robert DeMaio, IPMS# 45186

MSRP: $25.95 ISBN: 978-1-84603-429-9 Review copy courtesy of Osprey Publishing: www.ospreypublishing.com Seems as though Osprey Publishing will never run out of topics to produce books for us. Their latest covers the British 617 'Dambuster' Squadron of World War II. I was inspired to get this book because I saw the 1955 movie 'The Dam Busters'. They were a unique RAF Squadron of expert airman chosen for specific combat operations. The squadron was led by highly decorated bomber airmen to fly with new experimental technological weapons such as the Upkeep, Tallboy and Grandslam bombs. They suffered exceptional heavy losses because of the slow and straight bomb runs required on missions using the Upkeep weapon, but in the end a long list of battle honors. The Osprey Elite series of books focuses on the men and missions of war and gratitude for their performance, and this book is no different. The Introduction is two pages describing the British pre-war plans in Europe that focused on factories that would be able to produce war weapons and energy sources. Dams were included on their targeted list. Dr. Barnes Wallis, Assistant Chief Designed at Vickers-Armstrong Aviation, was well known in the inventor circle was given the task to invent a weapon for aircraft bombers to carry. The book begins with the military men responsible for the formation and training of these squadrons, and continues with important operations and the aircraft used against various targets. Important black and white original photographs throughout the book substantiate the material. The cover picture of a Lancaster dropping the 'Upkeep' bomb, designed to bounce across the water to hit the wall of a Dam, fracture the wall on explosion and break apart is fully covered in several pages along with the modifications made to the Lancasters. There is a picture included of German Officers inspecting an unexploded 'Upkeep' weapon. An aerial picture of the Saumar Railway Tunnel mission in 1944 was remarkable to see the huge creators left by multiple 'Tallboy' bombs, leaving a close resemblance to moon creators at first glance. Following the Osprey book format are the usual color aircraft profiles, signature of the Osprey series, of many British Lancaster Bombers, a couple of Mosquito aircraft, and one profile of a Mustang III used in operations. One page is given attention to a few tail plane markings with a special nose configuration of the Lancaster. The Appendices in the rear of the book lists all the missions from 1943 to 1945 with dates, Commanders, air bases and Battle Honored men. It was difficult to imagine all the brave men lost in this squadron that flew these missions on Dams and against enemy ships such as the two missions on the German Battleship Tirpitz. The book reads more like the reference material as it is meant to be for the Elite series of books, but is still a terrific source of information for modeler if you intend to build a model. This book is an added value to the many reference books I have and I highly recommend it. I would like to add, see the movie 'The Dam Busters' available on DVD. My thanks to Oprey Publishing for the review sample