New Dambusters Programme on CH4

Its showing on Channel4 right now for those interested! Fantastic footage of the Buffalo Airways DC-4 Flying at low level!

:D:D:D

LMFAO!

Oh, I see what you mean.

No, attach the drill to the bomb release and spin it up to the required 750rpm whilst airborne and continue spinning until release (like the Lancs did)

Baz

Where would they get an extension cable long enough to plug it into the generator, silly??

Richard

Blimey ‘we’ do get excited about things on here.

There’s really no need, just go to the fridge, pull out a beer, feet up and chill out.:D

The bit that got me the most was the part where Hugh Hunt got all emotional while sitting in the Lancaster

Dont know about you guys, but I feel I would do the same, Have read a few books about life in bomber command and the sacrifice they made recently, I find myself quite emotional when seeing the Lancaster….

Ah right, I didn’t see the programme, could it be something to do with modificaions and certification to the airframe – though with a ruddy great spinning barrel strapped to the underside I don’t spose that would enter into it!

Oh, I see what you mean.

No, attach the drill to the bomb release and spin it up to the required 750rpm whilst airborne and continue spinning until release (like the Lancs did)

Baz

Using the maths, wouldn’t it have slowed down to 375 rpm then?

…….eh?………….

As a programme that set out from the start to rediscover the science behind the raid I thought it was pretty good, like some have already said it was a programme for entertainment purposes rather than a cold hard no vearing from the facts documentary.

The bit that got me the most was the part where Hugh Hunt got all emotional while sitting in the Lancaster, I found it quiet touching and it showed that even for all his calculations and working out the be all and end all of making it successful he understood the human side of it all and the sacrifice those lads made for all of us.

Blimey ‘we’ do get excited about things on here. IMHO it was an enjoyable docu that was not designed to copy the raid or reconstruct the actual events, it was simply to try and rediscover the science behind the bombs, their release and could they be put in the right place.

I also subscribe to a WW1 forum and the blokes on there were all up in arms about the wrong buttons on an officers uniform sleeve when a docu about the Somme was televised.

I think sometimes ‘we’ have to take a prog for what it actualy is…… entertainment for the masses not the anoraks….

I also think Arnie is quite used to taking risks if he’s a forest fire water dumper and needs no lessons on flying from any of us armchair jockeys.

Right I am prepared for incoming (Tin hat is on)

As a stand alone programme it was OK, however, all those scientists and engineers, they spun up their mine with a drill to 1500rpm? so it would drop at 750rpm 5 minutes later. Could they have not fitted the drill to the bomb rig and just spun it to the required 750rpm?

Using the maths, wouldn’t it have slowed down to 375 rpm then?

I guess it is usual aviation programme territory, if you know the story very well you won’t be that interested in what the programme has to say, if you don’t or you’re just a casualy interested viewer it could be fascinating.

Sorry Baz, you just happened to be the poster before my post (co-incidence:o)

“we can show those englishmen we can hit it with the first shot!”

Just banter, should be taken in the manner it was given:)

Baz

I enjoyed it but I dont know about you chaps but was suprised at the pilots comments at the very end, something along the lines of

“we can show those englishmen we can hit it with the first shot!”

Im sure it wasnt but that could be taken the wrong way and sounds very disrespectful of the 617 squadrons sacrifice after all, as has been said before in earlier posts doing it under test conditions is one thing, doing it against a full on AA defence and the night is another !!!!

I won’t bother watching the rest of it then !? 🙁 🙁 😉 :rolleyes:;)

I just saw the first half, I think it’s interesting and well made. The post war A-26 trial footage is new to me with the “Highball” ( ? ) and caught my eye as did the initial tests with the correct shaped trial bomb.

Decent bit of TV IMHO. (so far) ask me again when I have seen the rest.

I enjoyed it but I dont know about you chaps but was suprised at the pilots comments at the very end, something along the lines of

“we can show those englishmen we can hit it with the first shot!”

Im sure it wasnt but that could be taken the wrong way and sounds very disrespectful of the 617 squadrons sacrifice after all, as has been said before in earlier posts doing it under test conditions is one thing, doing it against a full on AA defence and the night is another !!!!

I would not disagree with any of the above baz…I was only talking within the context of the dummy bomb/programme.
Also perhaps arnie wanted to nail the dam before it fell over of its own accord 😀

rgds baz

If Arnie had been flying on the night of the raid, he would have been killed.

The speed the bomb hit the dam would have set it off at the top, he would have ended up like ‘Z’ Zebra. The mine was designed to bounce, slow down, roll up to the butress and sink to 30ft before detonation, thus, giving the aircraft suffient time to fly clear of the explosion. The bomb was fitted with a ‘crash’ fuse, designed to detonate if the aircraft crashed denying the enemy access to the weapon. In real life he would got his crew killed with that slightly late drop.
It killed the crew of ‘Z’ Zebra on the night, it nearly killed Hopgood when he dropped ‘late’ and it bounced over the dam, in his mortally wounded Lancaster.

As a stand alone programme it was OK, however, all those scientists and engineers, they spun up their mine with a drill to 1500rpm? so it would drop at 750rpm 5 minutes later. Could they have not fitted the drill to the bomb rig and just spun it to the required 750rpm?

The 2 hours it took to tell this story could have been told in 1.

Also, Arnie has 37,000 hrs under his belt, did it in daylight with an inert (scale) bomb, without several 20mm guns knocking holes in him, only 5 minutes flying time from his base. I reckon he had more flying hours than the entire 617 squadron pilots had in total, which, in my mind makes their achievement even more remarkable.

Just my view

Baz

Now available on 4OD

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dambusters-building-the-bouncing-bomb/4od

Martin

Thanks for the link TR
Enjoyed most of the prog,thought Arnie pushed his luck a little coming down to 40ft for the drop but I think he was sensible to drop late … it was a very narrow target and watching the practice bombs on the video – as they slowed down they were veering off to one side (ie not tracking straight) and to be fair they hit it more or less dead centre.

rgds baz

I just saw the first half, I think it’s interesting and well made. The post war A-26 trial footage is new to me with the “Highball” ( ? ) and caught my eye as did the initial tests with the correct shaped trial bomb.

Decent bit of TV IMHO. (so far) ask me again when I have seen the rest.

Allready seen the first 10 episodes as I get them on Disc from relative’s living in Canada, hence I thought they were 6’s:)

Well bu**er me! I wa sure all Buffalo’s were Six’s:confused::o
Still thought it was a great prog:)

A very entertaining two hours if a little frustrating for the more technically minded among us.As for DC4s or 6s watch the new series of Ice Pilots starting on Thursday on Quest.
Colin:D