The Dambuster Raid of May 1943 — Operation Chastise — saw 617 Squadron RAF breach the Möhne and Eder dams using Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb, flooding the Ruhr valley and killing an estimated 1,600 people, including over 1,000 forced laborers. Nineteen Lancasters flew the mission; eight did not return, and 53 aircrew were lost in a single night.
Gibraltar's commemorative program has long served as a vehicle for British military anniversaries with no geographic connection to the Rock. KM#1181 is part of a broader 2005 cluster tied to the 60th anniversary of the war's end.
The Dambuster Raid of May 1943 — Operation Chastise — saw 617 Squadron RAF breach the Möhne and Eder dams using Barnes Wallis's bouncing bomb, flooding the Ruhr valley and killing an estimated 1,600 people, including over 1,000 forced laborers. Nineteen Lancasters flew the mission; eight did not return, and 53 aircrew were lost in a single night.
Gibraltar's commemorative program has long served as a vehicle for British military anniversaries with no geographic connection to the Rock. KM#1181 is part of a broader 2005 cluster tied to the 60th anniversary of the war's end.