Exploding the Dam Buster's Myth
As ever it shows that life is full of ambiguities, myths and often a great deal of sadness, tempered by great courage and also that stories evolve and are sometimes regarded differently in the evolving fullness of time...Like most of my generation, I grew up embracing the legend, my enthusiasm sparked by Paul Brickhill’s 1951 book, then fanned into ecstasy by Michael Anderson’s 1955 The Dam Busters, most popular British war movie of all time. Matinee idol Richard Todd portrayed Gibson; Michael Redgrave played the bomb’s inventor, engineer Barnes Wallis. The story seemed to reflect a heroism that was victimless, save for fifty-three dead among the young men who made the attack. It carried none of the moral baggage that has become associated with the offensive against Germany’s cities.