[MoMo]

I have read reports which stated that background photography had taken place at various locations in the UK. I have read reports which stated that principal photography began earlier this month. Apart from this sketchy news, nothing!

I'll do a trawl soon to see if anyone has dared to post an update.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Cool....Thanks for the update.
JP

[MoMo]

Sad tale of the ‘Dambuster’ who was really a gardener

May 21 2008 by Steffan Rhys, Western Mail
A MAN who claimed to be a World War II Dambuster and posed with a politician during a recent Spitfire photocall, was actually a gardener during the conflict, it was revealed yesterday.
His actions were yesterday condemned by family members and his Assembly Member.
Eric Jephcott, 84, turned up at Carew Cheriton airfield, near Pembroke, in a jacket bearing the crest of the legendary 617 Squadron, clambered into the Spitfire’s cockpit and even criticised the iconic 1954 film The Dambusters for inaccuracies, saying: “There is about three minutes of fact, the rest is just hearsay.”
But almost 65 years to the day of the raid, his daughter has exposed him as having worked as a gardener during World War II, before later becoming a batman – a military valet – to an RAF officer.
It has also emerged that he tried to present himself as a Dambuster in 2003, during 60th anniversary celebrations.
At that time he told reporters: “If anyone said they weren’t frightened they were total bloody liars. It was sheer relief that it was all over, I just wanted a cigarette and a good cup of tea.”
Mr Jephcott, from Pembroke Dock, posed with South Pembrokeshire AM Angela Burns and the constituency’s conservative parliamentary candidate Simon Hart before presenting a framed picture of airborne Spitfires to Peter Kraus, fundraising director of the Pembrokeshire Spitfire Aeroplane Company, who had taken a plane’s fuselage to Carew for a £600,000 refurbishment.
Ms Burns, who believed Mr Jephcott had been a rear gunner in the Lancaster flown by Dambuster legend Guy Gibson, had said: “Meeting Mr Jephcott brought home the true significance of the Spitfire.”
But Mr Jephcott’s daughter Heather Randell, 59, said he had actually worked as a gardener during the war.
“I do believe in honesty and I don’t like the idea of the way it looks on the family,” she said.
“Anybody could come up with a yarn like that, but it is a desecration to the men who did the mission and those who died. I don’t think he even picked up a gun – unless it was at the fairground.”
Her husband George said: “Mr Jephcott was in market gardening, a reserved occupation, so couldn’t have joined the forces until after the war.
“After the war, he became a batman to an RAF officer. His jacket was a birthday present.
“From the day Heather was born, she has heard nothing of medals or of Mr Jephcott being in the RAF until he started spouting it in 2003.”
Ms Burns said: “This is rather a sad tale, but I was taken in by Mr Jephcott, as the local press were a few years ago.
“The welcoming of the Spitfire to Pembrokeshire was an important day for our county and it’s a pity that his actions may overshadow the true heroes who flew during the war.”
Mr Jephcott was yesterday unavailable for comment.
He previously said he couldn’t explain why his name did not appear on any 617 Squadron flight manifesto or why his daughter questioned his claims.

[MoMo]

A Lancaster bomber flies over Derwent reservoir and dam in the Peak District to mark the 65th anniversary of the Dambusters raid.

[MoMo]

A Lancaster bomber swooped over a Peak District reservoir to mark the 65th anniversary of the Dambusters raid.

The historic Lancaster - similar to the one used by the RAF's 617 Squadron to successfully bomb two German dams in 1943 - flew three times along the Derwent valley as the centrepiece of a thrilling flypast. The Derwent dam was used by the Dambusters to train ahead of their mission to destroy three dams in Germany's Ruhr valley.

Squadron Leader Les Munro, the last surviving pilot from the mission codenamed Operation Chastise, was one of the guests of honour attending the service.

As the distinctive roar of the Lancaster's engines echoed across the lake, Squadron Leader Munro joined enthusiasts to relive memories of the daring raid, which used the celebrated "bouncing bomb" invented by Barnes Wallis.

Also taking part in the fly-past were a Spitfire, a Hurricane, two Tornado fighters from the present 617 Squadron, and a Dakota transport plane.

All the planes flew from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire to take part in the anniversary fly-past, which was preceded by a special memorial service on top of the Derwent dam at 10am.

Squadron Leader Munro was accompanied by Michael Gibson, the nephew of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, who led the Dambusters.

During the service 88-year-old Richard Todd, who played the wing commander in the 1955 film The Dam Busters, laid poppies on the water of the reservoir.

On May 16 1943, 19 aircraft set out to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley - the Mohne, the Eder and the Sorpe - and so damage a vital source of power to the key industrial area of Germany.

The mission was hailed a success after the Mohne and Eder were breached. But eight aircraft and 53 crew were lost during the raids.

[STARMAN 352ND]

Geez....That story sounds like the Flying Tiger pilot tale a few years ago.
Sad...
JP

[MoMo]

Watch the last flypast :

Watch the last Lancaster's Dambusters tribute - VIDEO - The Star

[MoMo]

I missed this BBC posting on Friday. This is a seven minute sequence of video (no commentary) shot inside the BBMF Lancaster as it makes its three passes over the Derwent reservoir. It’s mainly taken from inside the bomb aimer’s front blister, and gives you a real sense of what it is like to fly at a hundred feet altitude across a lake. When you consider that at the Möhne Dam, on the real raid, they were flying forty feet lower, they didn’t know the terrain and there were three anti-aircraft gun emplacements firing at them. Now you get some idea of what it was like!

Towards the end, the camera operator moves up to shoot some footage from the cockpit. It’s interesting to see how cramped it was. Tall pilots like David Maltby and Joe McCarthy must have found it a squeeze to get into a space this small. It was a lot easier for someone short, like Guy Gibson.

BBC NEWS | UK | Flying with the 'Dambusters'

[MoMo]

Check out this site for stuff re the real Dambusters ( example quoted below ) :

2008 May « Dambusters Weblog

Somebody has recently asked me privately how many of the original Dambusters are still alive. The answer to that is six. I am not going to name all of them here, as I think that one of them no longer does any public events. Of the five who still appear in public there are two in the UK. At the time of the dams raid, George (Johnny) Johnson was Sgt G L Johnson, the bomb aimer in the crew of AJ-T, piloted by Joe McCarthy. The crew dropped their bomb on the Sorpe Dam.
Ray Grayston also lives in England. As Sgt R E Grayston, he was the flight engineer in Les Knight’s crew, AJ-N. They were the crew which dropped the mine which finally breached the Eder Dam.
The only pilot still surviving is Les Munro, one of two New Zealanders on the Dams Raid. Flt Lt J L Munro flew AJ-W on the raid, and was also supposed to attack the Sorpe Dam. Unfortunately, crossing the Dutch coast near Vlieland, they were hit by flak, which put the intercom and the VHF radio out of action, as well as damaging the compass and the tail turret pipes. With no way of speaking either to each other on board, or to other aircraft, they had no option but to return to Scampton with their mine still intact.
The final two Dambusters who are still active returned to their native Canada after the war. Both were gunners: Fred Sutherland and Grant MacDonald. Sgt F E Sutherland was the front gunner in Les Knight’s crew, AJ-N. Flt Sgt G S MacDonald was the rear gunner in Ken Brown’s crew, AJ-F. Like AJ-T, they attacked the Sorpe Dam, but failed to breach it.
In my dealings with these gentlemen, I have to say that they were all models of courtesy. They have all told their stories hundreds of times and yet their patience and willingness to provide information is outstanding. We owe them all a huge debt as they keep the story of the Dams Raid alive.

[Captain Eddie]

MoMo, thanks for posting, but I cannot get the movie clip to work. All I get is a white dot doing circles.