Coming North out of Lincoln on the A15 this morning, the traffic came to a halt in both directions just close to the main gate of RAF Scampton.
Turns out a young Labrador dog had got loose and was having great fun on the road with the morning commuter traffic.
Fortunately a Police Dog Unit was on hand to catch and retain the hound along with the help of a lady motorist.
Then it struck me, The Dambusters, Guy Gibson’s Black Labrador was knocked over and mortally wounded on the same road in 1943 just before the raid on the dams.
It gave us the immortal line from the classic film of 1954.
Which you’ll never hear again when it’s shown on TV
Actually, They are using the same “N” name in the remake.
And I believe that 617 Sqdn flew back from their last tour before they are rebadged today as well. That’s a bit spooky 
It’s jaw dropping what those guys achived in 1943, to fly at tree top height at night from Lincolnshire to the middle of Germany, locate and destroy the dams with an experimental bomb. Whilst being shot at by the way.
I struggled to drive from Warrington to Lincoln and finding a retail park with Google Maps.
limeyphil:
Actually, They are using the same “N” name in the remake.
That’s news to me, and I have been following it closely.
You might find that the letter they are using, is not ‘N’ but ‘D’
I know it’s now classed as racist, but why try to change history?
Ken.
Back in 2003, I was at RAF Waddington on the 16/17 may, and stood at the side of the runway and watched the BBMF Lancaster take with some of the veterans on board. Met them that night in the Officers Mess - one of the proudest moments in my life. To talk with the people who actually flew the dams raid was incredible. Such a great shame that 617 is being disbanded - this should be the very last squadron number to go.
Their opinion of Guy Gibson didn’t exactly agree with the film by the way!
Quinny:
limeyphil:
Actually, They are using the same “N” name in the remake.That’s news to me, and I have been following it closely.
You might find that the letter they are using, is not ‘N’ but ‘D’
I know it’s now classed as racist, but why try to change history?
Ken.
I watched a program about it. The N word issue was raised and they said something on the lines of historical relevance. It’s just the same as the names given to jews during WW2, Words used to describe slaves in the cotton plantations of America and even the words used to describe iraqis, and afghans in modern war films. They have to be relevent to give a true feeling of how life was.
scaniason:
Back in 2003, I was at RAF Waddington on the 16/17 may, and stood at the side of the runway and watched the BBMF Lancaster take with some of the veterans on board. Met them that night in the Officers Mess - one of the proudest moments in my life. To talk with the people who actually flew the dams raid was incredible. Such a great shame that 617 is being disbanded - this should be the very last squadron number to go.Their opinion of Guy Gibson didn’t exactly agree with the film by the way!
for now , again , as it was before…
and the last time I watched the film ( over Christmas )on C5 the dogs name was correctly pronounced.
The Guy Gibson in the film was an easy-going pilot who was ‘one of the lads’.
The real Guy Gibson was a driven man repeatedly returning to action when other pilots who had flown less were stood down. He drove everyone around him very hard, and was a bit of a snob…if he passed an aircraft that was being worked on everyone had to stop what they were doing and salute him. He didn’t like the NCOs as air crew, and when the Royal Family visited the Dambusters after the raid he introduced them to the officers who had flown, but not the sergeants…even though some of the sergeants had been pilots/aircraft commanders on the raid.
Man of his time really…and nice people aren’t always the best wartime leaders.
My godfather (now deceased) was a WW2 bomber pilot and he never met Guy Gibson, but said he had a bit of a reputation…quite a lot of people did what they could not to get posted to anywhere where Guy Gibson was…even if that meant having to fly a Halifax!
On the other hand, Leonard Cheshire, who took over from Gibson, was very different.
Interesting report here
Much the same was said of Douglas Bader again a very driven man, but in wartime they were the men who(love them or hate them) got results!But as a kid in the 50’s these guy were hero’s
Agree absolutely - not knocking Gibson at all, he achieved what he set out to do, something which most of the experts said couldn’t be done.
I went to Steenbergen last time I was in holland to visit Gibsonstraat and pay my respects, no matter how arrogant he was, he’s still one of my boyhood heroes.
Gary
It’s easy to look back now and do a bit of character assassination, im not saying any on here have done that btw, but if these people didn’t do what they did, & how they did it, we could be in a very different country now. It’s the same with bomber command, years later people can look back & say we shouldn’t have done this or that but they did what was good for our war effort at the time. Heroes every one of them.
Some years ago now I was standing at a bus stop opposite New Cross bus garage. I noticed one of the houses behind me had a maroon coloured plaque on the wall so I wandered over to see what it said. Turns out it was Barnes Wallis’ house at the time he was working on the bouncing bomb.
splitshift:
Much the same was said of Douglas Bader again a very driven man, but in wartime they were the men who(love them or hate them) got results!But as a kid in the 50’s these guy were hero’s
Bader hid out in the war in the little square spire in the White House cafe near Rheims and escaped back to UK . He went back once a year to thank the family. Meanwhile ,Madame had married a German prisoner of war and lived happily ever after. Picked Fritz up once outside of Rheims ,he taken his car for a service and wanted to get back to the White House. He was always a bit shy around the Brits .
617 will stand up again in 2016 with the F35B, operating from Marham.
There was some terrible snobbery back in the day, which was unfair to those who had equally risked themselves in action. Indeed an escaping NCO POW would be viewed with disdain on returning to Blighty, “only” officers escaped 
Still you can’t change history.
Things are a bit better these days, however even today a man from an ordinary background will struggle to get a commission in the Household Cavalry for instance. Coming from a decent school and an interest in Polo helps no end
Actors had the same problem. If they couldn’t say 'Herry!, they didn’t get the job.
Travelling salesmen broke the barriers by staying in hotels, eating in posh restaurants and grinding down the establishment puppets.
harry:
splitshift:
Much the same was said of Douglas Bader again a very driven man, but in wartime they were the men who(love them or hate them) got results!But as a kid in the 50’s these guy were hero’sBader hid out in the war in the little square spire in the White House cafe near Rheims and escaped back to UK . He went back once a year to thank the family.
rafmuseum.org.uk/research/on … f-war.aspx
In general anyone who was lucky enough to be a ‘guest’ of the ‘Stalag Luft’ regime was best advised to stay there.Rather than face the unpredictable results of ‘escaping’ and ending up in the hands of the Gestapo which could result in unpredictable results for all concerned from those who assisted them to the escapees themselves.Bader was actually one of the lucky ones in that regard.The film The Great Escape was based on a true story in which 76 managed to escape 73 of who were recaptured and 50 of those were shot by the Gestapo.
There was also a recent tv documentary concerning this story.Which is yet another example showing what a stupid rule,concerning the so called ‘duty’ of POW’s to escape,thereby putting them outside the protection of the Geneva Convention and the more civilised regime of the Luftwaffe,was.
617 Sqn are still banned from flying over German airspace to this day. Nice to know it still irks 'em.
617sqn are based up my way at RAF Lossiemouth …