Dam Buster Lancaster Spotlights

[k9kiwi]

Found this wee drawing, might be of interest for the exact location and configuration of the lights for the Dams Raid.

[R-2800]

cool good find

[v2]

interesting find!

[Gnomey]

Very interesting find!

[bomber]

I've had that drawing for some 2 years now, but before I had it I was told whilst sitting in the seat of a Lanc that the lights as portrayed in the film Dambusters were wrong and that they were arranged as shown in the diagram so as the co-pilot could see it and report on the height.

There's also a little know secret about the wooden hand held sight shown in the film.

Simon

[the lancaster kicks ass]

what a gem of a picture! the story in the film about how the idea of the lights came about in the film is also slightly off, the men were actually watching a woman wearing considderably less........

[k9kiwi]

Yup Guy Gibson at a strip club.

And I am doing a bit more digging because the distance between the lights would appear to be more like thirty feet.

Considering the front light was mounted into the normal bomb camera housing, and the rear spotlight was at the REAR of the faired in bomb bay.

The angles are good and the drawing accurate, just the distance quoted.

[bigZ]

I've had that drawing for some 2 years now, but before I had it I was told whilst sitting in the seat of a Lanc that the lights as portrayed in the film Dambusters were wrong and that they were arranged as shown in the diagram so as the co-pilot could see it and report on the height.

There's also a little know secret about the wooden hand held sight shown in the film.

Simon

Wasn't the hand held wooden sight superceeded by a piece of string?

[FLYBOYJ]

Very Cool!

[the lancaster kicks ass]

And I am doing a bit more digging because the distance between the lights would appear to be more like thirty feet.

Considering the front light was mounted into the normal bomb camera housing, and the rear spotlight was at the REAR of the faired in bomb bay.

this's true, and would make the distance closer to 35ft i'm just not sure they'd be mounted that far apart.........

[k9kiwi]

Also the object was to control the height until the two circles of light just touched producing a figure 8 pattern on the water.

Not as commonly believed to super impose the lights to create one circle.

Reason being this effect could well have been achieved BELOW the waters surface giving a false height.

[bomber]

Wasn't the hand held wooden sight superceeded by a piece of string?

The bombaimers found the hand held device too cumbersome (must be hard to ballance kneeling, one hand used to hold the distance device the other the bomb release button, I guess they wanted one hand to steady themselves) so they had the groundcrew place 2 strips of black electricains tape stuck on the bomb aimers glass dome at the correct distance apart.

[blue_halloween]

agreed alot of the crews found the 6p bomb sights rubbish and had contraptions made with bits of string tied to the rivets on the bomb aimers glass dome, others had chinagraph marks painted on not only showing the mohne dam distances but the other dams as well, some die hards still did use the wooden bomb aimers device.The spot lamps for height were worked out long before hostilitys started and were originally tried out for submarine attacks before some bright spark remebered and used it to determine the height of the modified lancasters.....
dambuster nut !

[FR47]

Do you know if the Dambuster Lancasters had the rectangular or round window below the bomb-aimers position?

Cheers,

Dave.

[ian lanc]

with the look of those drawings the tamiya's lights are in the wrong place ! well at least the rear one is

ian.