Moyas message dates me a bit but I was stationed at RAF Scampton when the "Dambuster" raid took place on May16th 1943 under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson on the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley in Germany. I was 18 at the time. Now 78 and living in Derbyshire we often take a drive into the Peak district to the Ladybower dams where the film of this epic raid was made. Incidentally, Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb' was born here in the town where I now live and a memorial stone in his honour is displayed in a local park. Len Strong.

Dr Barnes Wallis was bon in Ripley, Derbyshire in 1887. Two years later his family moved to London, and he was educated at Horsham.. His first appearance in Hampshire was in 1906 when he joined the firm of Samuel White in the IOW. In 1913 he joined Vickers in Cowes, IOW. Although he failed the eye sight test in 1914, he later enlisted by memorizing the eye test board. After that war he continued to work for Vickers. Of course we all remember him as the designer of the Wellesley, Wellington, Warwick and Windsor bombers, all manufactured by Vickers and his designing of the bouncing bomb used on the Dams. He was a greatly underrated designer. In Titchfield, on the west side of Titchfield Hill is Barnes Wallis Road. David ----- Original Message ----- From: "len-strong" <len-strong@supanet.com> To: <HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 2:09 PM Subject: [HantsLife] Dambusters > Moyas message dates me a bit but I was stationed at RAF Scampton when the "Dambuster" raid took place on May16th 1943 under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson on the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley in Germany. I was 18 at the time. Now 78 and living in Derbyshire we often take a drive into the Peak district to the Ladybower dams where the film of this epic raid was made. Incidentally, Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb' was born here in the town where I now live and a memorial stone in his honour is displayed in a local park. > Len Strong. > > > ==== HAMPSHIRE-LIFE Mailing List ==== > Chris and Caroline Hayles, Eastleigh, Hampshire > List Administrators: HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com > Home of SOUTHERN LIFE(UK) > http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages > EMAIL: chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk > > FAMILY WEBSITE: http://www.chayles.freeserve.co.uk > Over 1,600 villages in HAMPSHIRE, BERKSHIRE, DORSET > ISLE OF WIGHT, SURREY, WEST SUSSEX,and WILTSHIRE village history,parish church history, village photographs, and other useful information for genealogy. Lots of links to other useful sites > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >

While in Germany during the 60's we often took trips up to the Mohne Dam and a lot of exercises were held there. Been rebuilt since those wartime days though Chris ----- Original Message ----- From: "len-strong" <len-strong@supanet.com> To: <HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, May 11, 2003 7:09 PM Subject: [HantsLife] Dambusters Moyas message dates me a bit but I was stationed at RAF Scampton when the "Dambuster" raid took place on May16th 1943 under the command of Wing Commander Guy Gibson on the Mohne and Eder dams in the Ruhr valley in Germany. I was 18 at the time. Now 78 and living in Derbyshire we often take a drive into the Peak district to the Ladybower dams where the film of this epic raid was made. Incidentally, Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the 'bouncing bomb' was born here in the town where I now live and a memorial stone in his honour is displayed in a local park. Len Strong. ==== HAMPSHIRE-LIFE Mailing List ==== Chris and Caroline Hayles, Eastleigh, Hampshire List Administrators: HAMPSHIRE-LIFE-L@rootsweb.com Home of SOUTHERN LIFE(UK) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~villages EMAIL: chris@chayles.freeserve.co.uk FAMILY WEBSITE: http://www.chayles.freeserve.co.uk Over 1,600 villages in HAMPSHIRE, BERKSHIRE, DORSET ISLE OF WIGHT, SURREY, WEST SUSSEX,and WILTSHIRE village history,parish church history, village photographs, and other useful information for genealogy. Lots of links to other useful sites ============================== To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 --- All of our Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. And attachments are also scanned before being added. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.478 / Virus Database: 275 - Release Date: 06/05/2003