Dambusters Courage Above Fear.

Dambusters Courage Above Fear. The objective was to try and capture the Courage, Flying above and into the German defences on the famous raid. The pilot, Flt Lt John ‘Hoppy’ Hopgood, and the crew of M-mother in the second Lancaster bomber AJ-M (M -Mother)to attack the Mohne dam in WWII, did just that, knowing they had little or no chance of surviving, with the aircraft in it’s condition at the time.

Dambusters. The mission was to destroy 3 dam’s in the heart of industrial Germany.

20 mins before reaching their target they encountered heavy flak, during which the pilot suffered a head injury, the front gunner was mortally wounded or killed and at least one other crew member was injured. On top of this, the outer port engine was hit. Instead of rightfully turning back to home in such circumstances, they continued on to their target.

After Guy Gibson made the first attack, it was Hoppy’ s turn. They had to fly in at 60ft, in a straight line in order to drop the bomb precisely on target. After the first confusing attack, the German defenses knew where to aim. M- mother and her crew were sitting ducks. The gunfire was intense as they made their way across the reservoir. Amongst the hits, the inner port engine was hit and caught fire, plus the outer port engine stopped working altogether.