A Dam Too Far: 617 Squadon's Dam Buster Raid, May 1943

Operation Chastise, commonly known as the Dambusters Raid, was an attack on German dams in the Ruhr industrial area. Carried out on the night of 16/17 May 1943 by 617 Squadron RAF Bomber Command, later called the Dam Busters, using special "Bouncing Bombs" developed by Barnes Wallis, who also oversaw the modifications of 19 Lancaster bombers specially adapted to carry the “Upkeep” bouncing bomb ordinance. The player allocates 19 randomly chosen crew members to their Lancaster bombers. These crew members are the best of the best, and consist of the Front Gunner, Pilot, Navigator, Engineer, Bomb Aimer, Wireless Operator and Rear Gunner. These crew members can help at certain stages of the mission. The outward-bound journey will be a matter of pushing your luck with the aircraft for the best results. Will you risk trying to get a better attack value or lose an aircraft from flak or flying so low you hit power cables? On the bomb run it will be the challenge of balancing height, speed and position as you approach with the available “Steady” counters to achieve the perfect bomb release point. It’s all about accuracy; if your bombers come in too fast or too low, they will miss the target. Taking a bomb run will be a higher or lower risk choice. How many bombs will the dams take before they are breached, how many dams can be destroyed or damaged, and how many aircraft will make it back on the homeward bound journey? All these factors will determine if the mission was a success or a failure. Can you do better than the historical counterparts? —description from the designer