HUNDREDS of well-wishers watched as a Lancaster bomber performed a flypast to mark the 70th anniversary of the war-time Dambuster raids today (Thursday, May 16).

And, in this region, a relative of the County Durham airman who was part of the daring bombing missions welcomed the renewed attention they are being afforded.

The Dambuster raids were carried out by 133 airmen, flying 19 Lancaster bombers armed with “bouncing bombs” designed by Sir Barnes Wallis.

An attempt to cripple the Nazi war economy by attacking Germany’s industrial heartland, the missions required flight at just 60ft above the ground. By comparison, today’s pilots must fly above 250ft.

Codenamed Operation Chastise, 56 of the men who took off did not return.

Of the 19 Lancaster bombers deployed, eight were shot down, with 53 men killed.

But the missions were credited with lifting the mood of the British people during the Second World War.

More than 1,300 people were killed when the bombs hit German dams and flooded the Ruhr valley.

Later, the raids were immortalised in the 1955 film starring Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd and in Eric Coates’ stirring Dambusters march.

Today, 70 years on, a Lancaster bomber from the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight performed a flypast over the Derwent reservoir, in Derbyshire’s Hope Valley – where practice runs were staged before the raids of 16-17 May, 1943.

It followed a Mark X1X spitfire and was followed by two tornado GR4s from the current 617 squadron.

Flight Navigator Vivian Nicholson, from Sherburn Village, was just 20 when he took part in the war-time raids. He went on to win the Distinguished Flying Medal for valour.

But he was killed four months later, in a further mission over Germany.

Olga Nicholson, widow of his late brother Cyril – who worked to celebrate Vivian’s achievements, said: “Cyril would have been over the moon with what’s happening today.

“People have been so good.”

The Lancaster used today represented the 19 bombers of the 617 squadron, which was specifically formed just two months before the top-secret mission.

The GR4s, painted with commemorative tail art featuring a dam with water coming out of it, represented the current 617 squadron.

The aircraft continued to nearby Chatsworth House for a further flypast for people who had gathered at the stately home.

The flypast was one of a number of events taking place around the country to mark the anniversary.

The Northern Echo: Sherburn Village War Memorial

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The Royal British Legion created a Field of Messages at the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, Staffordshire.

More than 10,500 cardboard crests with supporters’ messages were on display at the memorial throughout the day.

At RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, where 70 years ago the bomber pilots took off on their mission, there was a sunset ceremony and another memorial flypast.

An exhibition and talk was held in Barry Island, Vale of Glamorgan, the hometown of crew member Gordon Yeo, who died in 1943, and tomorrow events will take place at the Eder Dam, in Germany.

Ninety-four-year-old Les Munro is the only surviving mission pilot, while Canadian rear gunner Fred Sutherland, 89, and 91-year-old Squadron Leader George “Jonny” Johnson are the only other surviving squadron members.

Dr Wallis daughter, Mary Stopes-Roe, said he was a “man of peace” but acted out of a sense of patriotic duty and was devastated when he heard how many airmen had been lost.