Helpline: 0300 102 1919
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He showed us how you could skim stones
Mary Stopes Roe, the daughter of Barnes Wallis, described in an exclusive interview with the RAF Benevolent Fund how her father taught her and her sister and brothers to skim stones on the Dorset coast before the war.
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Barnes Wallis – before Chastise
Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the bouncing bomb that was used in the Dambusters raid Operation Chastise, was born in Derbyshire in 1887.
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Barnes Wallis and the Christ's Hospital bursary fund
Mary, the daughter of Barnes Wallis, the inventor of the bouncing bomb, tells the story of how her father created a bursary for the children of RAF personnel killed in service.
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Vernon Byers: failed to return
Canadian Pilot Officer Vernon Byers was the pilot of Lancaster 'K for King' on the night of May 16, 1943 as 617 Squadron launched its assault on the Ruhr dams.
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Flying at 100ft: "It was tremendously exhilarating"
Johnny Johnson, bomb aimer in 617 Squadron on the Dambusters raid, describes his experience during the raid's dangerous low flying training in a recent and exclusive interview with the RAF Benevolent Fund.
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"We were not allowed to tell anybody anything"
Johnny Johnson, one of the last remaining aircrew who flew in 617 Squadron's Dambuster raid, explained in a one-off interview with the RAF Benevolent Fund about the strict secrecy of information that was enforced by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, during the training that preceded the raid.
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That's what fathers do
Mary, daughter of Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb, explains how she never really felt pressured to keep Wallis' work a secret.
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A washtub, a catapult and some marbles
Most big stories have humble beginnings. Mary Stopes Roe, the daughter of Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb, talked in an exclusive interview with the RAF Benevolent Fund about her father setting up an experiment on the balcony of their house.
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King George VI visits 617 Squadron
This archive footage records the visit of King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth to 617 Squadron at RAF Scampton, Lincolnshire.
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That's a hell of a thing to ask
Dambusters bomb-aimer, Johnny Johnson, explains the difficulties of dropping bombs at low heights and how they led to the introduction of spotlights on the aircraft.
