In February, 1943, the
Royal Air Force decided to plan an attack on the five hydroelectric
dams on which the Ruhr industrial area depended. Barnes Wallis advised
the Royal Air Force to use the new bouncing bomb he had been developing
at the National Physics Laboratory in Teddington.
Gibson was selected to
carry out the highly dangerous Dambusters Raid. The success of the
operation involved precision bombing. The cylindrical bombs developed
by Barnes had to be dropped from 60 feet to skip into the dam face
and roll down it to explode at a depth that triggered a pressure
fuse. The pilots had to judge the critical release point by using
dual spotlights whose beams converged vertically at 60 feet.
On the night of 16th
May, 1943, Gibson led 18 Avro Lancasters, each carrying one bomb.
It took five attempts to breach the Moehne Dam. Gibson then led
the three remaining Lancasters to attack the Eder Dam. Only 11 of
Gibson's 19 bombers survived the mission.
Gibson was awarded the
Victoria Cross for his role in the mission. However, to use the
bouncing bomb, the pilots had to fly very low and 45 per cent of
the planes used in the Dambusters Raid were brought down by German
anti-aircraft guns. The RAF could not sustain such high losses and
the bouncing bomb was rarely used again during the war.
