Avro Lancaster 3D Pin Badge

Product Description: This Avro Lancaster pin badge is made from metal and is a raised high definition 3D image of the side profile of the bomber. It is supplied on a pin with separate clasp. The pin badge is mounted on an information card, which has the Avro Lancaster title and details of Wing Commander Guy Gibson who flew the Lancaster on the front. On the reverse is historical information about Gibson and the aircraft.

Information: On the night of 16-17 May 1943, Wg Cdr Guy Gibson led the Lancaster’s of 617 Squadron of the Royal Air Force on a daring bombing raid to destroy three dams in the Ruhr valley, the industrial heartland of Germany. The mission was codenamed Operation ‘Chastise’.

The bombers were first attacked by flak as they reached the Dutch coast and some were lost and then from anti-aircraft guns defending the dams. A ‘bouncing bomb’ had been developed by Barnes Wallis which could bounce over the torpedo nets guarding the dams and this was 617 Squadron’s secret weapon.

The mission was a success. The Mohne and Edersee dams were breached, causing catastrophic damage flooding of the Ruhr valley and the villages in the Eder valley with the Sorpe Dam only sustaining minor damage.

The RAF lost 56 aircrew, with 53 dead and 3 captured, amid losses of 8 aircraft.