The dams in the Ruhr Valley supplied hydroelectric power and water for steel making, and were important to Hitler’s war machine.
LONDON — On the night of May 16, 1943, a squadron of bombers set out from Britain to conduct a series of strikes against heavily fortified dams in the Ruhr Valley of Germany, using bombs that bounced on the water before exploding. Of the 133 who started the mission, only 77 returned.
The last surviving pilot of those who came back was John Leslie Munro, who died Monday at 96.
His death was met with tributes across the globe, including in Britain and in his native New Zealand, for his role in the daring “Dambusters” mission that struck at the industrial heartland of the Nazi war effort and lifted Allied morale.