B&W Ladybower Reservoir -- site of The Dambusters Practice --

[pentaxpete]

One of the placed we called at on the 5 day Kirbys Coach Trip from Brentwood was to the Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire, ENGLAND where the brave airmen of 617 Squadron RAF practised the low flying at 60 feet and bouncing bomb aiming in Lancasters before going to bomb the Ruhr Dams in Germany -- 53 were killed on that mission -- the LIGHT was terrible -- I had HP5+ loaded in my 1978 Hasselblad 500C/M with a 50mm f4 CFi Distagon * lens and processed in home-made 510-Pyro.
Ladybower Reservoir 01 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Ladybower Reservoir 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Ladybower Reservoir 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

 

[lindsay]

I must get a copy o0f your cookbook sometime Pete! Your processing always seems so spot on with your homemade concoctions!

 

[Eucris]

One of the placed we called at on the 5 day Kirbys Coach Trip from Brentwood was to the Ladybower Reservoir in Derbyshire, ENGLAND where the brave airmen of 617 Squadron RAF practised the low flying at 60 feet and bouncing bomb aiming in Lancasters before going to bomb the Ruhr Dams in Germany -- 53 were killed on that mission -- the LIGHT was terrible -- I had HP5+ loaded in my 1978 Hasselblad 500C/M with a 50mm f4 CFi Distagon * lens and processed in home-made 510-Pyro.
Ladybower Reservoir 01 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Ladybower Reservoir 02 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr
Ladybower Reservoir 03 by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

Actually the Dambusters practiced at Derwent reservoir which is the next one up the valley.

 

[trevjm]

Actually the Dambusters practiced at Derwent reservoir which is the next one up the valley.

The Dambusters practiced at multiple dams including Ladyblower, Derwent, Howden, Eyebrook as well as Fleet Lagoon on Chesil Beach.

 

[Clive K]

There is a small museum / memorial building on the Derwent Dam. Just before the 50th anniversary fly past I was trout fishing in a boat on Ladybower Reservoir when a Lancaster flew the full length of the lake so low it left a wake. My underpants were never the same again.

We witnessed a low flying Spitfire at a Castle Howard prom's concert and I thought one Merlin engine was loud enough. Imagine four of them about a hundred foot above your head. Still, when the Vulcan pilot put the afterburners on at RAF Finningley open day half of Doncaster was deafened.

 

[Rodinal]

A few years ago I was out on our motorcycles with a friend and stopped at the pub just to the north of the dam (I cannot remember the name of the pub) but the sign had a painted picture of a Lancaster on a bombing run. We were just about to set off again when the Lancaster and the Dakota from the BBMF flew overhead on a flight commemorating something or other. They were certainly more than 60 feet above us but actually quite low in comparison and the engine noise was incredible. I had noticed when we had ridden over the road to the pub next to the lake the large number of parked cars - then we knew why.