LADYBOWER: Dam Busters’ 70th anniversary commemoration

A famous flyover during a previous Dam Buster commemoration.

The Lancaster flyover is scheduled at Derwent Reservoir’s Ladybower Dam, between 1pm and 1.15pm, although access is expected to be restricted with no tickets and there will be road closures with limited parking.

Tornadoes from the famous 617 Squadron are also expected to follow the Lancaster. Other aircraft expected to be involved in the flyover include a Spitfire and possibly a Hurricane.

They will fly on to Chatsworth at around 1.20pm, today, May 16, where there is plenty of parking.

The 617 Squadron was founded as part of Operation Chastise which was a Second World War raid on Germany’s Ruhr dams using Barnes Wallis’ revolutionary bouncing bomb and modified Lancaster bombers.

Crews trained for the operation at British reservoirs including the Derwent Dam and the German dams which help provide vital water and electrical supplies for the Nazis were targeted on the night of May 16, 1943, with two dams being successfully destroyed.

See next week’s Derbyshire Times on May 23 for a fabulous picture spread of the event.