PRECISION STRIKE – Book & Print Portfolio

A highly-restricted edition serving as a tribute to all those from across the commonwealth who helped to plan, prepare and execute Operation Chastise – the attacks on the great dams of the Ruhr valley on the night of 16/17 May 1943.

Just NINETEEN copies of this memorable edition are available worldwide representing the nineteen Lancaster crews who took part in the Dambuster Raids.

A special TWENTY ONE signature Dambuster piece unlike any ever published by the Military Gallery and Robert Taylor.

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The destruction of the great dams of the Ruhr had been a priority for the planners from day one, the dams’ vast reserves of water providing life to Germany’s industrial and manufacturing heartland. Yet the means of destruction remained elusive. Surface skimming torpedoes, for example, had been considered, but existing bombers had neither the range nor capability for such a low-level operation, whilst Commando raids were considered suicidal with little hope of success. Frustration turned to hope, however, when a gifted aeronautical designer laid out his plans for a radical new weapon – a spinning ‘bouncing bomb’ weighing over 9,000lbs, codenamed Upkeep. The designer’s name was Barnes Wallis.

Though pivotal, for Wallis’s new weapon to work it had to be released from a height of just 60ft some 400–450 yards from the dam wall whilst flying at the precise speed of 210mph. Any attack, therefore, would not only require great airmanship but an aircraft with the range, load capacity, and the agility to perform such an operation. No such aircraft had existed – until now. By early 1943 a remarkable new bomber had recently entered service, the brainchild of Avro’s chief designer Roy Chadwick; it was the mighty Lancaster.

It now fell to AVM Ralph Cochrane, AOC of 5 Group and close confidant of ACM Arthur Harris, AOC Bomber Command, to appoint Wg Cdr Guy Gibson with the task of forming a new squadron manned by some of the most talented bomber crews in the RAF. The elite new unit was to be known as 617 Squadron – the Dambusters.

As a lasting memorial to all those involved in the planning, preparation, and execution of Operation Chastise, the late Robert Taylor has left behind one of his favourite drawings. Its title – Precision Strike – conveys a glimpse into the exacting task faced by the crews of 617 Squadron that night of 16/17 May 1943, a night when they achieved what many had once thought impossible.

Rightly regarded as the world’s premier aviation artist, Robert depicts the scene at the Möhne Dam shortly after midnight when, with three previous strikes having failed to breach the wall, it’s the turn of Dinghy Young. At the controls of Lancaster AJ-A ‘Apple’, Young powers his aircraft over the dam wall with his Upkeep ‘bouncing bomb’ seconds away from a successful detonation. Now fatally weakened, one final strike by David Maltby will soon see the great dam wall crack apart.

The Veteran’s Edition

Restricted to just NINETEEN copies worldwide to represent the nineteen Lancaster crews who took part in the raids, each print is issued mounted to full conservation standards to include museum-quality reproduction RAF brevet badge. Creating a historic collector’s piece, also included in the matting are the original autographs of TWENTY famous veterans who were all directly involved in the planning, preparation and execution of the raids: