Hopgood's last run

by Gary Eason

Title

Hopgood's last run

Artist

Gary Eason

Medium

Photograph - Digital Picture

Description

Doomed 617 Squadron Lancaster "M for Mother" releases its Upkeep "bouncing bomb" too late as it staggers under the defending flak on the Mohne Dam on 17 May 1943.

The Type 464 (Provisioning) aircraft, specially adapted for the precision bombing operation against the German dams, had already been damaged on the way to the target. Its front gunner was probably dead. The pilot, 21-year-old John Hopgood, was wounded. He made the second attack on the Mohne. The German flak 38 gunners, alerted by Guy Gibson's first run, hammered AJ-M during its low-level approach, setting fire to the port engines and a starboard wing fuel tank.

The weapon skipped over the dam and landed by the power station below, demolishing it in a huge fireball. Unable to gain height, the Lancaster crashed some three miles away. Incredibly three of the crew managed to get out but only two survived as prisoners of war. The other four went down with the plane.

NOTE: My picture reconstructs the dam as it appeared at the time. The towers had different roofing then, which was cut down to accommodate single 20mm Flak 38 anti-aircraft gun on each. The parapet was different, with drainage chutes along its length at roadway height. There was no whitewash on the roadway or towers. Probably the biggest difference was the gardens between dam and power station, all washed away in the attack and replaced now by a bigger compensating basin. My thanks to historian and author Clive Rowley for his assistance.

Uploaded

March 13th, 2014

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