Sault's Rodger was a Dambuster

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A Sault Ste. Marie man was part of an “extraordinary” Second World War raid that's being remembered this week.

David Rodger joined 132 others, including 29 Canadians, on the Dambusters raid on May 16, 1943.

A commemoration service Friday afternoon at Lincoln Cathedral is one of several 70th anniversary activities planned in England where the raid was conceived and its training took place.

The Dambusters bombing raid targeted three German dams – the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe. The dams, located east of the Ruhr industrial area, supplied water and power to aid German military and food production.

Destroying the dams could cut water for irrigation, increase flood control problems and zap a source of hydroelectric power and water needed to run factories and assist industrial processes.

The raid, dubbed Operation Chastise, was unique. Nineteen Lancaster bombers, flying just 100 feet above the ground to avoid radar detection, would launch special bouncing bombs created by British scientist Barnes Wallis. He also helped design the Wellington bomber, an aircraft used extensively during the Second World War.

Released when the Lancasters were flying at 60 feet and travelling 230 miles per hour, the round bombs would elude the dams' anti-torpedo nets, roll down the inside walls and explode at a predetermined depth.

“They were supposed to go like a depth charge ... sink and then the pressure would activate them,” Rodger told The Sault Star in 1993.

The raid, a chance for the western Allies to demonstrate to Russia they were targeting German targets, was “an ingenious undertaking,” says a Second World War historian with Canadian War Museum.

The idea of bombing dams was first floated several years before the war began in 1939.

“But coming up with a way that you could actually do this, and make it work, is really ingenious,” said Jeff Noakes in a telephone interview from Ottawa.

Mid-May was chosen for the raid because the moon would be bright and water levels would be high.

The attack didn't start well for Rodger, 25, and his crew. Their plane, piloted by American Joe McCarthy, was supposed to lead four other Lancasters to the Sorpe dam. An engine problem forced them to switch to another aircraft at the last minute.

“We were quite upset,” Rodger said.

“Everybody said we won't be back because the plane hadn't been checked out. We had been flying one aircraft and you get to know it.”

The Mohne and Eder dams were breached, but the Sorpe was not. That's because several bombers that were supposed to hit the dam did not reach their target after being stopped by anti-aircraft fire and power lines.

Rodger's Lancaster needed 10 attempts before it launched its bomb. The raid happened before technology offered tools such as laser-guided ordinance. Rodger and his comrades approached the Sorpe flying along the length of the dam, not flying up the reservoir.

“(McCarthy) found it difficult to clear the high hill and then bring the Lancaster down low enough, with the church steeple on the approach proving particularly troublesome, and either McCarthy himself or his bomb-aimer were not satisfied that all was right and called for the aircraft to go around again,” reads a Royal Air Force account of Operation Chastise.

Noakes offers a vivid description of what the attack was like for Rodger, a tail gunner looking out the back of the aircraft.

“Not only are you flying in at low altitude and high speed, you're having to do it again and again,” he said.

“Anyone who gets air sick flying in a commercial airplane, this is facing backwards bouncing around like you wouldn't believe.”

Two bombers hit the Sorpe dam. Damage was extensive, but the dam held.

“The loss of so many from the second wave had seriously weakened the assault on the Sorpe and it survived the attack,” the RAF account reads.

The raid didn't inflict as much damage as the British had hoped.

The Germans “put a lot of work” into repairing the dams within a few months, said Noakes.

“There are immediate effects (including putting a dent in steel production), but not the long-term effects the British had hoped for.”

Dave Birrel is a founding director of Bomber Command Museum of Canada in Nanton, Alta., 90 kilometres south of Calgary.

His book, Big Joe McCarthy: The RCAF's American Dambuster, was published in 2012 after three years of work.

McCarthy, born in 1919 in New York state, was a well-liked pilot who got on well with non-commissioned officers, a trait not always shared by his British counterparts.

“(Dave Rodger) was obviously highly respected by Joe. There's no question about that – and a valued member of the crew,” said Birrel in a recent telephone interview.

“I think he had already proven himself by becoming part of Joe's crew.”

Airmen were handpicked by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, first commanding officer of 617 Squadron.

Gibson wanted “really good” flight crews with “really exceptional skills” with all roles needed on-board, says Noakes.

“A lot of the flying takes place at unbelievably low altitudes ... in an aircraft that is not small and that isn't a little manoeuvrable fighter either. It requires a lot of skill, a lot of daring, a lot of courage, a lot of very strong nerves shall we say.”

McCarthy's crew had just completed its tour with 97th Squadron.

“Joe went to the crew and said, 'They want us to do one more trip,'” said Birrel.

“The crew wasn't so sure because they just survived their 30 operations. It was a time to have a break. They said, 'Well, where are we going? What are we going to do? What is this one operation?' All Joe could say was, 'I don't know,' because he didn't.”

Flight engineer Sgt. William Radcliffe, navigator Pilot Officer Donald Arthur MacLean, bomb aimer Sgt. George Leonard Johnson, wireless operator Flight Sgt. Leonard Eaton, front gunner Sgt. Ronald Batson and Rodger decided to participate.

They trained two months in England for the mission. Rodger expected the target would be a German battleship.

McCarthy's skill as a pilot was “he never flew straight,” says Birrel.

“He was always weaving. That give his gunners an opportunity to see underneath the airplane and (have) different views and gave him an opportunity to see different views,” he said.

“(New pilots) didn't always appreciate the dangers until it was kind of too late. Joe, as soon as he took off, he was weaving, making little turns and that sort of thing – not flying straight and level.”

Fifty three of the 133 airmen who participated in the Dambusters raid were killed. Three were captured and became prisoners of war. Fifteen of the 30 Canadians died.

“There's a major Canadian component that should not be forgotten,” said Birrel.

Twenty per cent of all Bomber Command airmen who died in the Second World War were Canadian. Bomber Command Museum of Canada has the names of 10,569 war dead on its memorial wall.

“Canadians played a huge role in the entire effort,” said Birrel.

“I supposed the dams raid should be looked upon as just a way of focusing on the entire effort. This was just part of it.”

The bouncing bomb developed for the Dambusters raid was not used again. The Germans changed defences at dams following the attack.

“It works, in part, because of surprise, because the Germans hadn't been anticipating an attack like this,” said Noakes.

“Having one of those (Lancasters) having to fly straight and level, even if it's going fairly fast and fairly low, makes it a target. The Germans are aware of this, so it's not the sort of thing you can repeat without running really heavy risks.”

Birrel flew to England last Sunday to represent his museum during Dambuster events. He'll attend the cathedral ceremony on Friday and Royal Air Force base Scrampton where the Dambusters Squadron was formed. He'll also tour 617's hangars and attend a re-enactment of a briefing for the Dambusters raid.

An estimated 3,000 people attended a day-long event marking the Dambusters 70th anniversary at Canadian Bomber Command Museum last Saturday.

Only three veterans of Operation Chastise are still alive.

Rodger, a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944, died in the Sault in 2004 at age 86.



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