Historical person
Guy Gibson
1918–1944
Guy Penrose Gibson was a Royal Air Force bomber pilot who had already completed extensive operational flying before being selected to command the new 617 Squadron in 1943. On the night of 16–17 May he led Operation Chastise, the low-level attack on the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams using Barnes Wallis’s specially designed bouncing bomb.
Guy Gibson was the first commanding officer of RAF 617 Squadron and led the Dambusters raid of May 1943. Guy Gibson was born in Simla, British India and died in Netherlands.
In Sir Max Hastings’ Chastise, Max Hastings follows Barnes Wallis’s development of the bouncing bomb and Guy Gibson’s formation and training of the squadron, then traces the low-level flight into Germany and the attacks on the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe dams. In James Holland’s Dam Busters, Barnes Wallis develops the bouncing bomb as a means of attacking the dams that supply water and power to Germany’s Ruhr industries. Wing Commander Guy Gibson forms RAF 617 Squadron and trains crews to fly Lancasters at extremely low altitude during a night operation requiring new equipment and precise timing.
Non Fiction
Non Fiction featuring Guy Gibson (2 books)
Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.
