Picking out one date of particular interest in the log book, Mark remarked: “16th and the 17th of May 1943 – 617 led by Guy Gibson went off to three dams; The Mohne, the Eder and The Sorpe and your dad flew to The Sorpe dam.”
Explaining her father never actually made it to the destination, the guest said: “Unfortunately he was flying too low when he was crossing the Channel and he hit the water and lost his bomb and as we heard later on, he told us he nearly drowned his radianer in the process.”
Mark commented: “We’ve all seen the film, we’re all humming the music in our heads as I’m speaking to you. They’re flying at 50/50 feet and the upkeep bomb as we would know it as the bouncing bomb, it stuck out underneath.
“Now, he must have got so low because it’s only three four feet out the air craft and he ripped the bomb off.”