Dams raid 75th Anniversary.

Excellent ! The Lanc should look the biz with that hanging below it.
Here's the 'Upkeep' mine at Newark Air Museum (UK). with my mate Mick alongside to give some idea of the size.

Good stuff Terry. My first thought was that that one looks smaller but I'm probably wrong.

To be honest Andy, I thought the same, and I can't remember if the information board in front of it mentioned anything about it being a smaller replica, or perhaps one of the original, half scale trial mines, lacking the semi-spherical outer casing.
From what I remember of the original in the RAFM Hendon (last seen in around 1987), and from photos, the 'Upkeep' certainly seemed to be larger.
Mick isn't very tall, and I'd estimate that 'Upkeep' to be around 40 inches in diameter, so a bit smaller than the original.

Highball maybe? I see that the placard does say Upkeep.

'Highball' was similar in shape to the original design for 'Upkeep', being semi-spherical.
I've checked on the dimensions of 'Upkeep', and although the original design, with the spherical outer casing, was 7 ft 6 ins in diameter, the final weapon, just the cylinder, was 50 inches in diameter.
From memory, the placard at Newark states that it is an actual 'Upkeep', and it's also included in the listings of surviving examples, and I guess my estimate of 40 inches wasn't far out.
I think the angle of the photo probably makes it look smaller than it actually is, and I do remember it looking larger 'in real life', when standing nar it at the museum.

A bit late but yesterday marked the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the raid by our local museum in Nanton Alberta. I would have let this go except for the fact that the guys at the museum did a tremendous job creating a Type 464 version of the museum's Lanc by fabrication a full scale upkeep bomb and hanging it from the bomb bay complete with a motor and belt drive to spin the bomb. As far as I know, this is the only one of its kind in the world so worth sharing.

Here's a little intro that was done on our local news:

75th anniversary of The Dambusters Raid

And here are a few of my own pics of the installation:



The Lancaster was repainted to depict AJ-M for Mother flown by JV Hopgood, DFC and Bar. This particular aircraft was hit by flak in the wing on its way to the Mohne dam and then again over the Mohne dam itself during attack at 00:32. The Upkeep was released late and it bounced over the dam hitting the power station on the other side. The aircraft then crashed 3 miles from the dam in a field and 5 crew died (Hopgood, Earnshaw, Brennan, Minchin and Gregory). Two survivors (Fraser and Burcher) became POWs.



A group of suitably clad RCAF types were on hand:



Of course, the event would not have been compete without running up the engines and spinning the Upkeep. Here's a short video I took frm my prime seat nice and close:

That's just magnificent, Andy. The mine attached to the Lanc looks superb.

Spinning Upkeep and spinning props, a sight we may never see again. Photo by Richard de Boer.

Priceless:

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Always loved that Ad !!