I cannot let this month slip by without mentioning the 70th anniversary of the Dam Busters raid that took place in May 1943.

It was a very daring exploit involving highly complicated low-level flying and we must not forget those men were only in their 20s in what by today’s standards were primitive aircraft.

The raid itself involved 133 crewmen in 19 aircraft and sadly eight of those aircraft were destined not to return. The survival rate for Bomber Command crews was appalling and you wonder how modern society would react to such losses in any military campaign today.

Only three of those brave young men are still with us today. Back in 1989 I was hosting a special event at Elstree Studios celebrating 75 years of film production in Borehamwood and along with the stars of film and television I decided to invite along some real-life crew members of that famous wartime raid as Elstree had made the classic war film about that legendary tale in 1955.

We were joined by four of them and it was fascinating to chat with them about the
memories of that night 46 years earlier. We were also joined by several veterans who had worked on the film version including Richard Todd, Erwin Hillier, who was the camerman, and Dickie Best, who edited the film.

I wish I had captured their memories on film as they are all sadly gone now. Luckily, I am still in touch with the film’s director Michael Anderson who is 94 years young and living in Canada.

Michael tells me: “I was a young, new director at Elstree then and it was made clear to me that if I made a mess of it within the first two weeks I would be sacked. The studio had spent two years preparing the film and wanted it to be as accurate as possible.”

I think the Dam Busters film has dated well, except perhaps for the model work, which was obviously basic by today’s computer enhanced standards, but you can’t fault the acting or period atmosphere.

Of course, everyone knows the famous theme tune, even football fans on the terraces who hum it while doing the flying hand actions but have probably never seen the film.

It is fun to see the familar faces crop up, including a young Patrick McGoohan in a bit part and other actors I had the pleasure to know, such as George Baker and, of course, Richard Todd, who was the star playing Guy Gibson. Sadly, the real life Gibson did not survive the war but Richard lived to a grand age and it was a real pleasure to sit beside him on his last visit to Borehamwood when we showed the film as part of an Elstree Film Season at our local cinema.

At the event in 1989 we were also joined by the then commanding officer of 617 Squadron who kindly invited me to visit the officers mess at RAF Marham where they were then based. He even allowed me to sit in the pilot’s seat of a Tornado fighter, although thankfully it stayed on the ground. I was amazed by how high tech such aircraft are now.

Incidentally, the Lancaster bombers used in the film were all scrapped in 1956 but, had they been kept by Elstree Studios, would now be worth millions each. The benefit of hindsight.

Back in 1988 I was working on a BBC TV documentary about Elstree and for one scene we had Richard Todd back at the studio and had him walk off into the distance just as he does in the film. The shot was ruined as just at that moment, Harrison Ford walked out from one of the sound stages dressed as Indiana Jones. Pity we were not allowed to use the footage as it was a nice mix of screen heroes of yesterday and today.

I salute those young men from 70 years ago who, knowing their survival rates were slim, still did their duty.

The nuclear age has ensured such a worldwide conventional conflict can never happen again but sadly minor wars continue around the globe. Does man ever learn?