Dambusters raid: Retrace the daring journey

The hand-coloured map above is from the official June 1943 British Air Ministry report on the Dambusters raid. The letters on the map represent the call signs for the planes that made it to the targets in Germany's Ruhr valley. The routes show how they reached the dams and how they returned. The location of the planes that crashed is approximate. Each plane flew with seven aircrew. When they crashed it was common for all the men to be killed.

You can read live-tweets of the original wireless telegraphy signals sent back by the Dambusters to RAF Scampton on twitter

Production: John Walton, Bella Hurrell, Steven Atherton, Helene Sears

Photos and map courtesy of