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Dambusters Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Long before the twilight
The planes are standing by
Ground crew gather in the dusk
Low voices asking why
No one knows the target
The mission has begun
Flying into history
To drop the bouncing bomb
[Verse 2]
Start the mighty engines
Roaring into life
Turning to the airfield
Into the fading light
Gun the Merlin engines
Up to take off speed
The Lancaster is lifting
They pray they will succeed
[Chorus]
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
[Post-Chorus]
The sacrifice you made
[Verse 3]
Flying low across the night
The British bombers flew
On the deadly secret raid
Hoping no one knew
Target looms, the planes attack
Into the mouth of Hell
Hold her steady, release the bomb
Only time will tell
[Chorus]
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
Long before the twilight
The planes are standing by
Ground crew gather in the dusk
Low voices asking why
No one knows the target
The mission has begun
Flying into history
To drop the bouncing bomb
Start the mighty engines
Roaring into life
Turning to the airfield
Into the fading light
Gun the Merlin engines
Up to take off speed
The Lancaster is lifting
They pray they will succeed
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
The sacrifice you made
Flying low across the night
The British bombers flew
On the deadly secret raid
Hoping no one knew
Target looms, the planes attack
Into the mouth of Hell
Hold her steady, release the bomb
Only time will tell
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
Dambusters
Squadron of the brave
Dambusters
The sacrifice you made
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This song refers to the WWII ''Operation Chastise'' AKA ''The Dambuster Raid'' on the night of 16/17 May 1943, where a squadron of British Royal Air Force (RAF) Lancaster bombers, flew a high-risk raid at night, against several dams in W. Germany, using some specially designed ''bouncing bombs''.
The operation was a success, destroying 2 large dams, and causing a huge flooding of the Ruhr valley, which destroyed and damaged many factories, hydroelectric power stations, and mines. It was later turned into a movie called ''The Dam Busters'', which was the inspiration for the Death Star Trench Run in the original Star Wars movie. Also, the bombing run mission in Top Gun: Maverick draws inspiration from it.
The RAF pilots had to fly through a valley, at a low altitude, during the night, avoiding German anti-air flak, and then perform a precision drop with the ''bouncing bombs'', in order to hit the dams.