38 Aviation News incorporating Jets May 2018DAMBUSTERS SPECIAL
617 SQN THROUGH THE DECADES
We present a photographic rundown of the major aircraft
types used by 617 Sqn from 1943 to the current day.
Above: Initially referred to as ‘Squadron X’, No.617 was formed at Scampton, Lincolnshire, on March 21, 1943, under the command of the
charismatic Guy Gibson. Although the unit’s famous for using new but highly modified Avro Lancaster B.III (Specials) for the Dams raid, the first
aircraft assigned was a standard Lancaster Mk.I, serial number W4940. Others ‘second-hand’ examples followed during the spring of 1943 as 617
trained for its date with destiny over the Ruhr valley in May 1943. Lancaster III ED817 ‘AJ-C’, shown here, was one of the aircraft modified for the
raid, but it wasn’t used. P H T Green Collection38-41_dambusters_through_the_decadesDC.mfDC.mf.indd 38 06/04/2018 17:44