Overall print size: 36 1/2" wide x 22" high.

Dambusters - Breaching The Eder Dam Artist Proof by Robert Taylor. Signed by the artist and 6 Dambuster raid aircrew listed below. Ltd Ed of only 25 prints. This is a very rare edition in mint condition, having never been framed and always stored flat. Comes with COA from publishers and long sold out. 

Mist and fog swirled eerily over the Eder Lake on the night of 16/17 May 1943 as four specially modified Lancasters of 617 Squadron, under the leadership of Wing Commander Guy Gibson, circled overhead. Their target, the mighty Eder Dam, was barely visible in the valley below. Immediately following the successful breach of the Mohne Dam, Gibson had led his remaining aircraft 50 miles to the south-east to hit their second target, the Eder Dam. Surrounded by high ground with thousand feet ridges, the Eder was altogether a more testing target. The Lancaster pilots would need to dive steeply into the gorge that formed the Eder lake before undertaking a steep turn towards the Dam itself. As if this were not demanding enough in the darkness of night, they then had to fly towards the target at precisely 60ft above the lake at the exact speed of 230mph, before releasing their Barnes Wallace designed hydrostatic bouncing bombs.

Pilots Shannon and Maudsley tried time and again to position their laden bombers correctly before managing to release their weapons – but the dam still held. Now success depended solely on Knight carrying the last bomb! With time and fuel now a concern, Knight’s first effort to position, like Shannon and Maudsley before him, failed, but his second run favoured the brave. Knight released his bomb with absolute precision, striking the wall at precisely the crucial point. With a tremendous explosion the Eder Dam collapsed before their eyes. Robert Taylor’s sensational new painting vividly shows the dramatic moment of impact. In the cockpit Knight and flight engineer Ray Grayston fight the controls to clear the dam, combining their physical strength to haul the lumbering Lancaster up and over the dam and to clear the high ground that lies ahead. Below and behind them, the second of Germany’s mighty western dams lies finally breached.

Sergeant Raymond E. Grayston
Ray Grayston has been serving in 50 Squadron when he was posted to 617 Squadron in March 1943. The flight engineer of Les Knight's Lancaster AJ-N, they attacked and successfully breached the Eder Dam. Ray was shot down on 16 September 1943, and was taken to Stalag Luft III as a POW.

Squadron Leader George L. Johnson DFM
Joining the RAF in 1940, George Johnson served with 97 Squadron before joining 617 Squadron. Bomb Aimer on American Joe McCarthy's Lancaster AJ-T, they attacked the Sorpe Dam, for which he was awarded the DFM. Commissioned a few months later, George retired from the RAF in 1962.

Additionally signatures on the Artist Proof Edition

New Zealander Les Munro was the Captain and pilot of Lancaster AJ-W assigned to attack the Sorpe Dam, but was forced to turn back en-route to the target after heavy flak-damage over Holland had rendered his aircraft unable to carry on with the operation.

Sergeant Frederick E. Sutherland RCAF
'Doc' Sutherland was the front gunner on Les Knight's Lancaster AJ-N that went to the Mohne Dam, and then successfully attacked and breached the Eder Dam. Shot down four months later, he managed to evade capture and escape back to England with the help of the Resistance movements, returning through Holland, France and Spain.

Fight Sergeant Grant S. McDonald RCAF
Grant McDonald was the rear gunner on Lancaster AJ-F flown by Ken Brown. On the way to the Ruhr, the gunners shot up and damaged three trains in an eventful trip before reaching the Sorpe Dam.

Corporal Kenneth Lucas
Ken Lucas joined the RAF in June 1940, and trained as ground crew for Bomber Command. He was sent first to 49 Squadron at RAF Scampton, before transferring to 617 Squadron upon its formation. Involved in all the major servicing of the aircraft, Ken was heavily involved in carrying out the modifications to the aircraft before the raid, including fitting the motors that drove the belt that spun the bomb, and attaching the crucial lamps to the underside of the aircraft.