Dam Busters’ bomb release button sells for £39,500 at auction
THE bomb release button from a Lancaster Bomber which destroyed the Mohne Dam during the famous Dam Busters raid has fetched just under £40,000 at auction.
The RAF relic, described as one of most important items from the Second World War, released one of the “bouncing bombs” that crippled the Nazi war effort.
The Bakelite switch was pressed by bomb aimer John Fort aboard the Lancaster Bomber of 617 Squadron and was the fifth aircraft to attack the dam on May 17, 1943.
hese are incredibly rare and very historic items of a simply unrepeatable nature
The bomber crew breached the dam and flooded the western Ruhr region in the Eder valley.
The mission, called Operation Chastise, changed the course of the war and was immortalised in a 1955 movie.
The button and other items from the plane had been given to Hydneye House in Hastings, East Sussex, by pilot David Maltby, whose father was headmaster there.
The button itself went for £39,500. Also on sale were four large marbles used by bomb inventor Barnes Wallis in the development of his weapon, which sold for £18,500.
Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert said: “These are incredibly rare and very historic items of a simply unrepeatable nature.
“We anticipated global interest in these evocative and iconic pieces of 20th century British history and I am pleased to report that interest exceeded expectation.”