
617 Squadron
The Dambusters at War
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Dennis Kleinman
-
By:
-
Tom Bennett
About this listen
In May 1943, Guy Gibson led 617 Squadron on an audacious assault on the dams of the Ruhr valley using Barnes Wallis' ingenious 'bouncing bombs.'
What happened to RAF 617 Squadron after the completion of Operation Chastise?
The raid had been a success, but the bombing offensive against Nazi-occupied territories did not let up and 617 Squadron continued to be at the heart of these operations.
Squadron Leader Tom Bennett, who flew as one of the lead navigators of 617's Mosquito marker force, recounts many of the precision attacks made by 617's Lancasters on vital targets in occupied Europe.
A number of personalities who served with the Squadron leap to life, like Tom McLean, who managed to destroy three night-fighters while wounded from his position as rear gunner, as well as the unpredictable Australian Colin Keith 'Aspro' Astbury who after being retired from active duty snuck out of his dull job with the Air Ministry to continue flying with his crew.
617 Squadron: The Dambusters at War provides unique insight into the reminiscences of the men who flew in this crack Royal Air Force squadron during the last three years of World War Two.
©1986 The Estate of Tom Bennett (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Mosquito Men
- The Elite Pathfinders of 627 Squadron
- By: David Price
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of one of the most remarkable–and feared–British aircraft of the Second World War: the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito fighter-bomber.
-
-
The Mossie History
- By Brian Wormsbacher on 10-15-24
By: David Price
-
Fierce Valor
- The True Story of Ronald Speirs and His Band of Brothers
- By: Jared Frederick, Erik Dorr
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans of Stephen E. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers will be drawn to this complex portrait of the controversial Ronald Speirs, an iconic commander of celebrated Easy Company during D-Day and beyond, whose ferocious courage and drive across three wars were matched by a devotion to duty and a hidden heart shadowed by lost love.
-
-
Felt like a historical yet cursory summary
- By JWalkup on 06-30-22
By: Jared Frederick, and others
-
Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
-
-
Weak
- By KL on 12-29-22
By: Buck Wyndham
-
The Greatest Raid of All
- Operation Chariot and the Mission to Destroy the Normandie Dock at St Nazaire
- By: C.E. Lucas Phillips
- Narrated by: Stewart Crank
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St Nazaire, 1.22 a.m. 28th March 1942. HMS Cambeltown, supported by seventeen wooden motor launches, approached the German-held port intending to smash into the lock gates of the largest dock in the world; the Normandie Dock-Operation Chariot was in full swing. Against vicious Nazi gunfire, the commandos stormed the docks, and within half an hour, succeeded in their chief demolition objectives, but in the heat of battle, the Royal Navy had lost nearly all of its small vessels intended to carry them back to England.
-
-
Extremely detailed account of this daring raid
- By MortonC on 01-17-25
-
Duel of Eagles
- The Classic Account of the Battle of Britain
- By: Peter Townsend
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1940, Group Captain Peter Townsend took command of 85 Squadron, tasked with preparing it for the defense of Great Britain against German bombers. It was the beginning of the long, hot, lethal summer in which the RAF and the Luftwaffe fought to the death over England in the furious conflict which ultimately saved Britain from Nazi invasion. Peter Townsend's epic Duel of Eagles is widely acknowledged as the classic account of the Battle of Britain—the desperate, defining clash which would become one of the greatest triumphs in British military history.
-
-
Excellent book, sing-song delivery
- By Margaret French on 02-04-23
By: Peter Townsend
-
Breaking Point
- A Novel of the Battle of Britain
- By: John Rhodes
- Narrated by: Evie Butcher
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1940, World War II. The Nazis have crushed Europe, and Hitler launches a massive aerial assault with the Luftwaffe against the heavily outnumbered British RAF. The fate of civilization teeters in the balance. Johnnie Shaux, a Spitfire fighter pilot, must summon up the fortitude to fly into a battle where death is all but inevitable, and continue to do so until the inevitable occurs. Eleanor Rand, a brilliant fighter command mathematician, studies the control room map constantly tracking the ebbs and flows of the conflict, and sees the glimmerings of a radical breakthrough.
-
-
Great read
- By sanfranciscopete on 02-10-24
By: John Rhodes
-
Mosquito Men
- The Elite Pathfinders of 627 Squadron
- By: David Price
- Narrated by: Greg Wagland
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of one of the most remarkable–and feared–British aircraft of the Second World War: the de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito fighter-bomber.
-
-
The Mossie History
- By Brian Wormsbacher on 10-15-24
By: David Price
-
Fierce Valor
- The True Story of Ronald Speirs and His Band of Brothers
- By: Jared Frederick, Erik Dorr
- Narrated by: Chris Abell
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Fans of Stephen E. Ambrose’s Band of Brothers will be drawn to this complex portrait of the controversial Ronald Speirs, an iconic commander of celebrated Easy Company during D-Day and beyond, whose ferocious courage and drive across three wars were matched by a devotion to duty and a hidden heart shadowed by lost love.
-
-
Felt like a historical yet cursory summary
- By JWalkup on 06-30-22
By: Jared Frederick, and others
-
Hogs in the Sand
- A Gulf War A-10 Pilot's Combat Journal
- By: Buck Wyndham
- Narrated by: Jim Seybert
- Length: 15 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The mighty, iconic A-10 Warthog was first thrust into battle in Operation Desert Storm. The men who took it through walls of flak and surface-to-air missiles to help defeat the world's fourth-largest army were as untested as their airplanes, so they relied on personal determination and the amazing A-10 to accomplish their missions, despite the odds.
-
-
Weak
- By KL on 12-29-22
By: Buck Wyndham
-
The Greatest Raid of All
- Operation Chariot and the Mission to Destroy the Normandie Dock at St Nazaire
- By: C.E. Lucas Phillips
- Narrated by: Stewart Crank
- Length: 11 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
St Nazaire, 1.22 a.m. 28th March 1942. HMS Cambeltown, supported by seventeen wooden motor launches, approached the German-held port intending to smash into the lock gates of the largest dock in the world; the Normandie Dock-Operation Chariot was in full swing. Against vicious Nazi gunfire, the commandos stormed the docks, and within half an hour, succeeded in their chief demolition objectives, but in the heat of battle, the Royal Navy had lost nearly all of its small vessels intended to carry them back to England.
-
-
Extremely detailed account of this daring raid
- By MortonC on 01-17-25
-
Duel of Eagles
- The Classic Account of the Battle of Britain
- By: Peter Townsend
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 20 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In May 1940, Group Captain Peter Townsend took command of 85 Squadron, tasked with preparing it for the defense of Great Britain against German bombers. It was the beginning of the long, hot, lethal summer in which the RAF and the Luftwaffe fought to the death over England in the furious conflict which ultimately saved Britain from Nazi invasion. Peter Townsend's epic Duel of Eagles is widely acknowledged as the classic account of the Battle of Britain—the desperate, defining clash which would become one of the greatest triumphs in British military history.
-
-
Excellent book, sing-song delivery
- By Margaret French on 02-04-23
By: Peter Townsend
-
Breaking Point
- A Novel of the Battle of Britain
- By: John Rhodes
- Narrated by: Evie Butcher
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
1940, World War II. The Nazis have crushed Europe, and Hitler launches a massive aerial assault with the Luftwaffe against the heavily outnumbered British RAF. The fate of civilization teeters in the balance. Johnnie Shaux, a Spitfire fighter pilot, must summon up the fortitude to fly into a battle where death is all but inevitable, and continue to do so until the inevitable occurs. Eleanor Rand, a brilliant fighter command mathematician, studies the control room map constantly tracking the ebbs and flows of the conflict, and sees the glimmerings of a radical breakthrough.
-
-
Great read
- By sanfranciscopete on 02-10-24
By: John Rhodes
-
Wings of Destiny
- Fightin'est Ship in WWII Series, Book 1
- By: Scott Cook
- Narrated by: Dave Alexander
- Length: 3 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On December 7, 1941, the United States was thrust into the largest global conflict of all time. From adversity rose a generation of heroes both at home and abroad whose courage, valor and sacrifice would restore a world gone mad! Yet not all of WWII’s heroes were flesh and blood… they were also made of steel and forged in the fire of combat.
-
-
Great but Short.
- By D. Allan on 03-07-24
By: Scott Cook
-
Pacific Sniper
- A World War II Thriller
- By: David Healey
- Narrated by: J. Scott Bennett
- Length: 8 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In December 1941, the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor plunges the United States into war. Fresh from the hardscrabble mountains of Appalachia, Deacon Cole joins the fight against Imperial Japan. In his first test against the enemy, he will use all his skill with a rifle against a deadly Japanese marksman. Across the beaches and jungles, they take part in the savage battle for control of a Pacific island. Can he protect his squad, or will they fall, one by one, under the enemy’s crosshairs?
-
-
It Was Ok...
- By DW on 07-11-23
By: David Healey
-
Tail Gunner
- By: R. C. Rivaz
- Narrated by: William Huggins
- Length: 4 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This gripping story of one man’s involvement in RAF Bomber Command’s fledgling offensive was first published in 1943. Written only months after the events described, R. C. Rivaz provides a uniquely fresh and immediate perspective on some of the most harrowing episodes of the war.
-
-
Unique book, reads like a diary
- By Haik Sahakian on 09-30-23
By: R. C. Rivaz
-
Race of Aces
- WWII's Elite Airmen and the Epic Battle to Become the Master of the Sky
- By: John R. Bruning
- Narrated by: Brian Troxell
- Length: 16 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" - the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker - offered a bottle of bourbon to the first US fighter pilot to break his record of 26 enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command.
-
-
Boring, confusing storyline, some technical details wrong
- By ATM on 04-09-20
By: John R. Bruning
-
Never Say Goodbye
- A True Story
- By: Robert Gerard Anstey
- Narrated by: Becky Boyd
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Make a connection with these characters as they struggle to find the courage they never knew they had and the future they thought they'd never see. A powerful and emotional true story of the men and women that overcame all the odds only to face the greatest dangers mankind has ever faced before. On the shores of the English Channel, only days before D-Day, they stand in the crossroads of history preparing to take on Hitler and the Nazis. Lives are changed, friends become brothers, hearts are broken, and promises are made. Promises to never say goodbye.
-
-
Mrs. Rose.
- By Ashley Dyer on 02-13-22
-
War's End
- An Eyewitness Account of America's Last Atomic Mission
- By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, James A. Antonucci - contributor, Marion K. Antonucci - contributor
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On August 9, 1945, on the tiny island of Tinian in the South Pacific, a 25-year-old American Army Air Corps major named Charles W. Sweeney climbed aboard a B-29 Superfortress in command of his first combat mission, one devised specifically to bring a long and terrible war to a necessary conclusion.... The last military officer to command an atomic mission, Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney has the unique distinction of having been an integral part of both the Hiroshima and the Nagasaki bombing runs.
-
-
Excellent History
- By Bill on 02-19-25
By: Maj. Gen. Charles W. Sweeney, and others
-
Vulcan 607
- By: Rowland White
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 13 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Shoulder to shoulder with Strategic Air Command B-52s throughout the Cold War, the big delta-winged Vulcans of the Britain's V-bomber force faced down the Soviet threat to the West. In 1982, they were just months from retirement when they flew in anger for the first time. It was to be a record-breaking mission of breathtaking audacity: a single bomber launched from a remote island airbase to carry out what would be the longest-range air attack in history. An 8,000-mile round-trip.
-
-
Wow, incredibly gripping and entertaining
- By MortonC on 09-10-24
By: Rowland White
-
The Last Zero Fighter
- By: Dan King
- Narrated by: Drew Bott
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Firsthand accounts from interviews conducted in Japan with five WWII Japanese Naval aviators. All are veterans of the pivotal battles of the Pacific War including; USS Panay, Nanking, Pearl Harbor, Wake Island, Rabaul, Port Darwin, Indian Ocean Raid, Ceylon, Midway, Guadalcanal, Marshall Islands, Tarawa, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, the kamikaze in the Philippines, the home defense and the dropping of the atomic bomb. Includes an introduction to the Japanese pilot training system for both officers and enlisted men.
-
-
Fascinating and humanizing story
- By courtney mckean on 07-03-23
By: Dan King
-
Pacific Blood
- Decker's Marine Raiders Series, Book 1
- By: Scott Cook
- Narrated by: Dave Alexander
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's late summer on Guadalcanal, and the Japanese are getting deadlier and more aggressive by the day. Hemmed in and short on supplies, the US Marine Corps fights ferociously to maintain their tenuous hold on Henderson Field. Major Al Decker, part of an elite unit known as the Marine Raiders, has put together a small crack team of battle-hardened men. Tasked with surveillance, hit and run attacks, and any other dirty job that’s required, it’s Decker’s Raiders that must venture out into the deadly tropical jungles and face down marauding Japanese soldiers around every corner.
-
-
Great Story
- By D. Allan on 08-07-24
By: Scott Cook
-
Kangaroo Squadron
- American Courage in the Darkest Days of World War II
- By: Bruce Gamble
- Narrated by: Mark Boyett
- Length: 14 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In early 1942, while the American military was still in disarray from the devastating attacks on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, a single US Army squadron advanced to the far side of the world to face America's new enemy. Based in Australia with inadequate supplies and no ground support, the squadron's pilots and combat crew endured tropical diseases while confronting numerically superior Japanese forces. Yet the outfit, dubbed the Kangaroo Squadron, proved remarkably resilient and successful.
-
-
5 star History!
- By DON COOKE on 03-13-19
By: Bruce Gamble
-
Harrier 809
- The Epic Story of How a Small Band of Heroes Won Victory in the Air Against Impossible Odds
- By: Rowland White
- Narrated by: Roy McMillan
- Length: 14 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
April 1982. Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. In response, Britain dispatches a naval Task Force. Eight thousand miles from home, its fate hinges on just 20 Sea Harrier fighters against the 200-strong might of the Argentine Air Force. Combining groundbreaking research with the pace of a thriller, Rowland White reveals the full story of the fleet's knife-edge fight for survival for the first time, and shows how the little jump jet went from airshow novelty to writing its name in aviation legend. And of how a small band of heroes won victory against impossible odds.
-
-
Fast paced thriller
- By J.Brock on 01-28-22
By: Rowland White
-
Damn Lucky
- One Man's Courage During the Bloodiest Military Campaign in Aviation History
- By: Kevin Maurer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham, John Luckadoo
- Length: 8 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii was a world away from John Luckadoo’s hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee. But when the Japanese attacked the American naval base on December 7, 1941, he didn’t hesitate to join the military. Trained as a pilot with the United States Air Force, Second Lieutenant Luckadoo was assigned to the 100th Bomb Group stationed in Thorpe Abbotts, England. Between June and October 1943, he flew B-17 Flying Fortresses over France and Germany on bombing runs devised to destroy the Nazi war machine.
-
-
must read
- By td godfrey on 10-06-22
By: Kevin Maurer