Harold Martin; Daredevil British Pilot of WWII

Harold Martin, 70, one of the daredevil pilots who made the famous “dam buster” raid on Germany in World War II. Martin and his comrades, all experts at low-level bombing, flew through a wall of enemy fire at a height of only 60 feet in 1943 and dropped bouncing bombs in a night raid intended to breach dams and flood the industrial Ruhr Valley. Their exploits were recorded in the 1954 movie named “The Dam Busters” for the nickname of RAF Squadron 617. Martin helped train the team in dangerous maneuvers that included dodging power lines and treetops, and on May 15, 1943, flew one of the 18 Lancaster bombers that made the raid. The planes carried bombs invented by scientist Barnes Wallis that were designed to be dropped exactly 60 feet, bounce across the water to avoid anti-mine nets, then sink against the dam and explode. The Mohne and Eder dams were breached and the Sorpe dam damaged, causing widespread destruction but not the hoped-for mortal blow to power and water supplies. In London on Thursday of unannounced causes.