(Rich) wrote in message . com...
(Marc Reeve) wrote in message
Apparently they blew off one floodgate and damaged another.

The dam, however, remained intact.

-Marc

Nice photo. The gates were the targets, not the dam itself.

Rich

from my post of 15 Oct 02

Eight AD-4 Skyraiders from the USS Princeton (CV-37), 5 from VA-195
and 3 from VC-35, led by Cdr R.C. Merrick (CAG19) carrying Mk 13
aerial torpedoes were launched on 1 May 1951 to attack the Hwachon
dam. They were escorted by 12 F4U-4 Corsairs from VF-192 and VF-193
armed with VT fuzed bombs for suppression. The attack began at
approximately 1130 hours (local) with the Corsairs making their
suppression runs. The Skyraiders made their attacks in pairs. All
eight torpedoes were dropped. One ran erratic; one was a dud. The
remaining six hit their intended target, the dam's sluice gates,
destroying one and putting a ten-foot hole in a second.

The attack was made because of 8th Army's concerns that the CCF would
be able to control the depth on the Pukhan and Han Rivers ... opening
the sluice gates and flooding the rivers t protect themselves ...
closing the gates and lowering river levels to facilitate their own
attacks.

8th Army had faced the situation before. In January ‘51 attacks by
USAF B-29's failed to damage the sluice gates. Although another
strike was requested, Far East AF considered the dam to be impervious
and rejected the request. In early April, 8th Army's concerns became
real when the CCF opened the sluice gates and flooded the Pukhan
River, raising the water level several feet within one hour, washing
away one engineer bridge and damaging another. On April 16th, 8th
Army captured the dam, but engineers were unable to jam it's sluice
gates open. The CCF counterattacked in force and 8th army forces
driven away from the reservoir.

On 30 April six AD-4's from VA-195 had tried to take out the sluice
gates with 2000 lb bombs. While blasting a hole in the dam, they were
unable to damage the sluice gates. The attack of 1 May was the
successful follow up to that day's disappointment. VA-195 proudly
carries the name ‘Dambusters' as a result of this action.

Regards,

Rich


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