Page 16 - GM Wing 2020 Yearbook

The story of the raid can be found at the former home of 617 Sqn at RAF Scampton and Greater Manchester
Wing RAFAC have had a small but important input into the heritage centre at Scampton.
A large diorama of the raid on the Mohne dam was on display at Scampton Heritage Centre but was badly in
need of repair. During a visit to the station by staff from Greater Manchester Wing offered to take the
diaorama back to Manchester with a view to restoring the piece back to its former glory. This was no mean feat
with the piece measuring 3m x 1m and had to be split into 3 pieces to allow for transport.
The task was undertaken by a dedicated group of staff including Civilian Instructors Peter Hammon & Martin
Glarvey from 318 Sqn(Sale) along with Civilian Instructor Andrew McCormack from 316 Sqn(Leigh). The work
was painstaking and detail in the piece was key, photographs of the dam both before and after the raid were
found along with actual pictures of the damage assessment that the RAF undertook directly after the raid to try
and make the exhibit as accurate as possible.

With the exhibit now at Ashton Training Centre the staff travelled in their own time over a long period to make
sure the job was completed as accurately as possible. The exhibit shows the dam before the raid on the
th
evening of the 16 May 1943 and the detail is incredible with over 200 trees on the diorama being made by
hand along with scaled 3d buildings exactly as they were before the fateful raid across the sculptured landscape
around the dam. Great credit has to be given to the staff for their hard work and dedication to restoring this
piece.

When the work was finally finished, the exhibit was returned to the RAF Scampton Heritage Centre and is now
proudly on display as can be seen below.