The brain behind the Dambusters raid

The Dambusters raid of May 1943 is one of the most celebrated episodes of the Second World War. But in military terms, was it in fact a flop? And was Barnes Wallis, the man behind the audacious attack, really the maverick genius long depicted in books and film? Richard Morris tells Spencer Mizen how the brilliant mind behind the Dambusters raid made the journey from cantankerous boffin to national hero.

Richard Morris is the author of Dam Buster: Barnes Wallis: An Engineer’s Life (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2023)