617 Dam buster AEC Matador Sold

[Alex Blair (RIP)]

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10 June 2011 Last updated at 12:52 ET


Dam Busters dog renamed for movie remake
Guy Gibson and the Dambusters with 'Nigger' The black Labrador was run over and killed during the planning of the raids


Peter Jackson to film Dam Busters

The Dam Busters' dog will be renamed for a new version of the classic war movie, it has emerged.

Stephen Fry, who is writing the film's screenplay, said there was "no question in America that you could ever have a dog called the N-word".

In the remake, the dog will be called "Digger" instead of "Nigger".

The black Labrador was the mascot for RAF 617 squadron, which during World War II destroyed dams in Germany with Barnes Wallis's famous bouncing bomb.

Owned by the squadron's wing commander, Guy Gibson, the animal was run over and killed during the planning of the Dambuster raids, and was buried at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire - from where the operation was launched.

Fry told BBC Radio 5 live: "It's no good saying that it is the Latin word for black or that it didn't have the meaning that it does now - you just can't go back, which is unfortunate.


The film is not about the dog”

Phil Bonner Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire

"You can go to RAF Scampton and see the dog's grave and there he is with his name, and it's an important part of the film.

"The name of the dog was a code word to show that the dam had been successfully breached.

"In the film, you're constantly hearing 'N-word, N-word, N-word, hurray' and Barnes Wallis is punching the air. But obviously that's not going to happen now.

"So Digger seems OK, I reckon."

Phil Bonner, from Aviation Heritage Lincolnshire, said: "I think for the Second World War generation that word was acceptable.

"But with my daughters growing up in Lincolnshire, they have been taught that the word is unacceptable now.

"The film is not about the dog. My big concern would be if they watered down what the Dam Busters had achieved."

The 1955 film, which starred Sir Michael Redgrave and Richard Todd, told the story of Barnes Wallis' struggle to develop the bomb and the subsequent raids on Nazi Germany - codenamed Operation Chastise.

The remake is being produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

[chalky]

Doesn't matter to me , did the dog effect the bombing.

[Richard Farrant]

Also a Bedford QL refueller heading to NZ as well, so I hear.

[George McKenzie]

I had a visit from the pilot that just made a renactment of blowing the dam .It was made by the ice pilots from Yellowknife and was on tv last week .He had to fly 80 ft above the lake with an old c4 plane,a little tricky to do. they used a barrel for a bomb and a home made dam .When the barrel hit the dam they set off dinamite .They had alot of fun doing it

[Phil Waterman]

Interesting, keep us posted on the production of the film if you hear more, in particular when it is to be released or shown.

Just to put the size of these bombs in perspective the picture is of Dam Buster exhibit bomb at Duxford. Wife in the picture is 5'7" tall.

Cheers Phil

[Private_collector]

I know it will be a real good movie, but to me there's something really special about the original that can't be equalled. The original Dambusters is such a good movie. The 'special' effects are laughable...........now................but they wern't then


Maybe it's that I prefer the era of the originals.

Seeing this thread has reminded me, I have a photo of one of the breached dams somewhere, signed by one of the bomb aimers, 'Johnnie" Johnson (or Johnston). I must look for it. Johnnie passed away recently I was told.

He was another "Classic" that can never be remade.

[Phil Waterman]

Hi Tony

Speaking of special effects what I always found interesting was that the movie bombs were spheres not drums. So special effects in the name of secrecy

Remember reading about the back spin on the drums when it was declassified.

Cheers Phil