MAN MOMENT MACHINE: Dam Buster WWII's Bouncing Bomb

In 1943 the Second World War was not going well for the Allies. With the Nazis in firm control of Europe and the coastline, the enemy was only approachable by air.

Engineer Barnes Wallis thought he could turn the war around. His idea was to wipe out the heart of the industrial machine by destroying the great dams of Germany.

The machine he built to do this was a bouncing bomb, an innovative blend of simple physics and precision flying.

It was an idea so simple, yet so far-fetched that only a man supremely confident in his own talents could have persuaded the Royal Air Force to use it.