As the First and Second waves had been approaching their targets, the Third Wave was leaving Scampton. At 00:09 Warner Ottley in ED910 / AJ – C was first up, with an uneventful sea crossing he reported approaching the general target area. No 5 Group directed him to the Lister Dam, Ottley confirmed the order. Immediately after this, No 5 Group radioed again, re-directing him to the Sorpe Dam, which most of the second wave had failed to reach. This message was met with silence, Ottley was bathed in searchlights and taking heavy flak damage. His port inner engine was ablaze and then one of the fuel tanks exploded. The aircraft crashed on the edge of a wood near the town of Hamm. By some miracle the tail turret broke off and was thrown clear of the burning wreck. The Upkeep mine rolled away and detonated. Rear gunner Flt Sgt Ted Tees was picked up unharmed and became a POW, all others perished. 00:11 ‘Lew’ Burpee in ED865 / AJ – S was next, shortly after failing to contact Ottley the second time, No 5 Group radioed Burpee to direct him to the Sorpe Dam, they recieved no reply,he and his crew were already dead. Having strayed slightly off course they flew over the large Luftwaffe airfield at Gilze – Rijen. With defences already alert after an earlier Mosquito raid, the low flying Lancaster was easy pickings. Hit and ablaze the aircraft crashed on the airfield and all of the crew perished. The Upkeep mine rolled away from the wreckage,when the mine exploded it demolished a dozen hangers and other buildings. 00:12 Flt Sgt Ken Brown in ED918 / AJ – F, at 02:24 was directed to the Sorpe Dam which he found shrouded in mist. After several unsuccessful runs he ordered his wireless operator to drop flares to mark a path. Bringing the Lancaster around for it’s tenth run the mine was released about two thirds of the way along the dam. With no breach seen Brown turned for home, landing back at Scampton at 05:33 00:14 Flt Sgt Bill Townsend in ED886 / AJ – O, directed to the Enneppe Dam which they reached at 03:00 hrs. On their fourth run they released their mine but it fell short with no damage inflicted. Encountering pockets of flak on the way home, they landed safely back at Scampton at 06:15 ( the last plane home) 00:15 Flt Sgt Cyril Anderson in ED924 / AJ – Y, as Townsend was trying to pick out his target in the mist, Anderson was already on his way home. Forced of track by searchlights he was then directed to the Sorpe Dam. With dawn approaching and being ‘slightly lost’ , Anderson had given up and headed home, landing back at Scampton at 05:30 with his mine still aboard. Meanwhile at the Eder Dam, with time getting on and dawn approaching Gibson was keen to begin the attack.The approach to the Eder was far more difficult than at the Mohne. Surrounded by hills, pilots had to drop from 1000 feet to 100 feet while banking sharply to port over a spit of land and then dipping down to 60 feet for mine release. Gibson called Shannon in first, after three unsuccessful attempts to line up on the dam he was instructed to hold off and give Maudsley a crack. Maudsley had problems too and after two runs had not released his mine. Shannon then made two more aborted tries and on the third run released his mine. It bounced twice and hit the dam wall before sinking and exploding but no breach was seen. Maudsley now came in to try again, but with the mine released late it struck the top of the dam and inexplicably exploded on impact, just as Maudsley flew over it. Gibson radioed Maudsley and received the reply “ we’re ok Skipper, heading for home”. However the aircraft was badly damaged though still airborne. 90 minutes later as they approached Emmerich on the German / Dutch border they came under fire from a flak battery and Maudsleys Lancaster crashed on the edge of town with no survivors. Back at the Eder Dam, destruction of the target rested squarely on the shoulders of Plt Off Les Knight and the last Upkeep mine.