I haven't read or listened to this book, or any other on the subject that I remember. But I did see a fascinating documentary about it, a few years ago, on television in which the task in World War II was recreated in these modern times (
sans the actual destruction of any real dams. ha).
What seems easy in theory--drop a bomb over a reservoir from an airplane, having it bounce off the water in such a way that it will strike the dam, causing it to be breached--was actually very difficult to pull off computationally and operationally. Nevertheless, the Brits accomplished that at more than one German reservoir.
Having stellar reviews on both the book and audiobook, I'm sure that this Whispersync deal will relate the events under consideration quite well and provide great listening and/or reading enjoyment.
Title: Dam Busters: The True Story of the Inventors and Airmen Who Led the Devastating Raid to Smash the German Dams in 1943.
Genre: Non-Fiction (Military History).
Author(s): James Holland.
Price: $6.98 ($1.99 ebook (marked down) + $4.99 Whispersync audio).
Regular Price of Audio, by Itself, at Audible: $21.95.
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews: 4.5 stars/62 reviews (Amazon).
Audio Rating/Number of Ratings: 4.5/79 ratings.
Pages/Audio Length: 464/14 hours and 8 minutes.
Narrator(s): John Lee.
Audible URL: http://www.audible.com/pd/History/Da...5673578&sr=1-1.
Amazon URL (can get the whole Whispersync deal here): http://www.amazon.com/Dam-Busters-In...The+True+Story.
Comments:
Book Description (Amazon):
The night of 16 May, 1943. Nineteen specially adapted Lancaster bombers take off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, each with a huge 9000lb cylindrical bomb strapped underneath it. Their mission: to destroy three dams deep within the German heartland, which provide the lifeblood to the industries supplying the Third Reich's war machine.
From the outset it was an almost impossible task, a suicide mission: to fly low and at night in formation over many miles of enemy-occupied territory at the very limit of the Lancasters' capacity, and drop a new weapon that had never been tried operationally before from a precise height of just sixty feet from the water at some of the most heavily defended targets in Germany.
More than that, the entire operation had to be put together in less than ten weeks. When visionary aviation engineer Barnes Wallis's concept of the bouncing bomb was green lighted, he hadn't even drawn up his plans for the weapon that was to smash the dams. What followed was an incredible race against time, which, despite numerous setbacks and against huge odds, became one of the most successful and game-changing bombing raids of all time.