Stories about the 70th anniversary of the historic Dambusters raid have brought back memories for two Huddersfield men.

It was in May 1943 that the Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron took off to attack dams in Germany’s Ruhr Valley.

Operation Chastise was an attack using a specially developed ‘bouncing bomb’ invented and developed by Barnes Wallis.

The Möhne and Edersee Dams were breached, causing catastrophic flooding of the Ruhr valley and of villages in the Eder valley – crucial to the German war effort.

One man who had a closer involvement than he thought was Eric Massam.

Mr Massam was an 18-year-old working on a farm in Lincolnshire in May 1943 – and saw the Dambusters fly out on their successful mission.

"I was out walking on what was a lovely evening when they flew past, so many of them and so low.

"They were based at RAF Scampton which was nearby, but obviously I had no idea at that time where they were going.

"We were quite used to seeing bombers going overhead but that night always stuck in my memory."

Mr Massam, 88, of Golcar, moved to Huddersfield in 1949 and spent many years working at David Brown Tractors.

He has four sons.

More memories came from Mr Harold Stead, of Kirkheaton.

Mr Stead, 86, was stationed with a Signals unit in Germany between 1946 and 1948.

"I remember we were very close to the dams in the Ruhr and we used to go out rowing on the lakes," he said.

"I remember seeing all the defences they had on the dam walls, like huge pieces of metal and netting to stop any bombs".

Mr Stead worked for many years at Johnsons Quarries in Huddersfield.