The Dambusters reformed on 18 April 2018, and was equipped at RAF Marham in June 2018 with the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning, becoming the first squadron to be based in the UK with this advanced STOVL type.

[6] It was formed under great secrecy for the specific task of attacking three major dams that contributed water and power to the Ruhr industrial region in Nazi Germany: the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe.

[7] The squadron's badge, approved by King George VI, depicts the bursting of a dam in commemoration of Chastise.

The targets were San Polo d'Enza and Arquata Scrivia power stations; it was hoped that the attacks would delay German troops who were travelling down into Italy on the electrified railway system to support the Italian front.

However within two weeks of the plan being suggested, Mussolini was ousted by his opponents and replaced by Pietro Badoglio, leading to an armistice with the Allies in September.

[12] Throughout the rest of the war, the squadron continued in a specialist and precision-bombing role, including the use of the enormous "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam" ground-penetrating earthquake bombs, on targets such as concrete U-boat shelters and bridges.

The strips were dropped in vast numbers, in carefully choreographed patterns, over many hours, to create on German radar an illusion of a huge approaching naval fleet, even though the ships were non-existent.

The Squadron practiced the technique at Tantallon Castle in Scotland, using captured German Würzburg, Freya, and Seetakt radars.

617 Squadrons; they were deployed to Yagodnik, near Archangel a staging base in Russia to attack Tirpitz with Tallboy bombs.

On 15 September 1944, the RAF bombers struck the battleship in the forecastle, which rendered her unseaworthy, so she was sent to the Tromsø fjord where temporary repairs were made so she was anchored as a floating battery.

Within ten minutes of the first bomb hitting the Tirpitz, she suffered a magazine explosion at her "C" turret and capsized killing 1,000 of her 1,700 crew.

IX Squadron Lancaster WS-Y (LM220) piloted by Flying Officer Dougie Tweddle that is attributed to the sinking of the warship.

[25] After the end of the Second World War, the squadron replaced its Lancasters with Avro Lincolns, following those in 1952 with the English Electric Canberra jet bomber.

[28]The squadron began almost immediately to upgrade yet again to the Vulcan B2, taking delivery of the first on 1 September 1961,[29] although its high-level strategic bombing role remained unchanged until the advent of effective Soviet Surface-to-Air Missiles forced Bomber Command to reassign V-bombers from high-altitude operations to low-level penetration operations in March 1963, when the squadron's Vulcans adopted a mission profile that included a 'pop-up' manoeuvre from 500–1,000 ft (150–300 m) to above 12,000 ft (3,700 m) for safe release of Blue Steel.

[33] Following the transfer of responsibility for the nuclear deterrent to the Royal Navy, the squadron was reassigned to SACEUR for tactical strike missions.

As the Vulcan's bomb bay was configured to carry only one, and assuming that RAF staff planners had factored in their usual allowance for attrition in the early conventional phase of a continental war, leaving sufficient surviving aircraft to deliver the full stockpile of nuclear weapons, it is a reasonable conclusion that the Vulcan force was held in reserve for nuclear strike duties only.

617 Squadron began the changeover to anti-shipping and by May 1994 was operating from RAF Lossiemouth assigned to SACLANT, flying the Tornado GR1B with the Sea Eagle missile.

[43][44] In July 2009, the Dambusters deployed to Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, as part of Operation Herrick in order to provide support for No.

[45] While deployed, the Dambusters were the RAF squadron who helped the Tornado GR fleet surpass 1,000,000 flying hours in June 2011.

[51] Beginning in 2016, the Dambusters started their training for conversion to the F-35B ahead of reforming as the first British front line squadron with the Lightning.

[52] The squadron worked up at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, throughout late 2017 and early 2018 before reforming on 18 April 2018.

[63] Three Lightnings departed RAF Marham on 9 October to MCAS Beaufort in preparation for Westlant 19,[64] with them embarking upon HMS Queen Elizabeth for the first time alongside No.

[65][66] On 22 January 2020, the Dambusters departed Marham for Exercise Red Flag at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, their first with the Lightning.

617 Squadron embarked eight F-35B Lightnings on board HMS Queen Elizabeth as part of Carrier Strike Group 2021 (CSG21), operating alongside VMFA-211 as the fixed wing component.

617 Squadron:[79][80] The Second World War exploits of the squadron and Chastise in particular, were described in Guy Gibson's own 1944 account Enemy Coast Ahead, as well as Paul Brickhill's 1951 book The Dam Busters and a 1955 film, though the accuracy and completeness of these accounts were compromised by many of the documents relating to the war years still being secured by the Official Secrets Act.

The last living Dam Buster pilot at the time, New Zealander Les Munro (1919–2015), offered his services as a technical adviser.