Born in India in 1918, Guy Gibson grew up in India, Cornwall, Kent and Oxford. An average student, Gibson always had a passion for flying, and commenced flying training in November 1936 at the Bristol Flying School. In early 1937, he began RAF basic training at RAF Uxbridge, and was awarded his pilot's wings in May 1937.

During the war, Gibson was part of three operational tours, with Bomber Command and Fighter Command, playing an important part in the decisive Battle of Britain. He gained notoriety for the Dam Busters raid where he led his squadron. He was awarded the VC and in June 1943 became the most highly decorated serviceman in the country. James Holland is a historian and broadcaster.

The author of the best-selling Fortress Malta, Battle of Britain, and Dam Busters, he has written 9 works of historical fiction. He regularly appears on television and radio and has written and presented the BAFTA-shortlisted BBC documentaries, Battle of Britain and Dam Busters. Dr Robert Owen is the Official Historian of the No. 617 Squadron Association.

A Trustee of both this Association and the Barnes Wallis Memorial Trust, he has contributed to numerous publications and documentaries. He is the author of Henry Maudslay Dam Buster and lead author on Dam Busters Failed to Return.

Max Hastings studied at Charterhouse and Oxford and became a foreign correspondent, reporting from more than sixty countries and eleven wars for BBC TV and the London Evening Standard.

He has won many awards for his journalism. Among his bestselling books Bomber Command won the Somerset Maugham Prize, and both Overlord and Battle for the Falklands won the Yorkshire Post Book of the Year Prize.

After ten years as editor and then editor-in-chief of the Daily Telegraph, he became editor of the Evening Standard in 1996. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he was knighted in 2002. He now lives in Berkshire.