That Wing Commander Guy Gibson was hoping for a miracle, almost as much as the young mother he was writing to, is clear even in his stark typewritten letter confirming her hero husband was missing.
The evident emotion is perhaps surprising in a military man writing in his official capacity.
But as the 24-year-old leader of the Dambusters mission, he must have felt viscerally the loss of every man that night, 80 years ago today.
