The Dambusters raid is one of the RAF's most legendary Second World War missions, but it may not have been possible without a small stream in Bricket Wood.
Barnes Wallis was born in Derbyshire and lived most of his life in Surrey, so it seems strange that a street in a sleepy Hertfordshire village is named in his honour.
But in late 1940, the engineer and inventor came to Bricket Wood to visit the Building Research Station - the forerunner of the Building Research Establishment which is still based on the very same site.
During his visit, he revealed an audacious plan. To attack the Möhne and Eder dams in the heart of Germany's industrial region to put important wartime factories out of action.
Operation Chastise, also known as the Dambusters raid, would be carried out on May 16 and 17, 1943, with Wallis' famous 'Upkeep' bouncing bombs used to breach the dams.
But long before the bouncing bombs were even conceived, the BRS in Bricket Wood played an important role in making the raid happen.
A top secret model
To determine just how much explosive force would be needed, as well as the optimal point to detonate and breach the dam, testing was needed.
Wallis asked for a scale model of the Möhne Dam to be built, which was constructed on a small stream in woodlands on the outskirts of the BRS site between November 1940 and January 1941.
Led by Norman Davey, the project launched on Monday, November 25, 1940, when work began on widening and deepening the stream to prepare for the construction of the dam's concrete base.
The foundation concrete was poured on November 29, and the two towers of the dam - which would later be key to raid itself as targeting aims - were cast the following week.
To conceal its identity, the model was referred to simply as 'Weir No.1'.
"A mysterious and sudden onrush of water"
On January 22, 1941, the first explosive tests were carried out on the model.
Ten charges were detonated at distances of three feet, two feet and one foot from the dam on the bottom of the stream.
The sixth explosion caused water to begin leaking through the damn, and by the time the 10th charge had gone off, the model was badly damaged.
That damage meant new models at the Road Research Laboratory site near what is now Heathrow Airport had to be used for the rest of the testing.
Eventually it was concluded that a 7,000lbs bomb, detonated at 30ft below the water level and against the inside face of the dam would be required for a full-scale breach.
The testing in Bricket Wood remained secret until 1954, when it was revealed in a news release from the Air Ministry.
"Dig-for-Victory allotment holders were bewildered and annoyed, early in 1941, when a mysterious and sudden onrush of water swept down a nearby hill and inundated their plots," the release read.
"The flooding at the Hertfordshire allotments came from the breaching of the first detailed scale model of the Möhne Dam which was tested at the Building Research Station."
The daring raid
The RAF's 617 Squadron, flying Avro Lancaster bombers modified to carry the Lancaster bombers, successfully breached the Möhne and Eder dams during the May 1943 raid.
Significant damage was caused to German industrial infrastructure, but the mission was not without controversy, as the catastrophic flood that followed claimed the lives of around 1,600 civilians and 53 aircrew.
The raid's fame was further increased in 1955, when the classic war film The Dam Busters was released.
As for the work in Bricket Wood, the model dam still stands today, a monument to the important work that made the Dambusters possible.
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