During the evening of 19 May, 1942, a BBC sound recording team were in a Surrey garden to transmit live the song of nightingales. Part way through the recording 197 bombers started to drone over on a mission to Mannheim. Thinking that the aircraft could potentially alert the Germans to an impending raid, the live recording was stopped, but the live recording continued to capture the passing of the bombers. It's a haunting combination.

The raid involved 197 aircraft; 105 Wellingtons, 31 Stirlings, 29 Halifaxes, 15 Hampdens, 13 Lancasters and four Manchesters. 11 aircraft were lost; four Halifaxes, four Stirlings and three Wellingtons. 

The aircraft recognition code for ED559 was JA-D. JA was the code for RAF Grimsby (Waltham) and 'D' was the individual letter ascribed to the Lancaster. Being 'D' the aircraft was therefore given the call sign 'Dog'.

The list of other phonetic call signs in circa 1943 was:

A : Apple
B : Baker 
C : Charlie 
D : Dog 
E : Easy 
F : Freddy 
G : George 
H : Harry 
I : Item 
J : Jig/Jug/Johnny
K : King 
L : Love 
M : Mother
N : Nuts
O : Oboe
P : Peter
Q : Queen
R : Roger/Robert
S : Sugar
T : Tommy
U : Uncle
V : Victor
W : William
X : X-Ray
Y : York/Yorker/Yoke
Z : Zebra

There appears to be individual changes to this list depending on the RAF station or commander. The Dambusters used a much changed list for the raid on the dams.