Panda as "secret" weapon during WWII raids

A Chinese panda was Sunday revealed after more than 70 years as a "secret weapon" in one of the most daring missions of World War Two.

Airman William Gordon Ratcliffe took the toy stuffed panda with him as his lucky mascot during the famous Dambusters Raid which saw the British Royal Air Force destroy a crucial dam in Germany in 1943.

Flight Sergeant Radcliffe altogether took his lucky panda with him on 60 operational flights over Germany during the war, his daughter revealed Sunday on a national television program, The Antiques Road Show.

Militaria and arms expert Mark Smith, who examined the panda on the program described it as priceless, and said it belonged to the nation.

Radcliffe's daughter Dorothy Bailey told how the panda mascot had kept her father safe throughout the war.

The popular program, aired Sunday, came from the RAF base in Lincolnshire, England where Radcliffe had been stationed during the war. It was the first time the lucky panda had been seen in public since the 1940s.

Bailey described on the show how her father tucked the panda into his boot as he left Britain on his bombing raids, adding it explained why one of the panda's ears was 'not as good as the other'.

She said the pilot of the RAF bomber also knew about the panda mascot, adding: "so he was a mascot for everybody I think. He kept them all safe... he's priceless to me and my family. He's been everywhere where I haven't been, and now I get to keep him safe."

As word spread across the RAF base about the panda's reputation as a lucky charm, other air crews copied panda features onto their planes to bring them good fortune.

. After examining the panda, expert Smith told the RAF man's daughter: "He was priceless to your dad, he is priceless to you, he is priceless to the RAF as a member of the Dams crews."

Bailey also showed other wartime keepsakes belonging to her father, including his Distinguished Flying Cross, one of the highest honors awarded to members of the RAF.

The so-called Dambusters were members of the RAF's 617 Squadron, put together in secret to complete an audacious raid known as Operation Chastise. Their secret mission involved air attacks on German dams using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" to disrupt a key area of Germany where the manufacture of German war munitions was concentrated.

Flight Sergeant Radcliffe, a flight engineer, was a Canadian, but journeyed to Britain at the outbreak of World War Two to join the RAF.

Radcliffe , and his lucky mascot, survived the war. He returned to Canada, but was tragically killed in a road accident in 1952. Enditem