The last of the Dambusters celebrates his 100th Birthday today.
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[Misc] Happy Birthday Sqn Ldr George 'Johnny' Johnson
- Thread starter Frutos
- Start date
B-right-on
Living the dream
One of the greatest films of my childhood.
Along The Great Escape and a couple of others.
The Dambusters were a truly heroic set of individuals that a lot of people owe much.
Along The Great Escape and a couple of others.
The Dambusters were a truly heroic set of individuals that a lot of people owe much.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Heroic most certainly, although whether in hindsight the loss of all those crewmen merited the raid is another matter. Comparitiively little long term damage was done to dent the Nazi war effort.
AmexRuislip
Trainee Spy 🕵️♂️
The last of the Dambusters celebrates his 100th Birthday today.
[tweet]1463902162614947871[/tweet]
You’re such a Mohne.
Agreed on the damage, but what it did was force the Nazis to beef up the anti-aircraft guns on the dams, drawing already sparse materials from elsewhere, and the Labour used to rebuild the dams was not spend building munitions and aircraft. It might not have done much to impact the war effort there and then but it might well have saved a few bombers being shot down over Essen or Hamburg later on.
jakarta
Well-known member
The main thing 617 Squadron achieved, certainly post the Dams raid, was to prove that precision bombing using the new High Power bombs (Tallboy and Grand Slam) were far more effective on target than the carpet bombing that most of Bomber Command used.
Destroying the V3 Sites and sinking the Tirpitz, for example, DID dent the Nazi War effort.
All very brave men, I was privileged to know a Lancaster Captain (via the RBL and my late Father-in-Law who was in Guards Armoured Normandy to Germany 1944-45).
Group Captain (as he became) Bill Farquharson DFC did two tours and as such should have been dead at least twice over. One of the most modest men I have ever met, he really didn't talk very much about his war (neither did my late Father in Law) but when he did his main expression was the fun he had (!) in the RAF and the sorrow about the friends he had lost.
Still love the sound of a Lanc overhead!
He did his duty and those heroics. He certainly deserves the birthday wishes 
Lenny Rider
Well-known member
- Sep 15, 2010
- 5,424
Happy 100th Birthday Johnnie Johnson
Last surviving member of the Dam Busters.
Quite sobering to think he was only 21 when he flew on that particular night.
Last surviving member of the Dam Busters.
Quite sobering to think he was only 21 when he flew on that particular night.
Badger Boy
Mr Badger
- Jan 28, 2016
- 3,655
[MENTION=4675]Frutos[/MENTION] thread gave him his full, due title.
https://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?391505-Happy-Birthday-Sqn-Ldr-George-Johnny-Johnson
https://www.northstandchat.com/showthread.php?391505-Happy-Birthday-Sqn-Ldr-George-Johnny-Johnson
Superphil
Dismember
Impossible to imagine the responsibility taken by such young people at that time.
Dick Swiveller
Well-known member
- Sep 9, 2011
- 9,155
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
Very droll, l saw what you did there.
I had the privilege to know Group Captain (as he later became) Norman Wilkins DFC.
After some years i plucked up the courage to ask him about the action he took part in when he was awarded the DFC. He chuckled and said "Oh, one day KG6 showed up at the airfield and he had some spares on him so he chucked one at me".
Turns out he flew over 20 sorties (as a very young man) with a Pathfinder squadron over Europe. (Unfortunately I can no longer recall which Squadron)
A big man, but so gentle and modest. Much missed.
Cowfold Seagull
Fan of the 17 bus
I have a very similar story to yourself, through my involvement with the Sussex Weald branch of the RBL, l go to know Squadron Leader Bill Lucas DFC. who lived in the village
Bill completed two full tours as a bomber pilot, initially being posted to a squadron equipped with Wellingtons, later being transferred to a squadron with Short Stirlings. Later in the war he became a "pathfinder" flying the Mosquito.
He was always jokingly dismissive of Lancaster crews saying how lucky they were to be flying such a state of the art modern new aircraft! Surviving two full tours without suffering even a scratch was a tremendous achievement and l tried to tell him so, his reply was curt,saying don't be stupid boy, it had nothing whatsoever to do with skill, it was merely luck!
Indeed on completion of his 2nd tour, the crew to whom he gave his trusted Stirling, which had served both he and his crew to on all those missions, was lost without trace on the very next raid.
A second string to Bill's bow was as an athlete. He took part in the very first Olympics after the war in 1948, competing in the 800 metres, and was, at the time of his death, the oldest living British Oympian.
Bill passed away in 2018 and the grand old age of 101.
Lenny Rider
Well-known member
- Sep 15, 2010
- 5,424
Frutos I bow to you old boy, I was up the crem when it came up on my FB feed.
portlock seagull
Why? Why us?
- Jul 28, 2003
- 17,068
Finished max Hastings CHASTISE a couple mo the ago. Very good account.
theboybilly
Well-known member
But a lot was done to dent the home morale. Just a few months before saw a major defeat at Stalingrad, Allied Air dominance was now being achieved over the Reich, something that the buffoon Goering promised would never happen. The cracks were getting bigger and to the civilian population this was a major catastrophe for a short while. The Germans got it all back quickly and, as you say, not much real damage was done, but the effect was far reaching and was added to in further setbacks in the East in the next few months. By the end of the year (1943) the writing was really on the wall and only the fanatical fantasies of Goebbels & Co could spin it out. From now on defeatism was even more heavily punished.
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