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George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, the last Dambuster has sadly passed away

The last surviving member of Operation Chastise, the strike on the Ruhr dams by No.617 Sqn. RAF ‘The Dambusters’ has sadly passed away aged 101.

The crew of Lancaster ED285/`AJ-T' sitting on the grass, posed under stormy clouds. Left to right: Sergeant G Johnson, bomb aimer; Pilot Officer D A MacLean, navigator; Flight Lieutenant J C McCarthy, pilot; Sergeant L Eaton, gunner. In the rear are Sergeant R Batson, gunner; and Sergeant W G Ratcliffe, engineer. (Photo: © IWM TR 1128 )

Sqn. Ldr. George Leonard ‘Johnny’ Johnson MBE, DFM

Born on the 25 November 1921 in the village of Hameringham, Lincolnshire, he volunteered for the RAF in 1940 as a navigator but was streamed for pilot training taking him to Florida in 1941 where he picked up his ‘Johnny’ nickname.

Unfortunately, he didn’t attain the required grade, so chose to be an air gunner. He joined No.97 Sqn. RAF at RAF Woodhall Spa where his first operational sortie was over Gdynia, Poland on the 27 August 1942 followed by Nuremberg the night after.

He then trained as a specialist bomb aimer in November 1942, returning to No.97 Sqn. joining the Crew of Joe McCarthy, his first sortie as a bomb aimer being a raid on Munich on the 21 December 1942. He completed a full operational tour, then worked for six months in a non-combat training role.

George was then selected for the newly formed No.617 Sqn. at RAF Scampton and was given special dispensation by his Commanding Officer Wing Commander Guy Gibson to get married as all leave for the new squadron had been cancelled.

The special Avro Type 464 (Provisioning) Lancaster showing the modified bomb bay with Upkeep mine held in its calipers and drive belt to spin the mine. (Photo: © IWM HU 69915)

He was part of McCarthy’s crew in Lancaster AJ-T (T-Tommy) which had been assigned the Sorpe Dam and due to its construction, required a different approach to bomb than the one 617 had been exhaustively trained for. Instead of flying towards the dam at low level to release the spinning bomb allowing it to bounce across the water, the Lancaster had to swoop down over the nearby town, missing the church steeple and fly along the length of the dam itself to conventionally drop the bomb alongside the wall with no spin.

It took ten attempts when George released the bomb to the relief of the crew.

He received the Distinguished Flying Medal along with the other decorated members of No.617 Sqn at Buckingham Palace.

The Sorpe Dam, showing the proximity of the village of Langscheid to the dam wall. (Image: © IWM MH 3780)

Commissioned in November 1943, he stayed in McCarthy’s crew for 19 more missions with No.617 Sqn. until April 1944, he then became a bombing instructor at RAF Scampton until the end of the war.

Qualifying as a navigator, he flew Avro Lincolns – a development of the Lancaster with No.100 Sqn., then moving to Coastal Command and No.120 Sqn. flying in the Avro Shackleton – yet another Avro development from the Lancaster and Lincoln.

His service career ended in 1962, retiring as a Squadron Leader. He then became a primary school teacher later moving into adult education and at one time working in Rampton secure hospital. He retired, moving to Torquay with his wife Gwyneth and served as a local councillor. After his wife passed away, he retired from public life until the 70th anniversary of the Dams Raids in 2013 and subsequently gave interviews about his life and Operation Chastise.

George was awarded an MBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours for his work, receiving it at Buckingham Place from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in November that year.

When fellow No.617 Sqn. member Fred Sutherland died in 2019, George became the last surviving member of Operation Chastise. On his 100th birthday he was quoted as saying ‘I’ve had a very lucky life in every respect’. He died peacefully at a care home in Westbury on Trym, Bristol.

George at RAF Brize Norton in 2017 (Image: courtesy RAF Air Historical Branch)

The members of 617 Sqn. lost on Operation Chastise are buried and commemorated by CWGC at Bergen General Cemetery, Bergen-op-Zoom War Cemetery and Harlingen General Cemetery in the Netherlands also Reichswald Forest War Cemetery and Rheinberg War Cemetery in Germany and the Runnymede Air Forces Memorial, Surrey.

The Runnymede Memorial commemorates the members of Commonwealth Air Forces lost on Second World War operations with no known graves. CWGC also commemorate aircrew in local cemeteries across the United Kingdom and Europe including:

Scampton (St.John the Baptist) Churchyard

Harrogate (Stonefall) Cemetery

Cambridge City Cemetery

Oxford (Botley) Cemetery

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