One of the privileges of being involved with Dambusters2012 and Dambusters2013 has been meeting and getting to Sqdn Ldr George 'Johnny' Johnson DFM seen in the pic below with Flt Lt Sarah James of RAF Scampton.
Johnny was bomb aimer on 617 Sqdn Lancaster AJ-T and attacked the Sorpe Dam on the night of the 16th/17th May dropping his Upkeep weapon on their 10th run along the Sorpe Dam from just 30ft!!
I was not able to visit the Sorpe Dam in 2012 and so making sure that I was able to visit the Sorpe this year was central to my own trip plans. I wanted to stand in the middle of the Sorpe Dam and look back to see the church which Johnny and his pilot, Joe McCarthy, used as their line up point on the runs into attack - and which is so wonderfully captured in Mark Postlethwaites painting of 'An American Dambuster':
So on the morning of the 18th May Craig and Barbara on the 1200GS led the way for Al', David and Charlie and myself away from the Mohnesee and on to the Sorpe Dam about 35 minutes ride away. It was an extra-ordinary experience for me to stand where Johnny had been in Lancaster AJ-T 70 years before .... what an extra-ordinary attack, piece of bravery, airmanship .....the Dambusters truly deserve the accolades they receive! The short film below shows us arriving at the Sorpe Dam ...
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