Squadron Leader Johnny Johnson longed to give Hitler a bloody nose
The last of the Dambuster crew died on December 7th, aged 101
The oddest thing, thought Johnny Johnson—once it was nose up, and they were racing for the Dutch coast—was that there had been no one there. They had set off late on this mission, on May 16th 1943, well after the two other formations of Lancaster bombers in 617 Squadron had gone. But at their target, the Sorpe dam at the heart of the German Ruhr, the skies were empty. In the brilliant moonlight the dam shone, intact. Not only was no one else attacking it at the time, but clearly no one had started.
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “To breach a wall”
Obituary December 17th 2022
From the December 17th 2022 edition
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