Post by baz62 on Oct 11, 2009 10:20:11 GMT 12
Watched a doco on Sky last night about one of the last Dambuster survivors George Johnson, firstly traveling to France to view the crash site of the Lancaster he flew in on the Dams raid. This Lancaster later flew on a Special op dropping supplies to the resistance in 1943 and was shot down. Only discovered in 2007 it was fascinating seeing this veteran who was a bombaimer, holding a large piece of the curved bombaimer window (cupola?) and commenting he had last looked through it more than 60 years ago.
What was really amazing was this particular Lancaster was a prototype for the Dambuster configuration and had been fitted with a single machine gun underneath the fuselage approx halfway between the tailwheel and the end of the bomb bay. Now only this Lancaster had this modification and unbelievably they found the structure that held the weapon!!!!! One of the team had the drawings for the mount and it was a perfect match. This confirmed that it could only be his Lancaster ED825 T for Tommy! (I love this kind of thing especially when a man who risked his life in the very aircraft gets to hold something from it.) They also found a grenade which considering the supplies for the resistance wasn't surprising.
He then went to 2 other crash sites from the raid itself and got to touch the pylon that replaced the one another Lancaster hit and was brought down with the loss of all the crew. He was shown photos of the wreckage and you could see the body of one crew member. He was moved by this as you would expect but the pilot was one of his best friends so all the more personal.
He then went to view the target he dropped the bomb on. This was the earth dam at Sorpe. This was copied from this excellent website: www.dambusters.org.uk/index.htm
"Consequently four of the five aircraft that made up the second wave never made it to the Sorpe. American Flight Lieutenant Joe McCarthy flying AJ-T did make it however, despite the delay caused by the swap to the reserve aircraft. Visibility of the dam itself was good, but there was fog in the valleys surrounding the reservoir. Despite the good visibility McCarthy had problems with the run up as he found the spire of the village church was in the way of his turn for the bomb run. In the end he dropped the bomb without it rotating (as planned) and by estimating the height as the reserve aircraft had not been fitted with the spotlight altimeter. McCarthy returned to Scampton with one tyre punctured by light flak."
I was quite taken by the reaction of the German civilians there at the time. None seemed to blame him, they blamed Hitler for starting it all. After seeing the damage in photos held in local museums he felt guilty but felt that at the time he had a job to do. It did bring home for him the futility of war and the terrible waste of life.
One of the crash sites he actually met the gunner who shot the Lancaster down. And he was taken to the crash site where a memorial to the crew now stands. The German couple let him sit with his grandson and watch as they tidied up around the memorial and I wondered after they passed who would carry on looking after it as it was out away from the town.
It was yery well done with none of the interrogation type of interviewing trying to make a story or apportion blame.
This story told itself.
What was really amazing was this particular Lancaster was a prototype for the Dambuster configuration and had been fitted with a single machine gun underneath the fuselage approx halfway between the tailwheel and the end of the bomb bay. Now only this Lancaster had this modification and unbelievably they found the structure that held the weapon!!!!! One of the team had the drawings for the mount and it was a perfect match. This confirmed that it could only be his Lancaster ED825 T for Tommy! (I love this kind of thing especially when a man who risked his life in the very aircraft gets to hold something from it.) They also found a grenade which considering the supplies for the resistance wasn't surprising.
He then went to 2 other crash sites from the raid itself and got to touch the pylon that replaced the one another Lancaster hit and was brought down with the loss of all the crew. He was shown photos of the wreckage and you could see the body of one crew member. He was moved by this as you would expect but the pilot was one of his best friends so all the more personal.
He then went to view the target he dropped the bomb on. This was the earth dam at Sorpe. This was copied from this excellent website: www.dambusters.org.uk/index.htm
"Consequently four of the five aircraft that made up the second wave never made it to the Sorpe. American Flight Lieutenant Joe McCarthy flying AJ-T did make it however, despite the delay caused by the swap to the reserve aircraft. Visibility of the dam itself was good, but there was fog in the valleys surrounding the reservoir. Despite the good visibility McCarthy had problems with the run up as he found the spire of the village church was in the way of his turn for the bomb run. In the end he dropped the bomb without it rotating (as planned) and by estimating the height as the reserve aircraft had not been fitted with the spotlight altimeter. McCarthy returned to Scampton with one tyre punctured by light flak."
I was quite taken by the reaction of the German civilians there at the time. None seemed to blame him, they blamed Hitler for starting it all. After seeing the damage in photos held in local museums he felt guilty but felt that at the time he had a job to do. It did bring home for him the futility of war and the terrible waste of life.
One of the crash sites he actually met the gunner who shot the Lancaster down. And he was taken to the crash site where a memorial to the crew now stands. The German couple let him sit with his grandson and watch as they tidied up around the memorial and I wondered after they passed who would carry on looking after it as it was out away from the town.
It was yery well done with none of the interrogation type of interviewing trying to make a story or apportion blame.
This story told itself.
