'The nation has lost a true hero'

'The nation has lost a true hero' - last surviving member of RAF's 'Dambusters' air raid dies aged 101

Tributes are being paid to the last surviving member of the RAF's famous war-time 'Dambusters' air raid after his death at the age of 101.

George Leonard 'Johnny' Johnson was the last surviving original member of RAF 617 Squadron’s famous mission of 1943. It was announced today that he died peacefully at his care home in Westbury on Trym, Bristol, on Wednesday night, surrounded by his family.

Mr Johnson - who was made an MBE in 2017 after a long-running campaign - was a bomb aimer during Operation Chastise, which was tasked with attacking key German water dams in the country's industrial heartlands during the Second World War. Around a third of the RAF Bomber Command crew did not survive the raid.

Following the death of his wartime colleague, Fred Sutherland, in January 2019, Mr Johnson became the last survivor of the original flying members of 617 Squadron.

On 25 November 2022, Johnson, who retired from the RAF as a squadron leader and became a teacher after the war, celebrated his 101st birthday. The top-secret mission, codenamed Chastise and based out of RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, targeted three dams in Germany's industrial heartland and was widely credited with boosting British morale.

A Lancaster bomber on the 65th anniversary of the mission (Getty Images)

Led by wing commander Guy Gibson, a total of 133 airmen on 19 Lancaster bombers armed with scientist Dr Barnes Wallis' bouncing bombs flew to the Ruhr Valley either side of midnight on May 16, 1943.

The Mohne and Eder dams were breached, causing major flooding, and a third dam, the Sorpe, was cracked. The raid however led to the deaths of 53 of the 133 airmen from the RAF's 617 squadron, with three more being taken prisoner. More than 1,200 on the ground were killed.

The dam at Derwent Reservoir in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire, and the nearby Ladybower Reservoir, were used by the airmen for practice runs ahead of the raid, immortalised by the 1955 film The Dam Busters starring Richard Todd and Michael Redgrave.

Speaking after he collected his MBE in 2017 honour, Mr Johnson said the Queen told him: "Glad to see the Dambusters are still here." Speaking five years ago, Mr Johnson said he still had “strong memories” from that period, adding: “That is something which will live forever, as far as I’m concerned.

Mr Johnson with a picture of Lancaster bombers (PA)

“I don’t volunteer, but if people ask will I talk to their club or their group, that means they are interested, and if they are interested I will talk to them. I’ve got to the stage now where I say to the children ‘If I say I don’t want to do this any more, you can send the box in as soon as you like’.”

Mr Johnson previously said his crew was asked to join a special mission towards the end of his first tour, when he was due to get leave. They were not told what the mission was until the night before.

“Anticipating that week’s leave, my fiancee (Gwyn Morgan) and I had arranged to get married on April 3,” he said. “(She said in a letter): ‘If you are not there on April 3, don’t bother.’

“When we got to Scampton, and this was March 25, first thing we heard was ‘No leave’. Joe (McCarthy) took us as a crew up to Gibson’s office … and said: ‘My bomb aimer is supposed to be getting married and he is going to get married.’ We got our leave, and I got my wedding.”

Just six weeks later Mr Johnson and his crewmates successfully dropped their bomb on the Sorpe dam.

Former RAF navigator John Nichol, who was captured during the first Gulf War, paid tribute to Mr Johnson. “Very sad to learn that the ‘Last Dambuster’, Sqn Ldr Johnny Johnson , has died aged 101,” he wrote on Twitter. “His WW2 generation sacrificed so much, yet asked nothing in return. I was privileged to share many a bottle of his much-loved red wine.