George "Johnny" Johnson was a bomb aimer aboard an Avro Type 464 (Provisioning) Lancaster in the Royal Air Force's 617 squadron. On Sunday 16 May 1943 his crew attacked and damaged the Sorpe dam as part of the raid on Germany's industrial area east of the Ruhr that saw the Mohne and Eder dams destroyed.
Taking off from RAF Scampton, of the 19 Lancasters that participated eight aircraft were lost. Five of them on the way to the targets, two during the attacks and one on the way home. The raid was difficult as the dams were to be attacked at night and the Lancasters had to travel at a precise speed at an extremely low level. Two of the bombers did not even reach their targets, being forced to return to base due to damage recieved on the outward journey.
The 617 squadron aircraft used the "bouncing bomb", code named Upkeep, that would skip across the surface of the water and over the torpedo nets that protected the dams. The bomb then had to reach the dam - but not strike it with enough force to set off the charge - and sink to the most effective depth before exploding.
Formed for the specific purpose of destroying these targets 617 squadron's crews became known as "The Dam busters" because of them. The 16 May raid was never repeated because of the high loss of aircraft. A film called The Dam Busters was made in 1955 about the mission.
Flight spoke to Johnson at the Autographica event in London on 12 October.
Source: FlightGlobal.com