Commemorate, Celebrate, Inspire
Sqn Ldr George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, the last Dambuster, was invited to conduct a Q&A with Airmen’s Development Flight. Syndicates took some time to ask questions and hear of some of the fascinating stories from the raid and Johnny’s time in the RAF.
Talking about the raid, he said: It was a job, yes it was a special one but a job. When you have a job to do you get onto it and you do it to the best of your ability.
The audience was captivated by him as he described his confidence in the pilot and as he told of how he had the best spot on the Lancaster, which he described as the finest WWII bomber, including the Americans. He went on to tell of the 8 aircraft that were lost, the 58 men that were sadly killed and the three that were captured in one night and what impact that had on No. 617 Squadron.
To finish, Johnny was asked what advice he would give to the next generation of the RAF. Get a job you wanted, always do your job to the best of your ability and work hard at it. You will get satisfaction out of achieving something you wanted to do and you will be happy.
In this, our 100th year, it is important we take the opportunities to commemorate the past in order to inspire the future.
