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John Bell: Times obituary, Monday 13 May 2024
Obituary in The Times, Monday 13 May 2024. John Bell’s time as the President of 617 Squadron Association is mentioned in The Times obituary above. He will be remembered by many who attended the...
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John Bell: Daily Telegraph obituary
Obituary in the Daily Telegraph, Friday 22 March 2024. Daily Telegraph, 22 March 2024
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Wing Commander John Bell: the last of 617 Squadron’s wartime veterans to leave
From left: Sqn Ldr Benny Goodman (24 September 1920-18 July 2021, Wg Cdr John Bell (25 March 1923-18 March 2024, Sqn Ldr Johnny Johnson (25 November 1921-7 December 2022). Photograph of the three...
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Guy Gibson and his Dambuster crew
I am glad to say that my new book Guy Gibson and his Dambuster crew has now been published by The History Press, and should now be available in all good bookshops. The ISBN is 978 1 80399 213 6. You...
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The Dams Raid: 80th anniversary
This year marks the first anniversary of the Dams Raid to take place after the death on 7 December 2022 of Sqn Ldr George ‘Johnny’ Johnson, aged 101, the last survivor of the 133 men from the Allied...
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New film: Attack on the Sorpe Dam
A new film featuring George “Johnny” Johnson’s Dambuster crew has recently made its UK film premiere, in the run up to the 80th anniversary of the Dams Raid this week. The film is now on a UK tour and...
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Seeing the Möhne Dam from the German side
Guest post by Michael Richter [Michael Richter, a German reader of this blog living near the Sorpe Dam, has written to me about recent work carried out in Germany. This is at the crash site of the 617...
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Lancaster tributes to Dams Raid crews on Dutch Remembrance Day
Wreaths laid at Gilze Rijen, 4 May 2023. [Pic: Kath Fisher] Today, the RAF BBMF Lancaster was involved in tributes for wartime activities in the Netherlands on Dutch Remembrance Day. Two of these were...
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Wing Commander John Bell hits his century
Wg Cdr John Bell. [Pic: 617 Squadron Association.] Guest post by Dr Robert Owen, official historian, 617 Squadron Association. Wing Commander John Bell MBE, DFC, L d’H, the last British wartime...
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Apologies for the delay
You may have noticed that there has been a delay since the last post on this blog. My apologies, but I have a good reason for it. Some seven weeks ago, I had what in medicine is called a hemorrhagic...
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The Dam Busters on TV
This blog’s favourite film The Dam Busters is being shown again on UK TV this evening (Channel 5 Action) so if you are checking this blog to see the names of the men who took part in the Dams Raid on...
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May your days be happy and bright
Poster by James Fitton from the IWM Collection (PST 2814). Clicking around the interwebnet in search of a seasonal image I came across this lovely wartime anti-waste poster whose message is just as...
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Johnny Johnson funeral service and memorial arrangements
The funeral service for Sqn Ldr G L (Johnny) Johnson MBE DFM took place yesterday, Monday 19 December, in Holy Trinity Church, Westbury-on-Trym. It was a private family service. Later this week,...
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‘Johnny’ Johnson, 1921-2022
Pic: Johnson family I am sorry to have to report that the last Dambuster, George Leonard (‘Johnny’) Johnson died yesterday, 7 December 2022, at the age of 101. As Sgt G L Johnson he flew on the RAF’s...
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Portrait of a legend by a legend
Pic: BBC It was Johnny Johnson’s 101st birthday last week, and many happy returns to him. And what better way for a man of such maturity, a legend in his own right, to mark his big day than by posing...
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New photo shows Trevor-Roper in 50 Squadron
Pic: Trevor-Roper family The family of Flt Lt Richard Trevor-Roper DFM, who was the rear gunner in Guy Gibson’s crew on the Dams Raid, have kindly sent me a photograph taken when he was flying in the...
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Dambuster Crash Sites: revised driver’s guide
Revised version September 2022 Text and pictures by Malcolm Peel On the evening of 16th May 1943, 133 aircrew in 19 Lancasters took off from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire to attack the German dams east...
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AJ-N crew photographed 40 years on
Left to right: Harry O’Brien, Fred Sutherland, Bob Kellow, Sydney Hobday, Ray Grayston and Edward “Johnnie” Johnson. [Pic: O’Brien family]. Melvin Chambers has kindly allowed me to share these...
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Allsebrook crew killed on Dortmund-Ems canal raid commemorated in Germany
Joerg Echelmayer of the Riesenbeck Historical Society and Chris Ward standing by the plaque depicting the Allsebrook crew at the Bergeshovede quayside. [Pic: Andreas Wachtel] This summer has seen...
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Harlingen ceremony honours AJ-K crew at McDowell graveside
Pic: Wim Govaerts In a small Dutch graveyard last Thursday morning, a trumpeter played the Last Post and the small group gathered there – Dutch, Belgian, German and British – stood in silence. As the...
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