"Johnny" Johnson, the last surviving Dambuster, is celebrating his 100th birthday today.
Sq Ldr George "Johnny" Johnson, who was awarded an MBE in 2017 following a campaign by TV presenter Carol Vordeman took part in the World War Two raid in 1943, when he was just 22-years-old.
The Lincolnshire-born veteran, who lives in Westbury-on-Trym, joined the RAF in 1940 and served as a bomb aimer during the Dambusters operation in May 1943.
READ MORE: Last Dambuster's story will be told in documentary
Launched from RAF Scampton, near Lincoln, the raids on dams serving the Ruhr valley left German factories and mines badly damaged.
Eight Lancaster bombers were lost during the overnight raid, leading to the deaths of 53 of the 133 air crew who took part.
From the outset, it was an almost impossible mission - a suicide mission - to fly low level and at night across many miles of enemy territory, dropping a new weapon, that had never been tried operationally from height as low as 60 feet.
It was a daring task, but against the odds, Mr Johnson, who now lives in Bristol, and his crew survived.
However eight Lancaster bombers were lost during the overnight raid, leading to the deaths of 53 of the 133 air crew who took part.
Bristol resident and TV presenter Carol Vorderman launched a petition to get the retired Squadron Leader a knighthood, calling the decision to leave him off the list “disgraceful” in 2015, after she found out he had been nominated.
Speaking in 2017, after learning he was finally to be awarded an MBE, Mr Johnson said: “I think the MBE is as much honour as I could really expect and I thought, if a knighthood comes up, I’m going to having difficulty not only in accepting it but pointing out to all and sundry that it's not me.
“I’m the lucky one. I’m still alive.
“I’m representing the squadron and it is the squadron that is being honoured with this, not me.”
“In fact, I got to the stage where I felt that I would have to ask – probably the Queen, if necessary – if I might be permitted to dedicate it to the memory of the now 59,000 bomber command personnel that gave their lives during World War Two and have got little or no respect for that.”
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