:00:00. > :00:00.Welcome to BBC Points West with Alex Lovell and David Garmston.
:00:00. > :00:12.Johnny Johnson from Bristol is the last British veteran
:00:13. > :00:15.of the those daring raids into the Nazi heartland.
:00:16. > :00:20.Now, Michael Buerk takes him back to Germany.
:00:21. > :00:24.The Dambuster raid was one of the most extraordinary raids in history.
:00:25. > :00:26.But the whole bombing campaign against Germany
:00:27. > :00:28.in the Second World War remains strategically and
:00:29. > :00:35.Johnny meets a man almost killed in the raids,
:00:36. > :00:46.as even some Germans call for Mr Johnson to be knighted.
:00:47. > :00:59.The police stage a series of raids to cut off the drugs
:01:00. > :01:02.A boxer on the ropes but still fighting.
:01:03. > :01:10.A fund to help an athlete diagnosed with cancer.
:01:11. > :01:15.Cancer is in the red corner but I am still strong in the blue.
:01:16. > :01:19.Peaches Golding is the first black woman in Britain to be appointed
:01:20. > :01:28.Good evening, and welcome to a special edition of Points West.
:01:29. > :01:35.The growing calls for Britain's last surviving Dambuster,
:01:36. > :01:38.George Johnny Johnson from Bristol, to be honoured.
:01:39. > :01:41.Over 300,000 people have now signed a petition demanding a knighthood
:01:42. > :01:44.for the man who took part in one of the most daring flying missions
:01:45. > :01:50.When we hear "Dambusters", we automatically think of the 1950s
:01:51. > :01:57.But that was just a dramatisation of one of the many missions
:01:58. > :02:02.which RAF Bomber Command flew over Germany.
:02:03. > :02:09.The actual Dambusters raids began late one May evening in 1943.
:02:10. > :02:12.19 Lancaster bombers of 617 Squadron took off from Britain to attack
:02:13. > :02:17.three different dams, the Mohne, the Eder, and the Sorpe.
:02:18. > :02:19.Johnny Johnson's squadron was heading for the Sorpe,
:02:20. > :02:22.an altogether different design not at all suited to the bouncing bomb.
:02:23. > :02:30.One which needed a completely different, more audacious approach.
:02:31. > :02:33.As part of our 60th birthday year, we invited internationally acclaimed
:02:34. > :02:37.reporter Michael Buerk, who began his broadcasting career
:02:38. > :02:39.here at BBC Bristol, to take Mr Johnson back to Germany.
:02:40. > :02:42.They went to the place where he dropped his bombs and met
:02:43. > :02:55.Johnny Johnson may be looking at the present,
:02:56. > :03:01.He's back, three-quarters of a century, to a moonlit night,
:03:02. > :03:16.As a young man, he was part of RAF Bomber Command.
:03:17. > :03:18.Part of the sustained, lethal campaign against the Nazis'
:03:19. > :03:24.war machine that all but destroyed many of Germany's cities.
:03:25. > :03:34.A huge lake held back by the great Sorpe Dam.
:03:35. > :03:36.It's a tourist resort these days out of season.
:03:37. > :03:44.But 74 years ago, it was the target for the most famous
:03:45. > :03:51.The mission involved dropping specially invented bombs designed
:03:52. > :03:59.The Mohne, Eder and Sorpe Dams, captured in the 1950s
:04:00. > :04:10.As a bomb aimer, Johnny Johnson's job was to hit the Sorpe Dam.
:04:11. > :04:13.Our briefing was to fly across the dam to drop the bomb
:04:14. > :04:20.as near as possible to the centre of the dam.
:04:21. > :04:23.After six or seven of those, a voice from the back of rear turret,
:04:24. > :04:26."Won't someone get rid of that bomb out of here."
:04:27. > :04:31.And, on the tenth run we were actually down to 30 feet.
:04:32. > :04:34.But ten times, you headed over the hill, over the town,
:04:35. > :04:38.down very sharply, 30 feet, drop it precisely in the middle,
:04:39. > :04:46.Ten times you tried before you got it right?
:04:47. > :04:50.It was something we hadn't practised at all in training,
:04:51. > :04:53.So it was practise, practise, practise here.
:04:54. > :05:06.Did you on this raid or any other have any thoughts for the people
:05:07. > :05:15.Not doing the actual operation at that time.
:05:16. > :05:18.Fritz Wortmann, then 14, was hiding in a tunnel
:05:19. > :05:30.The perfect air raid shelter, or so he thought.
:05:31. > :05:38.TRANSLATION: We went to the dam and got down to about 50 metres.
:05:39. > :05:41.After a certain time we heard the sound of engines.
:05:42. > :05:46.The intensity kept going up and down.
:05:47. > :05:55.Until suddenly there was a deafening explosion.
:05:56. > :05:57.The doors inside the dam burst open, and there
:05:58. > :06:18.Johnny's bomb was spot-on, but not enough to breach the Sorpe.
:06:19. > :06:21.Eight Lancasters were designated to hit the dam that night.
:06:22. > :06:33.But the other Dambusters blew great holes in the Mohne and Eder Dams.
:06:34. > :06:35.This old footage taken by an off-duty German soldier shows
:06:36. > :06:42.the breach at the Eder Dam two days after the attacks.
:06:43. > :06:46.Industrial valleys were flooded, depriving war factories
:06:47. > :06:48.of the water that they needed, badly frightening
:06:49. > :06:57.ARCHIVE: Wing Commander Gibson VC who led the great
:06:58. > :07:02.Lancaster raid over the dams, escorts the king during a visit
:07:03. > :07:05.by Their Majesties to an air station in the north of England.
:07:06. > :07:08.It was a godsend to a nation desperate for a victory.
:07:09. > :07:10.Johnny was there that day, personally congratulated by
:07:11. > :07:14.King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at RAF Scampton.
:07:15. > :07:19...And resulted in enormous damage and dislocation to Germany's...
:07:20. > :07:21.No matter 1,300 German civilians had died.
:07:22. > :07:24.No matter the damage to Nazi war production was only temporary.
:07:25. > :07:27.The war's supreme feat of precision flying had dealt Hitler
:07:28. > :07:50.Now as two old men by the side of a lake where they both nearly
:07:51. > :08:04.Friends now, until the end of their days.
:08:05. > :08:08.And later in the programme, Michael will explore why Mr Johnson
:08:09. > :08:11.may have been overlooked for a knighthood and why the men
:08:12. > :08:15.of Bomber Command have never received a campaign medal.
:08:16. > :08:18.Four people have been arrested in simultaneous raids in London this
:08:19. > :08:20.morning in connection with the supply of class A drugs
:08:21. > :08:24.The constabulary made the arrests with help
:08:25. > :08:27.Our Gloucestershire reporter Steve Knibbs joined the operation
:08:28. > :08:31.in Peckham and Lewisham in the early hours of this morning.
:08:32. > :08:36.This is the culmination of a long investigation.
:08:37. > :08:39.Stand-by, stand-by, strike, strike, strike!
:08:40. > :08:45.30 police officers from Gloucestershire carry out
:08:46. > :08:48.simultaneous strikes on four buildings, to arrest four people
:08:49. > :08:52.they believe are heavily involved in supplying drugs into the county.
:08:53. > :08:55.Within minutes, all four targets are arrested.
:08:56. > :08:57.Three men and one woman, all on suspicion of
:08:58. > :09:02.All, apart from one of them, are also suspected
:09:03. > :09:13.With the suspects in custody, specialist search teams
:09:14. > :09:15.and scenes of crime officers look in every nook
:09:16. > :09:18.At the moment we've seized a quantity of cash,
:09:19. > :09:19.various mobile phones, documentation regarding
:09:20. > :09:24.These arrests were part of Operation Sideswipe,
:09:25. > :09:27.aimed at targeting so-called dangerous drugs networks.
:09:28. > :09:29.Effectively, gangs who prey on vulnerable users
:09:30. > :09:34.They'll often take over someone's house to deal from,
:09:35. > :09:36.so-called cuckooing, all under threat
:09:37. > :09:40.This is one of the most significant operations launched
:09:41. > :09:43.by Gloucestershire Constabulary in recent years.
:09:44. > :09:47.It's taken months of gathering intelligence and analysing that
:09:48. > :09:50.intelligence, and detectives say it proves their determination to show
:09:51. > :09:53.that Gloucestershire isn't an easy target for those who want to deal
:09:54. > :09:59.These people think they can come in to Gloucester and commit
:10:00. > :10:01.the crimes they are doing, selling drugs to our
:10:02. > :10:02.young vulnerable people, and exploiting people.
:10:03. > :10:08.This is why it's important that we do take the fight back to them.
:10:09. > :10:12.They know who we are, and we look at arresting them
:10:13. > :10:14.and seizing their assets that are obtained through
:10:15. > :10:18.All four arrested today are still in custody,
:10:19. > :10:20.as the investigation into serious drug dealing in Gloucestershire
:10:21. > :10:23.continues in and away from the county.
:10:24. > :10:28.Steve Knibbs, BBC Points West, London.
:10:29. > :10:30.Peaches Golding says she's delighted at being chosen to be
:10:31. > :10:38.She'll be the first black person in history to be a lord lieutenant
:10:39. > :10:41.when she takes up the role in six weeks' time.
:10:42. > :10:43.The ceremonial role means she's the Queen's representative
:10:44. > :10:46.in the city, and Peaches says she'll do all she can to
:10:47. > :10:54.I think the term you guys use is "gobsmacked".
:10:55. > :11:01.That just doesn't happen to ordinary people like me.
:11:02. > :11:04.So, I guess, what it does prove is ordinary people can do
:11:05. > :11:16.She says her father who was a civil rights campaigner has always
:11:17. > :11:21.inspired her to fight for fairness and equality, something she says she
:11:22. > :11:21.will continue to do as Lord Lieutenant.
:11:22. > :11:23.Congratulations to her. A fundraising campaign's been
:11:24. > :11:25.launched for a Bristol boxer who's been diagnosed
:11:26. > :11:27.with incurable cancer. Dean Francis, who won many
:11:28. > :11:29.titles in his career, has been told been by doctors
:11:30. > :11:32.there's nothing more they can do. But now the boxing world is helping
:11:33. > :11:35.him in his biggest fight yet. Of all these champion
:11:36. > :11:40.boxers from Bristol, one has been handed
:11:41. > :11:43.the fight of his life. Dean Francis has bowel cancer,
:11:44. > :11:52.and it's spread to his liver. He has between six months,
:11:53. > :11:56.and three years to live. When they initially
:11:57. > :12:01.told me, I was numb. Me and my wife were
:12:02. > :12:04.looking at each other. I am going to approach it
:12:05. > :12:11.in the same way, positive, Cancer is in the red corner but I am
:12:12. > :12:22.still strong in the blue. And his support in that corner
:12:23. > :12:25.led by a world champion. He has always been
:12:26. > :12:29.a mentally strong person. He would come in the gym dancing,
:12:30. > :12:32.so confident about himself. I wanted to be like him,
:12:33. > :12:36.just the way he spoke to people I'm going to be just as strong
:12:37. > :12:43.for him, we will together. We are convinced we are
:12:44. > :12:47.going to beat this. The plan is to raise
:12:48. > :12:49.?100,000 online, to explore At times, it makes me emotional
:12:50. > :12:54.when I think about how much people My only wish is that,
:12:55. > :12:57.when I was fighting, they were around so I could have
:12:58. > :13:00.sold more tickets! But, yes, honestly,
:13:01. > :13:04.it is heart-warming! The fight is still very
:13:05. > :13:14.much in Dean Francis. Against the ropes, yes,
:13:15. > :13:32.but he's never been beaten easily. His spirit is so admirable,
:13:33. > :13:34.incredible. I am sure his positive vibes will
:13:35. > :13:38.beat it. Gloucestershire's triple
:13:39. > :13:39.Olympic gold medallist Charlotte Dujardin has received
:13:40. > :13:41.a CBE for services to equestrianism. She was presented with the honour
:13:42. > :13:44.by Her Majesty the Queen. Charlotte is the most successful
:13:45. > :13:49.British dressage rider ever. It's been confirmed that
:13:50. > :13:51.Gloucester Rugby head coach It follows Saturday's 30-27 defeat
:13:52. > :13:57.by Harlequins at Kingsholm. Fisher later tweeted
:13:58. > :14:00.that it was "time to make Bristol City take on Norwich
:14:01. > :14:06.tonight at Ashton Gate, looking to climb out
:14:07. > :14:09.of the Championship relegation zone. They dropped into the bottom
:14:10. > :14:12.three for the first time this season on Saturday,
:14:13. > :14:13.following their goalless City have won just twice
:14:14. > :14:24.in 21 league games. We return now to our main story,
:14:25. > :14:31.and the growing campaign to award a knighthood to Britain's last
:14:32. > :14:34.surviving Dambuster George "Johnny" Earlier in the programme,
:14:35. > :14:37.our guest reporter Michael Buerk took Mr Johnson back to Germany
:14:38. > :14:40.to revisit the dam he bombed and to be reconciled
:14:41. > :14:46.with his former enemy. It's hard for any of us to imagine
:14:47. > :14:51.what Johnny and his fellow airmen would have seen and felt,
:14:52. > :14:54.as they flew low over the Sorpe Dam. We've created this 360 degree video
:14:55. > :14:56.which hopefully will give If we run this video for you,
:14:57. > :15:05.instead of approaching the dam from across the water like the other
:15:06. > :15:08.two missions, Johnny's aircraft had to negotiate this hilltop
:15:09. > :15:10.village into the valley so that he could drop his bomb
:15:11. > :15:15.in the middle of the dam. They hadn't been able to practise,
:15:16. > :15:18.and it took ten attempts before Johnny finally succeeded
:15:19. > :15:20.in hitting his target. They then had to make
:15:21. > :15:25.their escape over the forest. This 360 film is on our
:15:26. > :15:34.Facebook page now. So to Michael's second film
:15:35. > :15:39.in which he explores why the men of Bomber Command have never
:15:40. > :15:41.received a campaign medal. And he joins us afterwards
:15:42. > :15:44.to discuss why Johnny Johnson may have been overlooked
:15:45. > :15:45.for a knighthood. It was by far the most dangerous
:15:46. > :15:53.campaign of the war. Half those who took off to bomb
:15:54. > :15:57.Germany never came back. Of those who returned,
:15:58. > :15:59.only a few, now mostly 57,500 RAF Bomber Command
:16:00. > :16:11.airmen were lost. Historians believe these aircrews
:16:12. > :16:13.were responsible for the deaths of a quarter of a million
:16:14. > :16:16.German civilians. Nobody doubts the bravery
:16:17. > :16:19.and sacrifice. But what did it achieve,
:16:20. > :16:28.and was it justified? It's still controversial today,
:16:29. > :16:30.and the reason perhaps Bomber Command never
:16:31. > :16:40.got its own campaign medal. Just this thin and nondescript
:16:41. > :16:43.class, grudging, 70 years later, given to Bomber Command veterans
:16:44. > :16:45.three years ago. Johnny Johnson, last of
:16:46. > :16:49.the British Dambusters, despises it. Disgusted is the best
:16:50. > :16:52.way I can describe it. I feel that there has been no
:16:53. > :16:55.attempt to recognise the sacrifice ARCHIVE: The largest convoy ever
:16:56. > :17:09.taken to Russia is feeling its way through the danger belt
:17:10. > :17:11.north of Scandinavia. The worst journey in the world,
:17:12. > :17:15.Churchill called it. The veterans of the Arctic convoys
:17:16. > :17:18.who took arms and munitions to Stalin's Russia were finally
:17:19. > :17:20.recognised at the same time. It gives me huge pleasure
:17:21. > :17:23.to give you that. They were given their own full-blown
:17:24. > :17:28.campaign medal, the Arctic Star. It has made the surviving bomber
:17:29. > :17:31.boys feel even more rejected and fuelled the arguments over
:17:32. > :17:34.what they did, arguments I do think the reluctance to issue
:17:35. > :17:47.a Bomber Command medal at this stage does reflect how controversial
:17:48. > :17:49.it is, and the possible upset it would cause
:17:50. > :17:51.in Germany if they do, oh, they're decorating these people
:17:52. > :17:54.who destroyed our parents' cities. There is an embarrassment
:17:55. > :17:56.and uncertainty about how we should The city was attacked
:17:57. > :18:07.nearly 80 times. And now they are going
:18:08. > :18:18.to reap the whirlwind. For years, it was the only
:18:19. > :18:24.way Britain that could Five million Germans
:18:25. > :18:31.lost their homes. But critics say Bomber Command's
:18:32. > :18:35.impact on the war effort was less than claimed,
:18:36. > :18:37.and the continued destruction of German cities when the war
:18:38. > :18:41.was nearly won unjustifiable. Johnny Johnson is
:18:42. > :18:46.having none of that. Do you think that one of the reasons
:18:47. > :18:50.that Bomber Command wasn't properly recognised was almost a sense
:18:51. > :18:52.of shame at the death and destruction that
:18:53. > :18:58.Bomber Command caused? But I am quite convinced that
:18:59. > :19:12.Bomber Command fought the war I have a better version for what I
:19:13. > :19:21.called retrospective historians. Were you personally aware
:19:22. > :19:29.of the circumstances The answer to both
:19:30. > :19:36.those questions is, no. Johnny Johnson had
:19:37. > :19:39.a troubled childhood. An ordinary boy swept up by the war
:19:40. > :19:42.into the most famous RAF Not a hero, he says,
:19:43. > :19:46.not brave really. You say your lack of fear,
:19:47. > :19:55.your lack of emotion I had the misfortune or tragedy
:19:56. > :20:09.of losing my mother a fortnight From my early youth,
:20:10. > :20:12.a lot of the emotion They flew into history on the most
:20:13. > :20:24.famous bombing raid of them all. He is the last one left in Britain,
:20:25. > :20:27.the last one who can I feel very satisfied that I did
:20:28. > :20:45.what I could during the war. And I feel, in fact,
:20:46. > :20:51.honoured to have had the chance to take part,
:20:52. > :20:57.certainly, and in A chance to do my bit
:20:58. > :21:02.towards the war effort. That, I think, is the one
:21:03. > :21:05.thing I feel a proudness. Yes, proud that I
:21:06. > :21:08.was able to do that. Michael, thank you for coming
:21:09. > :21:22.in to talk to us about this. What was it like to take
:21:23. > :21:25.Johnny Johnson back to Germany? From my point of view,
:21:26. > :21:27.a real privilege. Living history, the last
:21:28. > :21:34.remaining British Dambuster, of the most famous bombing mission
:21:35. > :21:38.of the war, any war. To actually go back with him
:21:39. > :21:40.to the very point where That's so patronising,
:21:41. > :21:49.but really bright as a button. And to be there, you can see what it
:21:50. > :21:54.meant to him, see it in his eyes. You don't get the emotion,
:21:55. > :22:00.he is of that generation. As a television viewer,
:22:01. > :22:06.or being there, the emotions going through his mind
:22:07. > :22:08.even if he wasn't, even if his As journalists, we have
:22:09. > :22:12.to keep out of politics. But what do you think
:22:13. > :22:17.about this honours business? Well, his point of view
:22:18. > :22:20.is that he would love a knighthood. On behalf of all the people who lost
:22:21. > :22:26.their lives in Bomber command. And all those who went
:22:27. > :22:29.through it all and survived And they never got this
:22:30. > :22:32.campaign medal for all sorts And he feels, I think, as a lot
:22:33. > :22:44.of people running this campaign, if he got a knighthood, this would
:22:45. > :22:48.be the recognition that has so far A higher casualty rate
:22:49. > :22:53.than any other units in the war. A lot of people feel
:22:54. > :22:55.they weren't recognised, Then, the human cost
:22:56. > :22:58.of it, in Germany. We could do a moral maze programme
:22:59. > :23:05.about this, couldn't we? They bombed Bristol, bombed,
:23:06. > :23:13.Coventry, that kind of stuff. It was the only way we could hit
:23:14. > :23:17.back for a large portion of the war. I think it becomes more morally
:23:18. > :23:19.questionable when you get to the end of the war,
:23:20. > :23:22.when this huge bombing campaign was going on,
:23:23. > :23:25.and it was not particularly precise, Anyway, we were winning the war,
:23:26. > :23:35.should it have gone on so long, should so many more
:23:36. > :23:37.have been killed. Some morally questionable
:23:38. > :23:38.areas there. But Johnny wasn't
:23:39. > :23:40.having any of that. From his point of view,
:23:41. > :23:43.you had to be up there When Points West started
:23:44. > :23:46.going on air, this would What you brought out of your film
:23:47. > :23:52.was a beautiful moment, this sense Yes, the other thing
:23:53. > :23:58.that was interesting, in Germany, We haven't got one,
:23:59. > :24:03.they have got one there! The chap who runs the Dambusters
:24:04. > :24:07.Museum who came to see us, he thinks Johnny ought
:24:08. > :24:10.to get a knighthood. He thinks Bomber Command
:24:11. > :24:13.ought to be recognised. If the Germans think that,
:24:14. > :24:15.there is the interesting argument that perhaps we should
:24:16. > :24:17.think that too. Welcome back to the west,
:24:18. > :24:22.what was it like to come back? I came down White Ladies
:24:23. > :24:28.Road, and it all came You are welcome at any
:24:29. > :24:32.time, just don't ask to present the news,
:24:33. > :24:35.Michael! I did ask to present
:24:36. > :24:38.the news all those years ago and they turned me down,
:24:39. > :24:41.I'm afraid. And you can watch even more
:24:42. > :25:09.of Johnny's journey back to Germany She is in London tonight. If Michael
:25:10. > :25:12.would have asked to do the weather, he would have had a cracking
:25:13. > :25:18.picture. Some of them sum up the day. Here it
:25:19. > :25:23.is, blue sky with Cloud pushing towards us. Stretching all the way
:25:24. > :25:27.back to the Atlantic which means normally you have some rain in the
:25:28. > :25:32.forecast. That is what is happening in the next few hours, a rain band
:25:33. > :25:38.pushing in, and a warm front bringing milder air. We see a tangle
:25:39. > :25:44.of other fronts. Downhill in terms of the weather but uphill as it work
:25:45. > :25:48.in terms of temperatures. As the rain pumps in tonight, it boosts the
:25:49. > :25:55.temperature up to 11 degrees tomorrow morning. A different start
:25:56. > :25:59.to this morning. But the continued to see more rain.
:26:00. > :26:03.Flight and patchy through the day, some hill fog. Drier interludes
:26:04. > :26:08.particularly in Gloucestershire before further rain by the end of
:26:09. > :26:14.the day. Look at these temperatures, it will feel like spring even though
:26:15. > :26:18.you have some rain, 13 degrees. The rain pushes away tomorrow night.
:26:19. > :26:25.Into Thursday, a ridge of high pressure builds in, meaning we are
:26:26. > :26:31.looking at a cracking day on Thursday. Some cloud at first. Some
:26:32. > :26:36.breaks in the clouds from the north in the afternoon, sunny and bright
:26:37. > :26:44.styles coming through. On the breezy side but not significant winds. 14
:26:45. > :26:49.Celsius. It will feel very nice. Friday, continuing to hold onto the
:26:50. > :26:56.milder air. There could be some patchy rain at times. Bright spells
:26:57. > :26:58.at weekends. Colder at the start of next week.
:26:59. > :27:00.Thank you so much for being on tonight.
:27:01. > :27:02.You've been watching a special edition of Points West.
:27:03. > :27:04.Thank you for your company this evening.
:27:05. > :27:08.We leave you tonight with just a few images of Britain's last
:27:09. > :28:13.Dambuster George "Johnny" Johnson on his emotional return to Germany.
:28:14. > :28:17.I could be a boxing champ, AND build your computer.
:28:18. > :28:21.I am more than just the beard or the nation's favourite dish.