07/03/2017 Points West

Arsenal in Europe. Natalie thank you very much again at the Emirates

The last British Dambuster. Stadium.

As calls grow to honour Johnny Johnson, broadcaster

Michael Buerk takes him on a journey back to Germany.

The Dambuster raid was one of the most extraordinary

missions in history, but the whole bombing

campaign against Germany in the Second World War remains

strategically and morally controversial.

Police carry out raids in London to cut the drugs

And feeling like spring in the forecast.

Temperatures into the mid-teens later in the week,

It was one of the most daring flying missions of the Second World War.

Late one May evening in 1943, 19 Lancaster bombers of the 617

Squadron took off from Britain to attack three different dams -

Johnny Johnson's squadron was heading for the Sorpe,

an altogether different design, not at all suited

Johnny is now the last surviving Dambuster and 300,000 people have

signed a petition demanding he receives a knighthood.

The celebrated broadcaster Michael Buerk, who began his career

at BBC Bristol, has taken Mr Johnson back to Germany to the place

Johnny Johnson may be looking at the present,

He's back three quarters of a century to a moonlit night,

an almost impossible mission, death and glory.

As a young man, he was part of RAF Bomber Command,

part of the sustained lethal campaign against the Nazis' war

machine that all but destroyed many of Germany's cities.

The mission involved dropping specially-invented bombs designed

to destroy the three targets, the Mohne, Eder and Sorpe dams,

captured in the 1950s film The Dambusters.

As a bomb aimer, Johnny Johnson's job was to hit the Sorpe Dam.

Our briefing was to fly across the Dam to drop the bomb

as near as possible to the centre of the dam.

It was something we hadn't practised at all in training,

that type of attack, so it was practice, practice,

practice here until you got it right and that was the only way

Fritz, then 14, was hiding in a tunnel under the dam that night.

TRANSLATION: The doors inside the dam burst open

and there was an enormous gush of wind.

Johnny's bomb was spot-on, but not enough to breach the Sorpe,

but the other Dambusters blew great holes in the Mohne and Eder dams.

Historians say Bomber Command's role in the Second World War remains

I do think the reluctance to issue a Bomber Command campaign medal

at this stage does reflect how controversial it is and the possible

upset it can cause in Germany if they do decorate these people

who destroyed all our parents' cities.

Johnny was awarded a distinguished flying medal.

He feels that Bomber Command have never been properly rewarded

for their contribution to the war effort with a campaign medal.

Three years ago they were given a Clasp, but Johnny

Disgusted is the best way I can describe it.

I feel that there's been no attempt to recognise the sacrifice

For retrospective historians, I just ask them to questions.

For retrospective historians, I just ask them two questions.

Were you personally aware of the circumstances

The answer to both those questions is no, so keep

Now, two old men beside a lake where they both nearly

Friends now until the end of their days.

Earlier I spoke to defence expert Air Vice Marshal Tony Mason,

who lives in Gloucestershire and asked him if he thought Johnny

I think he deserves a knighthood, not just because he's

lived to the age of 95, nor because he is the sole

It would be a recognition of the enormous contribution,

the undervalued contribution, which Bomber Command made

There has been an overall reluctance to recognise

The civilian loss was very, very heavy.

Again, the general public naturally didn't understand that this

This was the attempt, and the successful attempt

by Bomber Command and the Allies, to destroy the industrial warmaking

And that in fact was what Bomber Command did.

Would we have won the war without what Bomber Command did?

We would have won the war against Germany because,

with the advent of United States and the Soviet Union

on the other side, Germany would have been defeated,

but it would have taken much longer and, in the long run, far,

far more Allied lives would have been lost.

What do you think should be done then to recognise

Well, it's very late now to recognise Bomber Command.

The only remaining thing that could be done really is to confer

a knighthood on Johnny Johnson, which would be symbolic

of the nation, finally, totally, completely recognising the sacrifice

that Bomber Command, for six years, and the enormous contribution,

invaluable contribution which those lives made, to winning the war,

shortening the war, and thereby saving an awful lot of British

and Allied lives, including, of course, civilian lives over here.

Air Vice Marshal Tony Mason, thank you very much.

Four people have been arrested in raids in London in connection

with the supply of class A drugs into Gloucestershire.

Local police made the arrests with help from the Met.

Here's our Gloucestershire reporter Steve Knibbs.

This is the culmination of a long investigation.

30 police officers from Gloucestershire carry out

simultaneous strikes on four buildings to arrest four people

they believe are heavily involved in supplying drugs into the county.

Within minutes all four targets are arrested.

All on suspicion of supplying Class A drugs.

All, apart from one of the men, are also suspected of money

laundering, With the suspects in custody, specialist search teams

With the suspects in custody, specialist search teams

and scenes of crime officers then moved in and looked in every nook

These arrests were part of Operation Side Swipe,

aimed at targeting so-called Dangerous Drugs Networks.

Effectively, gangs who prey on vulnerable users

They'll often take over someone's house to deal from,

so-called cuckooing, all under threat

This is one of the most significant operations launched

by Gloucestershire constabulary in recent years.

It's the result of many months of gathering intelligence

and analysing that intelligence and detectives say it

proves their determination to show that Gloucestershire isn't an easy

target for those who want to deal drugs wherever they come from.

These people think they can come into Gloucester and commit

the crimes they are doing, selling drugs to our

young vulnerable people, and exploiting people,

This is why it's important that we do take the fight back to them.

All four arrested today are still in custody

as the investigation into serious drug dealing in Gloucestershire

continues in and away from the county.

Peaches Golding says she's delighted at being chosen to be

The former High Sheriff will become the first black person in history

to become a Lord Lieutenant when she takes up the role.

The ceremonial position means Peaches, who was born in America,

will be the Queen's representative in the city.

Football now and Bristol City drew 1-1 with Norwich

City are looking to climb out of the relegation zone

after dropping into the bottom three last Saturday.

They are currently one point away from safety.

We're back with you in Breakfast tomorrow from 6.30 but for now I'll

leave you with Sara Thornton who has the forecast.

With the sun now setting after six o'clock, and some

power in that sun too, it's starting to feel a little bit

The next few days no exception because we've got some rain moving

in at the moment but it is a warm front and some milder air

pumping in with that rain as we go through the night,

so by tomorrow morning very different to this morning.

We start at 10 perhaps 11 Celsius, but there is rain

As we go through the day tomorrow, bits and pieces of rain continue

It looks like it could perhaps clear up in Gloucestershire around

the Bristol Channel for a time before more rain moves

in by the end of the afternoon and for the evening.

12, 13 Celsius, 55 in Fahrenheit, and there will be breaks in that

rain and it is light and patchy at times.

Yes, some cloud at first breaking from the North as we go

That spring sunshine coming through and have a look

at the temperatures, 13, 14 Celsius, 57 in Fahrenheit.

If you like that, there's more on the cards for Friday.

Perhaps the cloud a little bit thicker for you on Friday.

Here's Nick with more in the national forecast.

rain on Saturday. The national picture now from Nick Miller.

It looks like next week high pressure will become a player again

in our weather, settling things down for some of us for a time but until

then it is low-pressure, rain moving across the UK overnight but not wet

all the time. Many of us at a fine day today, this was at you from West

Yorkshire and Yorkshire and northern England and Northern Ireland will

farewell tomorrow, after this frontal system has pushed on through

the UK with rain. But as it does, it introduces milder air so for the

rest of the week we will have temperatures widely into double

figures. Back to the here and now and that rain which has been like an

patchy across the west of the UK during the day