Lying on his stomach right in the Lancaster’s nose, George “Johnny” Johnson had the German dam in his sights. This was the Sorpe, the hardest nut to crack of all the British raiders’ targets, a concrete core protected by a mound of earth, and he had to aim the bomb.
The huge aircraft, AJ-T Tommy, dived towards the Sorpe for the 10th time, the four Merlin engines singing. For the 10th time it buzzed the church steeple of the village of Langscheid, then roared down, passing again along the dam’s length to 30ft above the moonlit rim, over the crucial place.
