Medals won by Dambuster war hero from Blackpool expected to sell for up to £70k at auction

Edward Cuthbert Johnson – or Johnnie to his friends, family and comrades – was born in Lincoln on May 3, 1912.

He was just two years old when his father was killed in action on the Western Front in December 1914.

Edward moved with his mother to Gainsborough and was educated at Lincoln Grammar School.

In 1936, he married May Beckwith and moved from Leeds to Blackpool before establishing a boarding house prior to the outbreak of World War II.

He joined the RAF in 1940 and qualified as an Air Observer Navigator on 25 October 25, 1941 and a bomb aimer on December 6, 1941

After further training he was posted briefly to 106 Squadron, but then sent back to a training unit to be crewed up with Les Knight and his colleagues.

They moved to 50 Squadron in September 1942, and Edward flew on some twenty-two operations with the Knight crew.

On May 16, 1943 – the famous night of the Dams Raid – Edward was part of the main Strike Force under Guy Gibson and was a witness to the breaching of the Möhne.

Edward’s opportunity soon presented itself when Knight’s crew were called to centre stage.

They made several low-level dummy runs into the Eder Dam, each pass being a hair-raising event due to the steep climb required to bring the aircraft away from the surrounding terrain.

Their final run was pitch-perfect and Edward delivered his bouncing bomb with total precision to score the direct hit that breached the Eder Dam, earning his immediate Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in the process.

Paddy Clarke, Edward’s grandson-in-law, said: “His was the final bouncing bomb which actually finally breached the dam.

“He was a lovely unassuming man who only discussed his wartime exploits if he was pressed. I pressed him quite a lot.”

Like four of his colleagues, Edward successfully evaded capture and reached the safety of Spain.

He served out the rest of the war in various ground postings before leaving the RAF in 1947.

He then went back to Blackpool working for Sellers Fireplaces until his retirement.

Edward passed away in Blackpool on October 1, 2002 at the age of 90.

Paddy said: “For his 90th birthday his son Phillip Johnson organised a reunion of his surviving crew members.

“Amazingly a number of them were still alive and came to Lincolnshire.

“Phillip had organised for them to get on a working Lancaster bomber and tootle down the runway, but not take off.

He added: “I was there with my son. We all got on board with these incredible men and went for a brief spin down a runway.

“What a great privilege.”

Edward’s medals and memorabilia are now due to be auctioned at Spink in London on November 29.

The lot is expected to reach up to £70k when it goes under the hammer.

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The story of the Dambusters

The Dam Busters were members of the RAF’s 617 Squadron who were specially assembled in March 1943 to bomb three dams in Germany’s industrial heartland, the Ruhr Valley, just two months later.

The raid, on the night of May 16/17, was called Operation Chastise and involved 133 aircrew flying 19 specially adapted Lancaster bombers.