Bidspirit auction | Dambuster Raid Joe McCarthy DSO

Dambuster Raid Joe McCarthy DSO DFC multi signed 1987 617 sqn Memorial programme also signed by Richard Todd, David Shannon Dams Raid pilot and Mac Hamilton DFC. PLEASE NOT has fold down center and some signs of age. HOWEVER this is really rare. McCarthy was best known for flying with No. 617 Squadron RAF, including the Dams Raid in 1943. By the time of the raid he had already taken part in thirty bombing sorties over Germany, including three over Berlin. McCarthy and his crew flew with the second wave of Lancasters, but he had to take a spare aircraft after his failed. T-Tommy was the only aircraft of the second wave to attack a target - the Sorpe Dam, which had to be attacked with an Upkeep bomb directly without it bouncing. Despite the bomb hitting the target, the dam was not breached. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) in 1943 for service with No. 97 Squadron RAF, a Distinguished Service Order in the same year for the dams raid, and a Bar to the DFC in 1944. He was mentioned but not portrayed in the 1955 film The Dam Busters, which focuses mostly on the first wave that breached the Möhne and Eder dams. McCarthy is also fondly mentioned throughout Johnny Johnson's autobiography The Last Dambuster.