BIGGIN Hill Airport had a role to play in marking the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters celebrations.
Radio DJ Chris Evans touched down at the runway at around noon yesterday (May 17) in a Lancaster bomber which had flown from the home of the Dambusters at RAF Scampton.
The Jeremy Vine Show on BBC Radio 2 came live from the airport and then in the evening a commemorative concert was held at the Rizonjet hangar.
It featured messages from Dambusters pilot Les Munro and bomb-aimer George 'Johnnie' Johnson, both aged 93 and two of just three remaining veterans from the raid.
And Barnes Wallis’ daughter Mary Stopes-Roe read from a letter she wrote to her father when she was 14 years old after hearing about the successful raid.
Mr Munro said: “Seventy years on and I still have memories of the Dambusters Raid and how it affected so many people on both sides of the war.
“The Bomber Command Memorial [a tribute to the 55,573 Bomber Command crew who lost their lives in the Second World War] means we will always remember and hopefully learn from the past so future generations will not experience the pain and upset of another world war.”
Dambusters theme
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