Nickname(s) "Big Joe" Name Joe McCarthy | Rank Wing Commander Allegiance Canada | |
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Died 6 September 1998(1998-09-06) (aged 79)Virginia Beach Service/branch | ||
Johnny johnson talks about his friendship with joe big joe mccarthy
Joseph Charles "Big Joe" McCarthy, (31 August 1919 – 6 September 1998) was an American aviator who served with the Royal Canadian Air Force in Bomber Command during World War II. He is best known as the commander and pilot of Lancaster AJ-T ("T-Tommy") in Operation Chastise, the "Dambuster" raid of 1943.
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Early life
McCarthy was born in St. James, New York, a town on Long Island east of New York City, and grew up in Brooklyn. As a teenager, he worked as a lifeguard at Coney Island and learned to fly. In May 1941, months before the United States would enter the war, McCarthy joined the Royal Canadian Air Force.
World War II
McCarthy was most 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 Moehne and Eder dams.
McCarthy is also fondly mentioned throughout Johnny Johnson's autobiography The Last Dambuster.