The Newsletter of the Old Loughburians’ Association
Quad No 3 Autumn 2013
‘Johnnie’ Johnson for the silver screen? “James ‘Johnnie’ Johnson CB CBE DSO** DFC* (1924-32), the top-scoring Allied fighter pilot in World War 2, may be headed for the silver screen,” writes John Weitzel (1978- ). “Today’s Sixth Formers know quite a lot about him. His Foundation funds travel awards for boys in Year 12 and prizes for boys in Year 13 and there is a signed picture in the Sixth Form Centre of his Spitfire
one of the biggest events in the school calendar involved in action. His exploits during the war, both individually and as a hugely successful commander of Canadian pilots, have been the subject of many books but never a film. Now plans are afoot to bring Johnnie to the silver screen.”
L-r Johnnie Johnson, Jack Roadley, Tom Kewley, Bill Newton in 1931
Johnnie' Johnson by Cuthbert Orde
The second event is the manner of his leaving the school. According to tradition he was asked to leave after being caught swimming naked with his girlfriend in the school pool. This makes for a great story in the film and actually determines his future. The offer of a place at RAF Cranwell was removed as a result and he lost the chance to join the RAF on departure from the school. Only in 1939 did he join the RAF Volunteer Reserve as a sergeant pilot to fly Spitfires - that would never have happened had he completed a normal school career and become an officer. The screen play ends, however, with him being accepted back into the school community. This is depicted by his name being added to the honours board. In reality his big ‘return’ was in July 1957 when he opened a fete which, according to The Loughborough Monitor, was the ‘biggest and most entertaining event of its kind ever held in the town.’ JJ arrived by helicopter and over 3000 visitors came to the
The month of May saw OLs John Maltby (1956-59) and David Arthurton (1985-90) all over the news for the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters’ raid. John, now a well-known Loughborough undertaker, recounts how his father, David, piloted Lancaster AJ-J in the successful attack on the Möhne Dam, making what has been described as “a textbook drop” and causing the John Maltby with logbook dam wall finally to crumble. John was interviewed on BBC 2 and East Midlands Today as well as on several radio stations. He remains the proud owner of his father’s logbook, recording the raid.
Mission accomplished in the logbook
In the BBC2 tribute Wing Commander David Arthurton, spoke of the honour and privilege of leading the 180 men and women of 617 squadron. In September David reappeared on breakfast television to speak of the deployment of the squadron to Afghanistan where it would fly close air support and intelligence missions in support of the coalition commanders on the ground. The squadron is due to disband in 2014 and be re-formed as the UK’s first Joint Strike Fighter Squadron in 2016. Photo: SAC Gemma Nagi ©Crown copyright 2013
“The screenplay highlights two important events in his time at LGS that were to map out his future. Firstly he won the open cross country three years in a row. In those days the cross country was run from school and ended in the Walks, with large crowds of parents and boys cheering on the winner. The course was about 5 miles long and it took about 35 minutes to complete. The Loughburian reports that JJ took the lead in the 1930 race somewhere in Shelthorpe and led for the rest of the race. He went on to dominate the races of 1931 and 1932.
Dambusters at 70
caught swimming naked with his girlfriend in the school school, with some still entering at 8 pm. Hopefully, a producer can be found for the film and the exploits of JJ in World War 2 can reach a much wider audience. For LGS, JJ will always remain one of our most famous old boys.
David Arthurton