Greatest and Oldest Command that has ever lived passes away aged 99 #CarryGobySeanKellz #FutureGroupNG via @myentertain9jar

THE OLDEST surviving member of Bomber Command has died aged 99.

Archie Johnstone was described as "a true gentleman" [CASCADE]

Archie Johnstone served as a bomb aimer with the Dambusters Squadron and was one of the team which took out the feared Tirpitz battleship in a daring raid over Norwegian fjords in 1944.
His friend Frank Lomas paid tribute to Mr Johnstone, saying: "He was a true gentleman.
"He was quiet and unassuming and wasn't the type who'd show off about any of the things he did in the war. But he had some amazing things to tell you once you got to know him."
Mr Johnstone was a member of 44 Rhodesia Bomber Squadron but was picked to join the 617 Squadron after the Dambusters raids.
In the penultimate year of the Second World War, when he was 30, he helped sink the Tirpitz as it guarded the sea off the coast of Norway, where it had been sited to stop the Allies from reaching Russia.
The attack - using Barnes Wallis's 'Tallboy' bombs - took place in the Arctic Circle on November 12, 1944, from around 12,000 feet.
The operation sank the heavily-armed ship, taking with it Hitler's naval power in northern waters.
The battleship had lain in a girdle of torpedo nets in the Tromso fjord and for more than two years the Allies had been trying to get her.

Mr Johnstone played a role in the sinking of the Tirpitz [CASCADE]

They played a huge part in the war effort. It was a privilege to have known him

Frank Lomas

Mr Lomas said: "They played a huge part in the war effort. It was a privilege to have known him."
Mr Johnstone, a father-of-two, was born in Scotland and moved to Cumbria with his family as a young child.
He worked as a policeman in Windermere, Cumbria before joining the RAF, where his first mission was dropping propaganda leaflets over a Paris suburb.
It was in the 44 Squadron that Mr Johnstone had his baptism with Lancasters, carrying 8,000, 4,000 and 1,000lb bombs.
In one night they lost eight aircraft, each with a crew of seven men.
After the war ended, Mr Johnstone moved to nearby Grange-over-Sands, where he became president of the town's branch of the Royal British Legion and was involved with the Royal Air Forces Association.
In his final months he lived in Skelmersdale, close to his son, Robert, and on his 98th birthday a Lancaster Bomber flew over his nursing home at Birch Green as a mark of respect.
South Lakes MP Tim Farron said: "His heroism will live on and will be a marker for the next generation. People like Archie, in our darkest hour, made Britain great."
The Daily Express campaigned for the Bomber Command Memorial which now stands in Green Park, with readers raising £1m for the cause.
The newspaper’s owner, Richard Desmond, personally donated another £500,000.