JOE McCARTHY ~ Dambuster

Wing Commander Joseph ‘Big Joe’ McCarthy DSO DFC*

(1919-1998)

Card cut from a ‘Gathering of Eagles’ Lithograph 1987  measuring approx. 12 x 7 cm

Signed by Joe McCarthy in pencil

Joe McCarthy grew up in New York and learned to fly as a teenager. Eager for action against Germany, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force months before the United States entered the war in December 1941. He became a bomber pilot with 97 Squadron and completed thirty sorties over Germany, including three over Berlin, earning a DFC.

Guy Gibson then invited him to join 617 Squadron, where he captained Lancaster AJ‑T on the Dambusters raid. McCarthy flew in the second wave but switched to a spare aircraft when his went U/S. T‑Tommy became the only aircraft to attack the Sorpe Dam, which required a direct‑hit Upkeep bomb. He delivered the bomb perfectly, but the earthen dam absorbed the blast and suffered little damage.

McCarthy stayed with 617 Squadron, became a flight commander, and flew another forty operations. Popular on the squadron, he cut an unforgettable figure: 6 foot 3, 225 pounds, blond, loud, and proudly American. His booming profanity often startled his British comrades. In time, though, he embraced British habits, adopting a pipe, a walking stick, and a dog. “If I’m going to be an officer and a gentleman,” he said, “I’m going to look the part.”

After the war he became a Canadian citizen to remain in the RCAF and served in several posts, including an international role in the United States. That assignment led him to retire in Virginia Beach, where he died in 1998.

Joe appears in name only in the 1955 film ‘The Dam Busters’, which focuses on the first wave. Johnny Johnson also mentions him fondly throughout ‘The Last Dambuster’