An ex-serviceman from Okotoks will be peddling for a cause that hits close to home on three fronts later this month.
Former Royal Air Force member Ian McCaughtrie is part of the international Dambusters Ride on May 15-16, peddling 56 miles to celebrate the 100th birthday of George ‘Johnny’ Johnson MBE, the last surviving member of the RAF 617 Sqn. Dambusters in the Second World War.
“Because of COVID, and I had saw it come up on my Facebook – both a link to the race and to the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund, I thought there’s something to do,” said McCaughtrie, who moved to Okotoks 12 years ago. “I like riding bikes, I do a lot of riding and maybe I’ll raise a couple hundred bucks.
“And there’s the link with me being a former member of the RAF and the 617 Sqn. and the link with the Nanton Bomber Command Museum where they’ve got only one of the four Lancasters (with a working engine).”
McCaughtrie served in the Royal Air Force from 1984-91 and was a member of the 617 Sqn Dambusters from 1984-88 a time in which it was flying Tornado GR1’s at the RAF Marham, an airbase near Norwich on England’s east coast.
He is raising funds for three initiatives close to his heart, including the RAF’s Benevolent Fund, its leading charity that assisted more than 71,000 current and former members in 2019.
A member of the Calgary Police Service since 2009, he will also be riding for Wounded Warriors Canada, a national mental health service provider for veterans and first responders and their families, as well as the Bomber Command Museum in Nanton in which McCaughtrie is a director.
“Because the RAF Fund is more UK based I wanted to do something here,” he said. “So there’s the museum, they do a lot of work to help families find the history of their loved ones who died during the war and that kind of stuff. And there’s a massive British-Canadian link with that.
“With Wounded Warriors Canada, they look after ex-military and first responders and obviously police are in that bracket as well. So it’s a perfect fit to support them because of my history.”
As McCaughtrie explained, there’s a significant Canadian connection to the Dambusters raids as the 617 Sqn. was manned by over 130 Canadians during the Second World War.
Dubbed ‘Operation Chastise,’ in May 1943, the RAF’s 617 Sqn. carried out an audacious bombing campaign on dams along the Ruhr Valley in Germany, breeching two dams, damaging hydroelectric stations, factories and mines.
“I know the ride is taking place on the 15th and 16th, they’ve given us options on that because it coincides with the day of the raid,” he said. “I know on the Monday some of the riders in the UK are going to see ‘Johnny’ Johnson up and present him with one of the cycling jerseys we’re all going to wear.”
McCaughtrie’s 56-mile ride on May 15 will begin at the Bomber Command Museum and out to the Chain Lakes area and back.
“I have been training to do that distance so I will be comfortable to do it now, it’s always doable, but it would be nice to do it so I could walk afterwards,” he said with a laugh. “It’s going to be a tough ride, I’ve only chosen that ride because we want some pictures to do with the Lancaster being brought round with the bomb.
“They’re going to open the hangar doors to have some pictures with the Lancaster and the bouncing bomb.”
To make a donation to McCaughtrie’s ride for the RAF Benevolent Fund click here, for the Bomber Command Museum donation page click here and for the Wounded Warriors Canada link click here.
