The Great Adventure: RAF Fighter Command's role from the Normandy Invasion to the end of the Second World War in Europe
(The greatest Allied fighter pilot and Wing Leader during ...)
The greatest Allied fighter pilot and Wing Leader during the Second World War, James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson, wrote "The Great Adventure" during the last few years of his life. His son, Christopher, was left the manuscript by his Father which he feels duty bound to publish in order to keep the memory of the gallant Allied Air Crews alive in the public's mind. "The Great Adventure" takes a last critical look back at the RAF Commanders, pilots, planes and their air fighting tactics from the preparation for D Day to the fall of Berlin. "Johnnie's" story is of war and hard work; of lowly men from many nations fighting evil and their ambition Commanders; of strategic disasters such as Caen and Arnhem and the tactical victories by fighter bombers at Mortain & Falaise but above all the Allied's high spirits and comradeship forged in battle. He observes first hand the terrible costs to French civilians at Caen caused by the ill-conceived Allied bombing and the horrors of a German Concentration camp as the War ends.
Johnnie Johnson nicknamed "Johnnie", was a Royal Air Force (RAF) pilot and flying ace—defined as a pilot that has shot down five or more enemy aircraft in aerial combat—who flew and fought during the Second World War.
Background
Johnson was born 9 March 1915 in Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, to Alfred Johnson and Beatrice May Johnson. He lived and was brought up in Melton Mowbray, where his father was a policeman. Alfred Johnson was an Inspector by the mid-1930s. One evening Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, held a meeting in the town. The license for the meeting expired at 22:00 at which time Alfred Johnson went alone and ejected the Fascists from the building.
Education
Johnson was educated at Camden Street Junior School and Loughborough Grammar School. Johnson's uncle, Edgar Charles Rossell, who had won the Military Cross with the Royal Fusiliers in 1916, paid for Johnson's education at Loughborough. According to his brother Ross, during his time there, Johnson was nearly expelled after refusing punishment for a misdemeanour, believing it to be unjustified: "he was very principled and simply dug his heels in". Among Johnson's hobbies and interests were shooting and sports; he shot rabbits and birds in the local countryside.
Johnson attended the University of Nottingham, where he qualified as a civil engineer, aged 22. Johnson became a surveyor at Melton Mowbray Urban District Council before progressing to assistant engineer with Chigwell Urban District Council at Loughton. In 1938, Johnson broke his collarbone playing rugby for Chingford Rugby Club; the injury was wrongly set and did not heal properly, which later caused him difficulty at the start of his flying career.
Career
During the course of training, Johnson found that his shoulder caused him great pain while flying. This proved particularly true when flying high-performance aircraft such as the Supermarine Spitfire. The injury was further exacerbated following a crash during training in which Johnson's Spitfire did a ground loop. Though he tried various types of padding on his shoulder, he continued to find that he would lose feeling in his right arm while flying.
Briefly posted to No. 19 Squadron, he soon received a transfer to No. 616 Squadron at Coltishall. Reporting his shoulder problems to the medic he was soon given a choice between reassignment as a training pilot or undergoing surgery to reset his collar bone. Immediately opting for the latter, he was removed from flight status and sent to the RAF Hospital at Rauceby. As a result of this operation, Johnson missed the Battle of Britain. Returning to No. 616 Squadron in December 1940, he began regular flight operations and aided in downing a German aircraft the following month. Moving with the squadron to Tangmere in early 1941, he began to see more action.
Quickly proving himself a skilled pilot, he was invited to fly in Wing Commander Douglas Bader's section. Gaining experience, he scored his first kill, a Messerschmitt Bf 109 on June 26. Taking part in the fighter sweeps over Western Europe that summer, he was present when Bader was shot down on August 9. Scoring his fifth kill and becoming an ace in September, Johnson received the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) and made flight commander. Over the next several months he continued to perform admirably and earned a bar for his DFC in July 1942.
In August 1942, Johnson received command of No. 610 Squadron and led it over Dieppe during Operation Jubilee. In the course of the fighting, he downed a Focke-Wulf Fw 190. Continuing to add to his total, Johnson was promoted to acting Wing Commander in March 1943 and given command of the Canadian Wing at Kenley. Despite being English-born, Johnson quickly gained the Canadians' trust through his leadership in the air. The unit proved exceptionally effective under his guidance and he personally downed fourteen German fighters between April and September.
For his achievements in early 1943, Johnson received the Distinguish Service Order (DSO) in June. A slew of additional kills earned him a bar for the DSO that September. Removed from flight operations for six months at the end of September, Johnson's total numbered 25 kills and he held the official rank of Squadron Leader.
Assigned to No. 11 Group Headquarters, he performed administrative duties until March 1944 when he was placed in command of No. 144 (RCAF) Wing. Scoring his 28th kill on May 5, he became the highest-scoring British ace still actively flying.
Continuing to fly through 1944, Johnson kept adding to his tally. Scoring his 33rd kill on June 30, he passed Group Captain Adolph "Sailor" Malan as the top-scoring British pilot against the Luftwaffe. Given command of No. 127 Wing in August, he downed two Fw 190s on the 21st. Johnson's final victory of World War II came on September 27 over Nijmegen when he destroyed a Bf 109. During the course of the war, Johnson flew 515 sorties and shot down 34 German aircraft. He shared in seven additional kills which added 3.5 to his total. In addition, he had three probables, ten damaged, and one destroyed on the ground.
In the final weeks of the war, his men patrolled the skies over Kiel and Berlin. With the end of the conflict, Johnson was the RAF's second highest-scoring pilot of the war behind Squadron Leader Marmaduke Pattle who had been killed in 1941. With the end of the war, Johnson was given a permanent commission in the RAF first as a squadron leader and then as a wing commander. After service at the Central Fighter Establishment, he was sent to the United States to gain experience in jet fighter operations. Flying the F-86 Sabre and F-80 Shooting Star, he saw service in the Korean War with the US Air Force.
Returning to the RAF in 1952, he served as Air Officer Commanding at RAF Wildenrath in Germany. Two years later he began a three-year tour as Deputy Director, Operations at the Air Ministry. After a term as Air Officer Commanding, RAF Cottesmore (1957-1960), he was promoted to air commodore. Promoted to air vice marshal in 1963, Johnson's final active duty command was as Air Officer Commanding, Air Forces Middle East. Retiring in 1966, Johnson worked in business for the remainder of his professional life as well as served as Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Leicestershire in 1967. Writing several books about his career and flying, Johnson died of cancer on January 30, 2001.
(Wing leader [Johnnie JOHNSON, With B&W illustrations] on ...)
Connections
As a teenager Johnson became fascinated by speed and joined the Melton Car Club with two boyhood friends. Johnson enjoyed the lifestyle of cars and "pacey women". Although he had many early interests, Johnson would later settle and add to his family. On 14 November 1942, Johnson married Pauline Ingate in Norwich during home leave. Hugh Dundas acted as best man and Lord Beaverbrook's son, Wing Commander Max Aitken also attended. During the war Pauline worked for the Fire Service. They had two sons: Michael (16 October 1944) and Chris (born 1 December 1946). After the couple split up, Johnson lived with his partner Janet Partridge.