Johnson was born in Lawton, Oklahoma, on February 21, 1920, the son of an automobile mechanic. In his war memoir, Thunderbolt!, he states that he first developed an interest in military aviation in the summer of 1928, when his father took him to see a United States Army Air Corps barnstorming team, "The Three Musketeers", appearing at Ft. Sill's Post Field. Four years later, Johnson took his first flight, a 15-minute night excursion over Lawton in a Ford Tri-motor.
Johnson attended Lawton public schools, was a Boy Scout, and excelled in athletics. For acquiring the skills and aggressiveness he later employed as a fighter pilot, Johnson credited an interest in shooting and hunting small game with a .22 rifle, boxing competitively to learn about controlling fear, and playing high school and junior college football as a blocking guard.
At the age of 11, Johnson began working as a laborer in a Lawton cabinet-making shop, working 8 or more hours daily after school to earn four dollars a week. At 12, he began applying his earnings to flying lessons, soloing after 5 hours and 45 minutes of instruction. He achieved his student license and logged 35 hours in four years of instruction, before suspending his flying lessons because of a newfound interest in girls. While attending Cameron Junior College, Johnson resumed flying in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and accumulated 100 hours total flight time by his second year. Johnson gave up his full-time job to allow for his varied interests, but continued to hold a series of part-time jobs, including as a firefighter with the Lawton Fire Department.
Assigned to twin-engine training as a bomber pilot, he improved his marksmanship enough to qualify for transfer to single-seat fighters. Joining Col Hubert “Hub” Zemke’s 56th Ftr Gp (48 P-47 Thunderbolts) as it was brought up to strength, he reached England on 13 Jan 1943. In less than a year, 13 June 43-8 May 1944, Johnson scored 28 victories. This made him second only to Col Francis S. Gabreski (31) among USAF pilots in Europe. Johnson won the DSC on 6 Mar 1944 for aggressive action against heavy odds over Berlin. After the war, Johnson was a successful businessman.
