Robert S . Johnson Lieutenant Colonel Robert Samuel Johnson ( February 21 , 1920 – December 27 , 1998 ) was a USAAF fighter pilot during World War II . He is credited with scoring 27 victories during the conflict flying a Republic P - 47 Thunderbolt . Robert S . Johnson was the first USAAF fighter pilot in the European theater to surpass Eddie Rickenbacker ' s World War I score of 26 victories . He finished his combat tour with 27 kills , was later credited by the Eighth Air Force claims board with a 28th victory when a " probable " was reassessed as a " destroyed " , then reduced back to 27 when a post - war review discovered that the Eighth Air Force had inadvertently switched credits for a kill he made with a double kill made by a fellow 56th Fighter Group pilot , Ralph A . Johnson , on November 26 , 1943 , a day when Robert Johnson aborted the mission after takeoff . ( Their Army serial numbers were also nearly identical , O - 662216 and O - 662217 . ) Childhood and flying interest . Johnson was born in Lawton , Oklahoma , the son of an automobile mechanic , in February 1920 . 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 U . S . 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 . 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 ( CPT ) , 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 . Aviation cadet . In the summer of 1941 , Johnson enlisted as an aviation cadet in the United States Army , and entered the service at Oklahoma City on November 11 , 1941 , as a member of Class 42F . Pre - Flight training was conducted at Kelly Field , Texas , beginning November 12 and was still in progress when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into World War II . On December 18 , 1941 , Johnson reported to the Missouri Institute of Aeronautics , a civilian contractor school in Sikeston , Missouri , for Primary Flying Training . His first five hours of the pre - solo training phase were flown in a PT - 19A , in which he was instructed in spin recoveries , stalls , and basic turning maneuvers . He then began nearly sixty hours of Primary training in the more agile PT - 18 Kaydet , practicing aerobatic maneuver s . All of the training , which included more than 175 landings , was conducted in open - cockpit trainers in the dead of winter . On January 28 , 1942 , at the midpoint of Primary , he was forced to switch instructors by the school commander . His new instructor became a flying mentor , for which Johnson wrote : " I shall always be indebted to men like ( Phil P . ) Zampini . . . ( for their ) willingness to turn the fledgling into an eagle . " Johnson ' s classmates in Primary included several pilots who would become fighter pilots with him in the 56th Fighter Group , as well as Frank K . Everest , Jr . In February 1942 , the USAAF regulation requiring aviation cadets to be unmarried was rescinded . Johnson married Barbara Morgan ( whom he had met in high school ) in Benton , Missouri , on February 21 immediately upon completing Primary Flying Training . On February 27 , 1942 , Johnson began Basic Flying Training at Randolph Field , Texas . As with the other phases of flying training , the 9 - week course of instruction included ground school , military training , and intensive flying practice , this time in the North American BT - 9 . He received 70 hours of instrument , formation , and night flying in March and April 1942 . At the conclusion of basic , at the recommendation of his instructors , Johnson requested multi - engine school for his advanced training course . Johnson began Advanced training at nearby Kelly Field on May 3 , 1942 . Although in training for transition to bombers , because multi - engine trainers were not yet available his 93 . 5 hours of Advanced Flying Training were performed in variants of the T - 6 Texan : the BC - 1 basic combat trainer and the AT - 6 advanced trainer . Johnson completed his flight training on June 28 , and was commissioned July 9 , 1942 , as a second lieutenant . Although he requested transition training in the A - 20 Havoc , he instead received orders to report to the 56th Fighter Group . 56th Fighter Group . Johnson reported to the group ' s 61st Fighter Squadron on July 19 , 1942 , in Bridgeport , Connecticut . The unit had just received the first production P - 47B Thunderbolts , and , in effect , was flight testing the new fighter as it trained . While the 56th FG was responsible for many of the modifications that made later variants a successful fighter - bomber , the training resulted in more than forty crashes and 18 fatalities , many of which Johnson blamed on the inadequacy of the small airport at Bridgeport . However , he also asserted that many more lives would have been lost , had not the P - 47 proved to have an exceptionally rugged airframe . The P - 47 became the first USAAF aircraft to provide an understanding of compressibility and its effects . The 56th FG was alerted over overseas movement on November 26 , 1942 , and ceased flying operations in preparation . On December 28 it moved to Camp Kilmer , New Jersey , and on January 6 , 1943 , sailed from the New York port of embarkation aboard the RMS " Queen Elizabeth " for Scotland . The group arrived on January 13 without aircraft at its first base in the United Kingdom , RAF Kings Cliffe . There it received new P - 47C Thunderbolts and trained on them until April , when it began combat operations from a new base at RAF Horsham St Faith . Johnson , still classified as a bomber pilot , was not officially qualified to fly the P - 47 in combat . To rectify that , he was sent to Llanbedr , Wales , on March 10 , for a two - week course in gunnery training in which he would fire the Thunderbolt ' s weapons for the first time . However , bad weather prevented any training flights , and he returned to Kings Cliffe still not qualified . Johnson feared he was losing the confidence of both his group commander , Colonel Hubert Zemke , and his flight leader , Captain Gerald W . Johnson , in his ability to perform as a fighter pilot . Combat experiences . Early missions . 2nd Lt . Johnson flew his first combat mission on April 18 , 1943 , which was the second mission of the 56th FG . The mission , a fighter sweep over the coast of the Netherlands , proved entirely uneventful . On his return from his first combat sortie , Johnson and four other pilots were sent to RAF Goxhill to complete gunnery training , but because he could not hit the target sleeve until his final day of training , he wrote , he failed to achieve the minimum required percentage of hits and did not officially qualify as a combat pilot . The 56th experienced its first combat on April 29 , losing two planes and pilots , but Johnson was not scheduled for the mission and did not resume missions until May 3 . On May 14 he encountered Luftwaffe aircraft for the first time on a mission to escort B - 17 Flying Fortress es to bomb Antwerp , damaging two Focke Wulf Fw 190 s that had broken up his squadron ' s formation but becoming separated from the group . Finding himself alone , he broke off the engagement and returned to base to find that he had been erroneously reported as missing in action . On May 19 , as part of a diversionary mission , his flight was ambushed by German fighters , but again the inexperienced Johnson was able to elude them . On June 13 , while flying in a flight led by his squadron commander , Major Francis Gabreski , Johnson shot down his first German aircraft ( of 10 " Staffel " , JG 26 ) . The 56th had scored its first confirmed kill just the day before , but had missed an opportunity to achieve a larger victory . As a result , Johnson and his element leader agreed that the pilot spotting the enemy should immediately attack and be supported by the other , regardless of who was leading . Johnson achieved his kill , over an Fw 190 , doing just that , but discovered that his element leader had not covered him as agreed . Johnson was reprimanded by Zemke , Gabreski , and Jerry Johnson for breaking formation when the other pilot denied his concurrence . Even so , the kill was confirmed , one of the very first among the novice 8th Fighter Command pilots . Johnson received a bottle of Scotch whisky from Major General Carl Spaatz , commanding the 8th Air Force , to mark the occasion . Near - fatal engagement . One of the 56th ' s worst setbacks occurred on June 26 , 1943 , when 48 P - 47Cs left a forward operating base at RAF Manston late in the afternoon to provide escort for B - 17 Flying Fortress bombers returning from a mission against Villacoublay airfield in the Paris suburbs . As the P - 47s approached the rendezvous point near Forges - les - Eaux , they were jumped from above and behind by 16 Focke - Wulf Fw 190 s of II " Gruppe " , JG 26 . The first pass scattered the Thunderbolts , and Johnson ' s aircraft , flying at the rear of the 61st Squadron ' s formation , was seriously damaged by a 20 mm shell that exploded in his cockpit and ruptured his hydraulic system . Burned and partially blinded by hydraulic fluid , Johnson tried to bail out , but could not open his shattered canopy . After pulling out of an uncontrolled spin and with the fire amazingly going out on its own , Johnson headed for the English Channel , but was intercepted by a single Fw 190 . Unable to fight back , he maneuvered while under a series of attacks , and although sustaining further heavy damage from 7 . 92mm , managed to survive until the German ran out of ammunition . The German rocked his wings to salute Johnson , then turned back . His opponent has never been identified , but Johnson could have been one of three victories claimed that day by the commander of III / JG 2 , " Oberst " Egon Mayer . After landing , Johnson tried to count the bullet holes in his airplane , but gave up after the tally passed 200 - without even moving around the craft . While Johnson made it back to land at Manston , four other pilots of the 56th FG were killed in action . A fifth , able to extend only one of his plane ' s landing gear struts , had to bail out over the English Channel and was rescued north of Yarmouth . Five other Thunderbolts suffered battle damage . Johnson suffered shrapnel wounds and minor burns to his face , hands , and legs , and was awarded the Purple Heart . He resumed flying missions on July 1 . Becoming an ace . As the 56th Group gained experience , its success in aerial combat improved dramatically , beginning with 17 " Luftwaffe " fighters shot down on August 17 while escorting bombers attacking Regensburg and Schweinfurt . Johnson , promoted to First Lieutenant in July , got his second kill on August 19 over the Netherlands when he exploded a Bf 109 , but scheduling often left him on the ground on days when the 56th scored high . That situation changed in early October when a week of deep penetration escort missions resulted in a multiplicity of victories for the 56th FG . On October 8 Johnson , assigned as Jerry Johnson ' s wingman on an escort mission to Bremen , shot down an Fw 190 that was attacking another P - 47 . Two days later , covering bombers as they withdrew from Münster , his squadron engaged an estimated 40 fighters intercepting the bombers . In a prolonged and vicious dogfight Johnson shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 110 and one of its Fw 190 escorts , but suffered severe battle damage himself . Both he and 56th deputy commander Major David C . Schilling became aces on that date , becoming the fourth and fifth pilots of the Eighth Air Force to achieve the feat . Johnson had become an ace while flying primarily as a wingman and overcame a reputation among his commanders for being a " lone wolf " who went off on his own from his squadron . On November 26 , 1943 , however , Johnson was advanced to flight lead , although on his first mission in that capacity he was forced by a fuel leak to turn back to base shortly after takeoff . Between December 22 , 1943 , and January 5 , 1944 , Johnson was the only member of his squadron to score victories , shooting down five German fighters . In February 1944 the 56th FG began employing 150 - gallon drop tanks on missions , enabling them to escort heavy bombers to the target area on deep penetration missions . The 56th was assigned a patrol sector west of Hanover in the vicinity of Dümmer Lake , and there on four missions in February and March Johnson shot down eight more German planes to become the leading U . S . ace at the time . Johnson ' s 200 - hour combat tour was nearly over and he applied for and was granted a 25 - hour extension of his tour . Promoted to Captain on March 15 , he scored three more victories before being transferred to the 62nd Fighter Squadron to act as its operations officer ( S - 3 ) . He was promoted to Major on May 1 , 1944 , and on the last mission of his extended tour , recorded his final kills on 8 May 1944 , when he broke Rickenbacker ' s record . He returned to the United States on June 6 , 1944 . Johnson flew a total of 89 combat missions between April 1943 and May 1944 . Johnson had four aircraft assigned to him during combat operations . His crew chief in the 61st FS was S / Sgt . Ernest D . " Pappy " Gould , and in the 62nd FS , Sgt . J . C . Penrod . Per Roger Freeman , all of Johnson ' s aerial victories are believed to have occurred while flying these aircraft : Johnson ' s logbook Awards and decorations . Command pilot American Defense Service Medal American Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal National Defense Service Medal Post - war career . After the war , Johnson became the chief test pilot for Republic Aviation , maker of the P - 47 , where he worked as an engineering executive for 18 years , and served as National President of the Air Force Association from 1949 – 1951 . He remained a member of the US Air Force Reserve , visiting Air Force bases in South Korea in December 1951 , and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel . In 1964 Johnson became an insurance executive in Lake Wylie , South Carolina . The terminal building at Lawton - Fort Sill Regional Airport , in his birthplace , Lawton , Oklahoma , is named in his memory . A painting of Johnson ' s final mission was commissioned by the Oklahoma State Senate Historical Preservation Fund , Inc . in 2000 and hangs in the Oklahoma State Senate conference room on the fourth floor of the Oklahoma State Capitol . Johnson collaborated with aviation author Martin Caidin to write his autobiographical story of the 56th Fighter Group , " Thunderbolt ! " , in 1958 .