Spitfire Ace of Aces: The Album: The Photographs of Johnnie Johnson [Hardcover]

Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar Johnnie Johnson CB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Bar, DL was a character literally from the pages of Boys Own: an individual who became the RAFs top-scoring fighter pilot of the Second World War. A one-time household name synonymous with the superlative Spitfire, Johnnies aerial combat successes inspired schoolboys for generations.As a lowly Pilot Officer, Johnnie Johnson learned his fighter pilots craft as a prot?g? of the legless Tangmere Wing Leader, Douglas Bader. After Bader was brought down over France and captured on 9 August 1941, Johnnie remained a member of 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, in which he became a flight commander and was awarded the DFC a month after Baders devastating loss.In time, Johnnie came to command a Canadian wing in 1943, when the Spitfire Mk.IX at last outclassed the Fw 190, and participated in some of the most important battles of the defeat of Nazi Germany, including Operation Overlord and the D-Day landings in 1944, Operation Market Garden and the airborne assault at Arnhem, and the Rhine Crossings, throughout all of which Johnnie also commanded Canadian wings.Johnnies remarkable career is revealed through this unparalleled collection of archive photographs, the majority of which are drawn from his own personal album or from other members of the Johnson family. Many have not been published before. Between them, they present a fascinating insight into the man himself, the machines he flew, and the men he served alongside.Air Vice-Marshal Johnnie Johnson became the RAFs top-scoring fighter pilot and wing leader par excellence of the Second World WarBy the Second World Wars end, Johnnie Johnson had flown some 1,492 hours piloting Spitfires since completing his pilot training at Hawarden on the 23 August 1940This book is, in effect, a photo-biography of Johnsons remarkable wartime careerThe majority of the images are drawn from his own personal album or from other members of the Johnson familylCE