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.)
Read more about Robert S. Johnson: Childhood and Flying Interest, Aviation Cadet, 56th Fighter Group, Awards and Decorations, Post-war Career, See Also, References
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“A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller: he follows it at all adventures; it is sure to lead him out of his way and sure to engulf him in the mire.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)