MH: How many combat sorties did you fly, and what was your final victory count?

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Johnson: I flew 91 missions and got my 26th and 27th victories–a Bf-109G and an Fw-190–on my last mission, May 8, 1944. Later, they gave me credit for an additional airplane, which made number 28. About a year ago, however, I was informed that they had gone through and recounted the records, and I was officially credited with 27. They had given me credit for two on one mission, and Ralph Johnson one. Actually, it should have been reversed; I got the one. I didn’t fly on the day of the double victory.

MH: Well, 27 victories in 91 missions was phenomenal in any case. Only one pilot in Europe did better, and he was another 56th man, right?

Johnson: Yes–Francis S. Gabreski continued to fly after I had left. He went down on July 20, 1944, soon after scoring his 28th victory, and was taken prisoner. As you know, he also became an ace in Korea, with 6.5 more victories.

MH: Were you around when Colonel Zemke was shot down and became a POW?

Johnson: No, I had already left by that time. I left our base on May 8, 1944, coming home on June 6. I was kept in a rest and recuperation home, where I damn near went nuts. There was nothing to do; it was a miserable place. They did that so I could be in England on D-Day, but I was not aware of that until it happened. I tried in every possible way to fly combat for two more weeks. Their answer was, No, go home and get fat. I was never allowed to fly combat again.

MH: Why do you think they did that?

Johnson: I had broken Eddie Rickenbacker’s World War I record, and they did not want to take that away from me. Perhaps that is one reason I’m still here.

MH: Tell us about some of your most memorable combat missions.

Johnson: Well, four P-47 groups pushed the Germans back from the French and Dutch coasts to about a north-south line from Kiel to Hanover. They knew what our range was because they had captured a couple of P-47s and they knew it was a big gas eater. They set their defensive line at the limit of our operational range, where we had to turn back. On March 6, however, we had one of the biggest aerial battles right over Dümmer Lake. They attacked the bombers, and about 69 of the heavies were shot down. I had eight guys to protect the bombers against about 150 German fighters, so we were not very effective at that time. We were split into groups A and B, spreading ourselves thin since the Germans had not come up to fight. They showed up then on March 6, 8 and 15, and I was on all three missions. I was in Group B on March 8 and Group A on the other days, which was right up in front. I was the lead plane on those occasions. We lost 34 bombers on March 8, and on the 15th I was the lead plane moving north trying to find the Germans. Well, I found them. There were three groups of Germans with about 50 planes per group, and the eight of us went right into them head on. Two groups were level, coming horizontally, and the third was up high as top cover. We went in, since we had no choice, and fired line abreast. That stalled them a little bit. I was pushing every button I could find on my radio, including SOS. I gave the location where I found the Germans and what they were. In just a matter of minutes we had scores of planes–P-47s, North American P-51s and Lockheed P-38s. It was a big turmoil, but we lost only one bomber that day, due to flak. Usually when we could find no Germans in the air on the way home, we would drop down near the treetops and strafe anything of military value–airfields, marshaling yards, trains, boats, anything like that. Later, the Ninth Air Force took that up as they pushed ahead of our ground forces.

MH: I know that ground attack was not considered a choice assignment.

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