Spitfire Ace of Aces: The Wartime Story of Johnnie Johnson

Johnnie Johnson is a character literally straight out of the pages of ‘Boys Own’. By the end of the Second World War the RAF Spitfire pilot was a household name in Britain, feted by Churchill and Eisenhower. Although he missed the Battle of Britain when slow flying bombers were abundant and easy targets for fighters by 1945 he had notched up 38 enemy ‘kills’ – all fighters which took far more skill to shoot down - and was officially the RAF’s top-scoring fighter ace. One of his most impressive achievements was that despite over 1000 combat missions, he was never shot down. His Spitfire was damaged once and on his return to base he apologized to his fitter saying ‘I was surrounded by six of them’.Aviation historian Dilip Sarkar spent many hours with Johnson in the final years of the great man’s life, recording the last interviews Johnson would ever gave. The book is infused with breathtaking first hand accounts from Johnnie himself and many of his fellow Spitfire pilots also interviewed by the author, and profusely illustrated with photographs from Johnson’s personal albums.The author is a major authority on British fighter pilots of the Second World War. REVIEWS “…well written text is richly illustrated with 127 photographs…highly recommended…a fascinating combination of biography and military history.”Toy Soldier and Model Figure "...a wonderful book, telling the story of Johnnie Johnson from his own perspective. You can't get much more personal than that....clearly ranks among the very best."LOGBOOK