James Edgar Johnson

Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar “Johnnie” Johnson was the highest-scoring Western Allied fighter pilot against the Luftwaffe, credited with 34 enemy aircraft destroyed and a further seven shared.

Born at Barrow upon Soar in Leicestershire on 9 March 1915, he trained as a civil engineer before joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. A troublesome rugby injury to his shoulder kept him from the thick of the Battle of Britain, but once it was put right he flew Spitfires through the great fighter sweeps over France from 1941 onward, scoring steadily — almost all his victories against the formidable Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190. He led No. 610 Squadron and then a Canadian Spitfire wing, his personal aircraft marked with his initials “JE-J”.

Unusually for so successful a fighter pilot he was never himself shot down, and he survived the war to remain in the RAF, serving in the Korean War and rising to air vice-marshal before retiring in 1966. His decorations included the Distinguished Service Order with two Bars and the Distinguished Flying Cross with Bar. He died on 30 January 2001, aged 85.