RAFA 12 Battle of Britain Major Assault RAF cover signed WW2 ace JOHNSON DSO DFC for Sale

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RAFA 12 Battle of Britain Major Assault RAF cover signed WW2 ace JOHNSON DSO DFC For Sale

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RAFA 12 Battle of Britain Major Assault RAF cover signed WW2 ace JOHNSON DSO DFC:
$22.66

The Major Assault RAF cover signed WWII Fighter Ace Air Vice-Marshal \'Johnnie\' Johnson CB CBE DSO** DFC* DL C Eng

Cover produced for the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Cover depicts two staffeln of Heinkels bombing RAF Biggin Hill 31 August 1940, a Dornier DO215 of 4/aufklarungsgruppe 121 shot down by 66 Squadron off the Norfolk coast 30 August 1940 and RAF Hornchurch under attack with Spitfires of 54 Squadron in trouble.

Cover bears 20p George Cross gallantry stamp cancelled on First Day of Issue at Biggin Hill Westerham.
Cover has been flown from RAF Wattisham in Lancaster \'City of Lincoln\' of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight to join up with the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain Flypast over the Lea Valley and then to London flying along the Mall over Buckingham Palace and on to RAF Abingdon where it left the fomration and landed at RAF Lyneham.

Cover has been signed by

Air Vice-Marshal ‘Johnnie’ Johnson CB CBE DSO** DFC* DL C Eng
Highest Scoring WWII RAF Ace

Air Vice-Marshal James Edgar Johnson was born in Loughborough in 1915 and was educated at Loughborough School and University College, where he studied civil engineering. He started to learn to fly at his own expense and then applied to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. Unfortunately they had far more candidates than vacancies and were unable to take him, however he was called into the RAFVR for weekend training and mobilised at the outbreak of war. In August 1940 he joined No 19 Squadron at Duxford, which was actively involved in the war and had little time to devote to the training of new pilots, so Johnnie Johnson and his colleagues were posted on to No 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, which had just been pulled out of the front-line and was based at Coltishall.

While the Battle of Britain was raging in the skies over the South of England, Johnson was being put through an intensive training course on Spitfires and it was at this stage that his flying career nearly came to an end. In 1938 he had broken his collar-bone whilst playing rugby and it had not been set properly. The weight of his parachute aggravated his shoulder and sometimes the fingers of his right hand went dead and lost their feel. He was given the choice of an operation on his shoulder or a job on flying training. He chose the former and in December 1940, the operation successfully completed, he rejoined No 19 Squadron at Kirton Lindsey. In 1941 Johnnie Johnson moved back to No 616 Squadron at Tangmere, where Douglas Bader led the Tangmere Wing and Johnson frequently flew number as his No 2 and was him when the legless ace was shot down.

In March 1944 Johnnie Johnson was posted from Uxbridge to lead Canadian Wing, 144, which was based at Tangmere. Flying Spitfire XIs they carried out many dive-bombing and strafing attacks across France. D-Day was not far away and in June he led the wing to operate from a landing-strip in the Normandy beach-head, the first Allied fighters to operate in France since 1940. At the time of the Armistice in May 1945 he led his wing to Denmark where he arranged a victory air show attended by the Queen of Denmark held in aid of crippled children.

By the end of the war Johnnie Johnson had won two DFCs and three DSOs as well has holding a great many foreign decorations. Further he had been credited with 38 enemy aircraft victories making him the top-scoring RAF fighter ace. After a very long and distinguished career Air Vice-Marshal Johnson retired from the RAF in 1965.

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