Sergeant Frank Johnson (28 December 1896 – 1961) was a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

credited with 16 aerial victories. He flew as both an observer/gunner and as a pilot, and is the only enlisted man to receive a second award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal.

Biography

Johnson scored his first four victories between 24 September 1916 and 4 February 1917 while assigned to No. 22 Squadron. He flew in the front seat of four different F.E.2bs with four different pilots to do it. Johnson was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal on 26 April 1917. He then retrained as a pilot, receiving Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 4531 on 21 April 1917, and returned to action as a member of No. 20 Squadron, which operated

Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Biff"'' ...

s. He then scored nine more victories between 11 October 1917 and 17 February 1918, using four different gunners in the rear seat of the two-seat fighter. He then transferred to No. 62 Squadron to score his last three victories, one on 27 March 1918, and the other two on 12 April. Once again, he was piloting Bristols, and he used two different gunners to score this last trio of triumphs. He was awarded a Bar to his DCM in lieu of a second award on 3 September 1918. His final tally showed six enemy aircraft destroyed and ten driven down out of control.

Awards and citations

;Distinguished Conduct Medal :6391 Corporal (Acting Serjeant) F. Johnson, RFC. ::"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty as an observer. He was attacked by three hostile machines and shot one of them down. He has previously shot down three other machines." ;Bar to the Distinguished Conduct Medal :6391 Serjeant F. Johnson, DCM, RAF. ::"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in encounters with enemy aeroplanes, with the following results:— Attacked and crashed a Pfalz scout, drove down an Albatross out of control. On previous occasions he had destroyed four enemy aeroplanes and driven three down out of control."

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * 1896 births 1961 deaths British Army personnel of World War I People from Oldham Royal Flying Corps soldiers British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal Military personnel from Manchester Royal Air Force airmen Royal Air Force personnel of World War I {{RAF-bio-stub