Robert S. Johnson was born in Lawton on Feb. 21, 1920, attended Lawton High School and Cameron Junior College, and had his pilot’s license at sixteen. By 1943 he was flying a P-47 Thunderbolt with the 56th Fighter Group out of England, and on June 26 of that year sixteen German Focke-Wulf 190s attacked his plane. He took more than 200 bullets and 21 cannon shells, put out the flames, and flew 400 miles back to base.
The flying didn’t stop there. On May 8, 1944, Johnson’s 27th aerial victory topped Eddie Rickenbacker’s WWI record. His decorations included the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Purple Heart, and four air medals. After the war, he spent 18 years as Republic Aviation’s chief test pilot and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1962.
Johnson died in Tulsa in 1988, joined the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2005, and has been memorialized at the Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport terminal since 2006. You’ve probably seen that name on the way to a flight. Have you ever looked up the story behind it?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.