Force for the good

Air Vice-Marshall ‘Tohnnie’ Tohnson was credited with more enemy kills than any other British pilot in World War II. At his death in 2001, Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, chairman of the Battle of Britain Fighter Pilots’ Association, described him as being “a sort of Lincolnshire poacher. Before the war he had been a game shooter… a gifted shot. During the war he was exceptionally skilled in the art of deflection shooting. Lots of us were good pilots but he was an excellent shot, too.”

It’s clear that Tohnson’s skills were developed and honed while game shooting. His love of fieldsports must have been a significant part of the reason for his 700 successful sorties, his incredible array of honours and his place in history as a flying ace.

“The redleg bounced like a Guy Gibson bomb before coming to rest 80m behind him”

But it wasn’t only