AVM J. E. Johnson was born on 9th March, 1915, Barrow-Upon-Soar, Leicestershire.
He was the son of a policeman. "I always wanted to fly," he once recalled. "But I had a lot of trouble. My old man wouldn't let me sign the papers to join up. He thought it was a young and frivolous service."

He was educated at Loughborough School and Nottingham University, where he read engineering. He obtained a civil engineering degree in 1937 but took flying lessons in his spare time, and also applied to join the Auxiliary Air Force. But, unknown to him, a broken collarbone sustained while playing rugby had not properly set, and his application was turned down.

With war clouds gathering, however, James was able to join the RAF Volunteer Reserve for weekend training.
In August, 1939, James was called up and after gaining his wings was first posted to 19 Squadron, but missed most of the Battle of Britain after being forced to have an operation on his shoulder. 19 Squadron was also having frustrating teething troubles with its first cannon-armed Spitfires, and in the end reverted to the tried and tested eight Browning machine-guns.
James was therefore sent to 616 Squadron, Auxiliary Air Force, which was not in the thick of the air fighting at that time.

James's pre-war injury, which had been exacerbated by an accident during training, now began to plague him afresh. With his shoulder and arm often in excruciating pain he found flying extremely difficult. Opting to have an operation to correct the condition, he returned to the squadron too late to participate in the battle, but was to gain valuable experience in 1941 when 616 flew on fighter sweeps over France as part of Douglas Bader's wing. He frequently flew No2 to the wing leader. It was one of Bader's great qualities as a leader that he allowed relatively new pilots to perform this vital function - many wing leaders liked experienced No2s guarding their tails - and Johnson learnt a lot from the old master of fighter tactics.

On 26th June, 1941, James he shot down his first Me 109.
By September, his tally had risen to six (all Me109s), and he was awarded the DFC and made a flight commander. (Bader had been shot down over France in August and become a PoW.)

On 19th August, 1942, James been given command of 610 Squadron in support of Canadian and British troops in the disastrous raid on the German-occupied port of Dieppe, France. His war almost ended that day. On his fourth sortie, he went into a near-vertical dive while pursued by a Focke-Wulf 190 fighter. He pulled out just above ground level and then, crossing the beaches, flew into a barrage of antiaircraft fire from a Royal Navy destroyer. Unscathed, he pulled up over the ship and then set off in search of the fighter that had been pursuing him. "But happily, he was no longer with me," he remembered.

Early in 1943, James was appointed leader of the Canadian wing at Kenley. As Bader had discovered with the Canadian 242 Squadron in 1940, he found that its pilots distrusted him at first. But, by improving on the wing's somewhat outdated flying tactics he led it inspirationally in what turned out to be a period of hectic action over the Continent.

On 9th August, during the wing's operation in support of a bomber attack on Gosnay, near Lille, Johnson was present when the legless Bader was shot down and taken prisoner.
In September, 1943, James was rested from operations and given a staff appointment as an operational planner at Headquarters, 11 Group.

He returned to operations in command of another Canadian Wing in March 1944. As part of 83 Group 2nd Tactical Air Force this was involved in the intensive air attacks on the occupied Continent which preceded D-Day.

James's last combat victory came on 27th September, 1944, in the skies over the battle for the Falaise Gap. He shot down an Fw 190 that day, but himself sustained damage - his first during the entire war - when his aircraft was struck by a single cannon shell.

James ended his war in command of 125 Wing which in May, 1945, he led to Denmark to put on a victory air display. His wartime tally was thirty eight.

After the end of the war, James was offered a permanent commission and stayed in the RAF. In 1950 he was attached to the USAF as the Korean War was breaking out and he went to Korea.

Among his later appointments was the important command of RAF Wildenrath in the 2nd TAF in Germany, 1952-54, and he was commander of the V Bomber base RAF Cottesmore from 1957 to 1960.
His last appointment was as AOC Air Forces Middle East, from 1963 to 1965; he opted to take early retirement the following year.

He was appointed CBE in 1960 and CB in 1965.
Air Vice-Marshal J. E. (Johnnie) Johnson, DSO and two Bars, DFC and Bar, was apppointed the CBE in 1960, the CB in 1965.

He died at his home in Derbyshire on 30th January, 2001, aged 85.

His retirement was an active one. In 1969 he founded the 'Johnnie' Johnson Housing Trust, a charitable housing association for people in need, which today manages some 4,000 properties in the North of England. He was also a director of companies in Britain, Canada and South Africa.
Johnson published both in his own account and jointly, a number of books: among them were Wing Leader (1956), The Story of Air Fighting (1985), Courage in the Skies (1992) and Winged Victory (1995).
His marriage, in 1942, to Pauline Ingate was dissolved.
He is survived by two sons.