Robert Samuel Johnson (February 21, 1920 – December 27, 1998) was a fighter pilot with the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II.

He was later credited by the Eighth Air Force claims board with a 28th victory when a "probable" was reassessed as a "destroyed", then reduced back to 27 when a post-war review discovered that the Eighth Air Force had inadvertently switched credits for a kill he made with a double kill made by a fellow 56th Fighter Group pilot, Ralph A. Johnson, on November 26, 1943, a day when Robert Johnson aborted the mission after takeoff.

For acquiring the skills and aggressiveness he later employed as a fighter pilot, Johnson credited an interest in shooting and hunting small game with a .22 rifle, boxing competitively to learn about controlling fear, and playing high school and junior college football as a blocking guard.

While attending Cameron Junior College, Johnson resumed flying in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, and accumulated 100 hours total flight time by his second year.

In the summer of 1941, Johnson enlisted as an aviation cadet in the United States Army, and entered the service at Oklahoma City on November 11, 1941, as a member of Class 42F.

Pre-Flight training was conducted at Kelly Field, Texas, beginning November 12 and was still in progress when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor thrust the United States into World War II.

Johnson married Barbara Morgan (whom he had met in high school) in Benton, Missouri, on February 21 immediately upon completing Primary Flying Training.

While the 56th FG was responsible for many of the modifications that made later variants a successful fighter-bomber, the training resulted in more than forty crashes and 18 fatalities, many of which Johnson blamed on the inadequacy of the small airport at Bridgeport.

On December 28 it moved to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey, and on January 6, 1943, sailed from the New York Port of Embarkation aboard the RMS Queen Elizabeth for Scotland.

On May 14 he encountered Luftwaffe aircraft for the first time on a mission to escort Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses to bomb Antwerp, damaging two Focke-Wulf Fw 190s that had broken up his squadron's formation but becoming separated from the group.

On June 13, while flying in a flight led by his squadron commander, Major Francis Gabreski, Johnson shot down his first German aircraft (of 10 Staffel, JG 26).

Johnson received a bottle of Scotch whisky from Major General Carl Spaatz, commanding the 8th Air Force, to mark the occasion.

One of the 56th's worst setbacks occurred on June 26, 1943, when 48 P-47Cs left a forward operating base at RAF Manston late in the afternoon to provide escort for B-17 bombers returning from a mission against Villacoublay airfield in the Paris suburbs.

The first pass scattered the Thunderbolts, and Johnson's aircraft, flying at the rear of the 61st Squadron's formation, was seriously damaged by an Fw 190 fighter which fired 21 20 mm cannon shells into his fuselage which ruptured his hydraulic system.

For a while, the flaming P-47 plummeted from the sky, spinning in spirals until Johnson managed to regain control by kicking left rudder to level the wings and pulling back on the stick.

Unable to fight back, he maneuvered while under a series of attacks, and although sustaining further heavy damage from hundreds of 7.92 mm rounds, managed to survive until the German ran out of ammunition.

A fifth pilot, Samuel D. Hamilton, able to extend only one of his plane's landing gear struts, had to bail out over the English Channel and was rescued north of Yarmouth.

As the 56th Group gained experience, its success in aerial combat improved dramatically, beginning with 17 Luftwaffe fighters shot down on August 17 while escorting bombers attacking Regensburg and Schweinfurt.

Johnson, promoted to first lieutenant in July, got his second kill on August 19 over the Netherlands when he exploded a Messerschmitt Bf 109, but scheduling often left him on the ground on days when the 56th scored high.

Both he and 56th deputy commander Major David C. Schilling became aces on that date, becoming the fourth and fifth pilots of the Eighth Air Force to achieve the feat.

[7] On November 26, 1943, however, Johnson was advanced to flight lead, although on his first mission in that capacity he was forced by a fuel leak to turn back to base shortly after takeoff.

The 56th was assigned a patrol sector west of Hanover in the vicinity of Dümmer Lake, and there on four missions in February and March Johnson shot down eight more German planes to become the leading U.S. ace at the time.

Per Roger Freeman, all of Johnson's aerial victories are believed to have occurred while flying these aircraft: Johnson's logbook[11] Command pilot The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Captain (Air Corps) Robert Samuel Johnson, United States Army Air Forces, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Pilot of a P-47 Fighter Airplane in the 61st Fighter Squadron, 56th Fighter Group, EIGHTH Air Force, in aerial combat against enemy forces on 15 March 1944.

By his extraordinary courage, his aggressiveness, and his determination to destroy the enemy and protect the bombers, Captain Johnson rendered valorous and distinguished service to our nation.

[13] After the war, Johnson became the chief test pilot for Republic Aviation, maker of the P-47, where he worked as an engineering executive for 18 years, and served as national president of the Air Force Association from 1949 to 1951.

It included a missing man formation flyover by three F-16 Fighting Falcons and the honor guard from Shaw Air Force Base firing a 21-gun salute and playing Taps.