Johnnie Johnson was my great boyhood hero.  Many years later I was lucky enough to meet him in the Station Commander’s marquee at RAF Finningley at two successive Air Displays where he was kind enough to talk at some length with me, a minor Army officer.  This would have been, I think, in 1991 and 1992.  Although he was an elderly man he remained tall, alert and fluent; his ability entirely obvious.  He died on 30 January 2001.  

Johnnie Johnson's orders and decorations with his log books and four albums of war time photographs were sold at auction at Spink’s, the Queen’s medallists, later that year. 

Four years later about seventy lots of his possessions were offered at auction in Sheffield.  He lived not very far away near Buxton.  The lots were primarily books, prints and presentation shields, the sort of things that would have filled his study.  I was able to buy twenty of the lots, which were amongst the best, and these amounted to 107 individual items.  

Of note is  Johnnie Johnson's own copy of the Robert Taylor print of him leading his Canadian Wing over the D-Day landings.  It is signed by several people and includes a personal note from Adolf Galland.

Others include  a USAF-commissioned book on Close Air Support signed by Dan Browne, his wingman, and three American aces:  

Gabby Gabreski (Lt. Col. Francis S. "Gabby" Gabreski who scored 28 kills in WWII, PoW, downed 6.5 MiGs over Korea) writes, "One of the very best from the Battle of Britain.  RAF - ardent admirer".

Dan Browne (Sqn. Ldr. J. Danforth Browne DFC RCAF.  US pilot who flew with the RCAF and in JEJ's Sqn as his wingman) writes, "Johnnie, looking forward to the 50th".

Bud Mahurin (Col. Walker 'Bud' Mahurin who flew P-47s with 21 kills, and F-86 Sabre jet fighters in Korea with 3.5 kills.  Shot down in both conflicts; PoW in Korea) writes, "Johnnie, you really are one of life's great pleasures".

The final autograph without comment is from Frederick 'Boots' Blesse with ten kills in Korea.

Some are very mundane, signed by no one, and apparently acquired by Johnnie from RAF Station libraries.  Others show no trace of their origin but even here there are gems such as a book from the 1920’s describing the exploits of German WW1 aces, a book so thoroughly read and re-read that it is falling to bits.  Johnnie refers to it in one of his books, describing how he read it as a teenager.

Each item comes with a certificate of authenticity and a copy of the auction catalogue.