Force for the good

A visit to RAF Cranwell shoot reminds Simon Garnham that Battle of Britain pilots might well have learned early discipline in field sports

- Simon Garnham

Air Vice-Marshall ‘Johnnie’ Johnson 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 Johnson’s skills were developed and honed while game shooting. His love of field sports must have been a significant part of the reason for his 700 successful sorties, his incredible array of honors and his place in history as a flying ace.

But it wasn’t only the skill of shooting that was learned in the sporting field. Johnson’s obituary notes that he “looked after his people… After D-Day he organized barrels of beer to be slung under the Spitfires in place of extra fuel tanks, a move welcomed on the dusty frontline airfields of Normandy.”

Action

I was privileged enough to be invited to join the RAF Cranwell shoot, where I saw the modern generation of pilots and their comrades in action. The ideals demonstrated by Johnnie Johnson were just as obvious in 2020 when I met Squadron Leader Karl Bird in a windswept Lincolnshire field, as dark clouds scudded across the rich soil.

“RAF Cranwell began in 1919 for the newly founded RAF,” said Karl. “The following year the Cranwell Officers Shooting Club began; we’ve been going strong for 100 years since. Drink?” And so, with a generous sloe gin, began a memorable sporting day.