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. As the P-47s approached the rendezvous point near Forges-les-Eaux, they were jumped from above and behind by 16 Focke-Wulf Fw 190s of II "Gruppe", JG 26. 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. Burned and partially blinded by hydraulic fluid, Johnson tried to bail out, but his parachute snagged, and the canopy was damaged and would only open about 6 inches.