Alvin Melvin "Tex" Johnston (August 18, 1914 – October 29, 1998) was an American jet-age
test pilot
A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
for
Bell Aircraft
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many ...
and the
Boeing Company
The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
.
Early life
Johnston was born August 18, 1914, in
Admire, Kansas
Admire is a city in Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 130.
History
Admire was founded in 1886. It was named for one of its founders, Jacob Admire.
The first post office in Admire was e ...
, to farmers Alva and Ella Johnston. He had his first airplane ride in 1925, at 11 years old, when a barnstormer landed near his family farm. At the age of 15, Johnston used his newspaper route money to purchase a wrecked Cessna glider. After repairing the glider, Johnston's father would pull it behind their car and Johnston would release the tow cable and glide to a landing in a nearby field. After graduating from
Emporia High School
Emporia High School is a public secondary school in Emporia, Kansas, United States. It is the sole high school operated by Emporia USD 253 school district, and serves students of grades 9 to 12. Emporia has an enrollment of approximately 1, ...
in 1932, Johnston enrolled in the airplane mechanic program at the
Spartan School of Aeronautics
Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology (Spartan) is a private for-profit aviation college in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was originally established to provide pilot and technicians for Spartan Aircraft Company but outlived its parent company an ...
in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
. Once Johnston became an apprentice mechanic, he was able to offset his flight training costs by working on the school's aircraft. After graduating from Spartan, Johnston joined the Inman's Flying Circus, working as both a pilot and mechanic. After a season with Inman's, Johnston bought a Command-Aire biplane and started barnstorming on his own.
When the 1934 barnstorming season ended, Johnston sold his airplane and returned to
Emporia, Kansas
Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka and Wichita at the intersection of U.S. Route 50 with Interstates 335 ...
. He reunited with his high school girlfriend, DeLores Honea, and married in 1935. In order to create a stable income for his young family, Johnston operated a movie theater for several years, but soon yearned to continue his aviation career. He enrolled in
Kansas State University
Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...
's aeronautical engineering program, but dropped out in 1939 to become a civilian instructor for the U.S. Army Air Corp's
Civilian Pilot Training Program
The Civilian Pilot Training Program (CPTP) was a flight training program (1938–1944) sponsored by the United States government with the stated purpose of increasing the number of civilian pilots, though having a clear impact on military prepare ...
Dallas, Texas
Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...
flying domestic ferry flights.
Test pilot
Bell Aircraft
In December 1942,
Bell Aircraft
The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of many ...
chief test pilot Robert Stanley offered Johnston a position as a production test pilot. Johnston flew the
Bell P-39 Airacobra
The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...
and the XP-63 Kingcobra during the prototype phases as well as the first American jet, the XP-59 Airacomet. Johnston earned his nickname "Tex" because of his penchant for wearing cowboy boots and a
Stetson hat
Stetson is a brand of hat manufactured by the John B. Stetson Company. "Stetson" is also used as a generic trademark to refer to any campaign hat, in particular, in Scouting.
John B. Stetson gained inspiration for his most famous hats when he ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
ended, Johnston convinced Larry Bell to purchase two war-surplus Airacobras to be modified and entered in the
National Air Races
The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...
as a publicity stunt. The two P-39's were named Cobra I and II, with Johnston flying Cobra II and his flight test boss
Jack Woolams
Jack Valentine Woolams (1917–1946) - was the senior experimental test pilot and later chief test pilot at Bell Aircraft during the introduction of the P-39, P-63, P-59, and X-1 aircraft. He set a world record for altitude and was the first pe ...
flying Cobra I. The day before the race, Cobra I crashed into Lake Ontario from a suspected canopy failure, killing Woolams. There was internal debate within Bell Aircraft as whether to continue or not, but Johnston insisted Woolams would have wanted them to race. The Cobra II crew worked all night making safety modifications and won the Thompson Trophy at the 1946
National Air Races
The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...
. He set a race speed record of .
Johnston helped design and later flew the rocket-propelled
Bell X-1
The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics– U.S. Army Air Forces–U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by Be ...
at a speed of Mach .72 on May 22, 1947.NASA - Dryden History - Historic Aircraft - X-1 Flight Summary " He stayed on the program as a design advisor on modifications to the trim controls that he discovered were unusable in their manufactured configuration at high subsonic speeds. Later that year,
Chuck Yeager
Brigadier General Charles Elwood Yeager ( , February 13, 1923December 7, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, flying ace, and record-setting test pilot who in October 1947 became the first pilot in history confirmed to have exceeded the ...
would become famous for breaking the
sound barrier
The sound barrier or sonic barrier is the large increase in aerodynamic drag and other undesirable effects experienced by an aircraft or other object when it approaches the speed of sound. When aircraft first approached the speed of sound, th ...
in this aircraft.
Once the X-1 project began to taper off, Bell Aircraft made the decision to enter the fledgling
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
industry. Johnston learned to fly helicopters, but his passion remained for airplane testing.
Boeing Company
In July 1948, Johnston accepted a test pilot position with Boeing. He flew the
Boeing B-47 Stratojet
The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
and piloted the first flight of the
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress
The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...
barrel roll
A barrel roll is an aerial maneuver in which an airplane makes a complete rotation on both its longitudinal and lateral axes, causing it to follow a helical path, approximately maintaining its original direction. It is sometimes described as a ...
maneuver with Boeing's pioneering
367-80
The Boeing 367-80, known simply as the Dash 80, is an American quadjet prototype aircraft built by Boeing to demonstrate the advantages of jet propulsion for commercial aviation. It served as basis for the design of the KC-135 tanker and the Boe ...
jet in a demonstration flight over
Lake Washington
Lake Washington is a large freshwater lake adjacent to the city of Seattle.
It is the largest lake in King County and the second largest natural lake in the state of Washington, after Lake Chelan. It borders the cities of Seattle on the west, ...
outside
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, on August 7, 1955. Bill Allen, the then-president of Boeing, had invited many aero-space and airline executives to enjoy Seattle's
Seafair
Seafair is a summer festival in Seattle, Washington, that encompasses a wide variety of small neighborhood events leading up to several major citywide celebrations. While many small block parties and local parades occur under the auspices of Seaf ...
aboard his yacht. Allen had asked Johnston to make a fly-by over Seafair to show off Boeing's new airliner. Johnston performed the barrel roll during the fly-by, reversed course with a
Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar
The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar ("Dynamic Soarer") was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including aerial reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite mainten ...
program in Seattle. From 1964 to 1968, he was manager of the Boeing Atlantic Test Center in
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,539 at the 2018 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
History
The first non-native s ...
, working on two of Boeing's programs, the
Minuteman missile
The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and r ...
and the
Lunar Orbiter
The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States from 1966 through 1967. Intended to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the Moon's surface, they provided the first photographs ...
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, managing Saturn and Apollo programs. In 1968, Johnston left Boeing to manage Tex Johnston, Inc., Total-In-Flight-Simulator Inc., and
Aero Spacelines
Aero Spacelines, Inc. was an American aircraft manufacturer from 1960 to 1968 that converted Boeing 377 Stratocruisers into the famous Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy, Guppy line of airplanes, re-engineered to transport oversized cargo such as ...
, the latter handling the manufacture and certification of an outsized cargo airplane known as the
Pregnant Guppy
The Aero Spacelines Pregnant Guppy was a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft built in the United States and used for ferrying outsized cargo items, most notably components of NASA's Apollo program. The Pregnant Guppy was the first of the Guppy l ...
.
In 1975, Johnston rejoined his old boss, Robert Stanley, and became chief pilot at
Stanley Aviation
Stanley Aviation is an aerospace company started by Robert M Stanley, the aviation pioneer, in Buffalo, New York in 1948.
The company has since acquired several other companies and has been most recently acquired by Eaton Corporation.
Stanley is ...
, focusing on personnel escape systems (
ejection seat
In aircraft, an ejection seat or ejector seat is a system designed to rescue the aircraft pilot, pilot or other aircrew, crew of an aircraft (usually military) in an emergency. In most designs, the seat is propelled out of the aircraft by an ex ...
s).
In 1991, Johnston wrote his memoir, ''Tex Johnston: Jet Age Test Pilot'', with writer Charles Barton.
Death and honors
Johnston died of
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
in 1998 at a nursing home in
Mount Vernon, Washington
Mount Vernon is the county seat of Skagit County, Washington, Skagit County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 35,219 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is one of two principal cities of and include ...
.
Johnston was inducted into the
National Aviation Hall of Fame
The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...
in 1993. Johnston's cowboy style of dress and maverick behavior is said to have inspired the creation of B-52 pilot Maj. T.J. "King" Kong, portrayed by
Slim Pickens
Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens transitioned to acting and appeared in dozens of movies and ...
in the movie
Dr. Strangelove
''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'', known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'', is a 1964 black comedy film that satirizes the Cold War fears of a nuclear conflict between the Soviet Union and t ...