Dick Johnson (test pilot)

Richard Lowe Johnson (September 21, 1917 - November 9, 2002) is best known for being chief test pilot for Convair,[1] a division of the American defence contractor General Dynamics, and as a founding member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots in 1955.[2]

Biography

Johnson was born in Cooperstown, North Dakota, and educated at Oregon State University. In 1942, Johnson enlisted in the US Army Air Corps and served as a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot with the 57th Group's, 66th Fighter Squadron, in North Africa and Italy. He completed 180 combat missions and was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and fourteen Air Medals. The F-86A set its first official world speed record of 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h) on September 15, 1948 at Muroc Dry Lake flown by Major Richard L. Johnson, USAF. Johnson remained in the US Air Force until 1953, having reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.

He died of brain cancer on November 9, 2002, and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.[3]

Decorations

Other awards
  • Ivan C. Kincheloe Award in 1967, for the General Dynamics F-111 test program.
gollark: My problem with the whole free-college/university thing (again, see here: https://slatestarcodex.com/2015/06/06/against-tulip-subsidies/) is that it's just propping up what seems to basically just be an expensive and time-consuming signalling scheme at great cost.
gollark: Frequently.
gollark: Er, I was talking about university/college being a nigh-pointless signalling thing.
gollark: As I said, iŧ appears to mostly be a nigh-pointless signalling thing.
gollark: Initiate protocol epsilon.

References
  1. Blackburn, Al (1999). Aces Wild: The Race for Mach 1. Rowman & Littlefield p. 207. ISBN 978-0-8420-2732-8.
  2. Helm, Merry (January 7, 2020). "Dick Johnson, Test Pilot". Williston Herald. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  3. Eriksmoen, Curt (July 20, 2014). "Test pilot from N.D. set records". The Bismarck Tribune. Retrieved March 11, 2020.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.