|
 Richard Loe Johnson, chief test pilot for General Dynamics Convair San Diego Division, died of cancer 9 November 2002 in Fort Worth, Texas. He was the first pilot to fly the precedent-setting variable-sweep-wing General Dynamics F-111, the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger, and the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. He was eighty-five. Johnson’s extraordinary flying career, which encompassed thousands of flying hours in over 300 different aircraft types, spanned over a half-century. He was still a rated pilot at the time of his death.
Johnson was born in Cooperstown, North Dakota. An exceptionally talented baseball player, he was a top rated pitcher in the state’s amateur ranks and eventually played on a championship-winning American Legion team. Later, he earned considerable acclaim while pitching for Oregon State University. Following graduation, his skills were sufficient to merit an invitation from the Boston Red Sox farm system where he remained on the active roster until shortly after the United States entered combat in World War II.
Johnson enrolled in the US Army Air Corps in 1943. He became a fighter pilot and was assigned to the 57th Group’s 66th FS. Based in North Africa and Italy, he eventually completed 180 missions, primarily while flying Republic P-47 Thunderbolts. For his exceptional combat record, he was awarded the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, four Distinguished Flying Crosses, and fourteen Air Medals.
Johnson became chief of flight test for fighter development at Wright Field near Dayton, Ohio, after the war. While assigned temporarily to Edwards AFB, California, he piloted the North American F-86 Sabrejet to a world speed record of 680 mph, an accomplishment for which Johnson received the prestigious Thompson Trophy. Four years later, while assigned the task of demonstrating improvements in F-86 performance resulting from a new wing leading edge design, Johnson was sent to Korea. While introducing the air-craft’s attributes to Air Force pilots, he managed to fly seven operational combat missions.
By the time of his retirement from the Air Force in 1953, Johnson had logged approximately 4,500 hours in thirty-five different aircraft types, including the rocket-propelled Bell X-1, the world’s first supersonic aircraft. Johnson left the Air Force to become chief test pilot for General Dynamics Convair San Diego Division. Initially flying from Edwards AFB, he later moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he took over the flight test department in 1960 during the early days of the B-58 Hustler program. He logged thousands of hours in a variety of Convair aircraft during his tenure with the company. Many honors were bestowed upon Johnson during this period, including an Ivan C. Kincheloe Award given by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots to honor the single best pilot in their profession. Johnson officially retired from General Dynamics in 1977. He continued to instruct and work as a contract test pilot for a number of aerospace contractors around the United States after retirement.
|
