i ? "?'"mm,,, i jhhr\
^ -uuiriv* alut l . lex jonnsi on pre
pares to climb the ladder into the
cockpit of a B-47 Strotojet bomber
during his earlier role as flight test *
pilot for that plane.
ROARS OFF* Th? StratofortrMt Ikvis Seattle runway during t?it flight.
"LIKE THIS, SON." Uting roplicooi Thompson Trophy at pylon,"Tox"?how?
son. Gory, how h* mod* turn in roe* ho won at 1944 National Air Racot.
TEST PILOT
A. M. "Tax" Johnston, 38-year-old veteran lost pilot, probably has put moro different typos
of airplanes through thoir pacos than any othor living pilot. His big job today is flight
tasting Booing Airplano Company's hugo now eight-jet B-52 Stratofortress. Last April he took
the swept-wing airplane on its maiden flight. Now every few days or so he takes it up on what
are termed "routine" flights.
It was during World War II, as a test pilot, that Johnston began to score his string of "firsts."
He flight tested the first U.S. jet engine; radio controlled the flight of the first U.S. jet air
plane, the Bell P-59; radio-controlled the flight of the Grumman F-7F for the Navy; conducted
early ram-jet engine tests for 'he Air Materiel Command; conducted early pressure cabin tests
and piloted the Bell L-39, first U.S. swept-wing airplane.
In addition he had flight tested miscellaneous helicopters and a score of experimental U.S.
fighters and bombers. Prior to joining the Boeing flight department in 1949 he had flown every
jet airplane type in the U.S. Air Force and now has more than 1,200 flight hours in jets-close
to 9,000 testing all types of airplanes.
Johnston lives with his wife, DeLores, and three children, in Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle,
Wash. His hobbies are building furniture and racing his small cabin cruiser on a nearby lake.
WAR PLANE. "Tex" poses alongside Bell P-59, first U.S. jet plane, which he tested in 1943.
^T. B-52 Strotofortress Iqnds on Seattle field after test flight. "Tex" is at the controls.
MAN FROM MARS? W?orino high a I fifed* "space
?uit," "T?" gets ready for Stra to fortress flight.
AT HOME. "TW'ipandt torn* quiet moments with hit wife and three children, Judy,
IS, Gory, 10 and baby Barbara, in thoir Seattle suburban home.
n.h WMk'i PKtUII MtOW-?r UmlnLn.