Alvin Melvin "Tex" Johnston (August 18, 1914 – October 29, 1998) was an American
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 Testin ...
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 i ...
and the
Boeing Company
The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
.
Early life
Johnston was born August 18, 1914, in Admire, Kansas, 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 in 1932, Johnston enrolled in the airplane mechanic program at the Spartan School of Aeronautics in
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
. 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 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 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka, Kansas, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, Wichita ...
. 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...
'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 a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
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 i ...
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
ended, Johnston convinced Larry Bell to purchase two war-surplus Airacobras to be modified and entered in the National Air Races 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 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. 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 B ...
at a speed of
Mach
The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound.
It is named after the Austrian physi ...
.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 (United States), 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 his ...
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 (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
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 aircraft, 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 ...
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
, 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 an annual summer festival in Seattle, Washington, that encompasses a wide variety of small neighborhood events leading up to several major citywide celebrations. Its main events include the Torchlight Parade (and accompanying Torc ...
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
Cocoa Beach, Florida
Cocoa Beach is a city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 11,354 at the 2020 United States census, up from 11,231 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Palm Bay, Florida, Palm Bay–Melbourne, Florida, Melbourne–T ...
Apollo
Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...
missions. He also worked with
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
, managing Saturn and Apollo programs. In 1968, Johnston left Boeing to manage Tex Johnston, Inc., Total-In-Flight-Simulator Inc., and Aero Spacelines, the latter handling the manufacture and certification of an outsized cargo airplane known as the Pregnant Guppy.
In 1975, Johnston rejoined his old boss, Robert Stanley, and became chief pilot at Stanley Aviation, 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 exp ...
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 neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
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 ...
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 took up acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV sho ...