Ralph S. Johnson
Encyclopedia
Ralph Samuel Johnson was a pioneer of American
aviation
who served a single term from 1951-1953 as a Republican
member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
. He represented Cheyenne
, the seat of Laramie County
, Wyoming
, where he resided from 1935-1988. In 1995, Johnson was among the first four inductees to the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame in Cheyenne.
A test pilot, Johnson developed several aviation businesses and created various innovations for pilots that are still in use. "He will forever be remembered as one of Wyoming's greatest aviators, as well as a truly great citizen of this state for many years," said John Richard Waggener, president of the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame and an associate archivist
with the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming
in Laramie
.
, Newton County
, Indiana
, fewer than three years after the Wright Brothers
first flew at Kitty Hawk
, North Carolina
. Johnson was the fourth of ten children born on a farm at a time when horses still plowed fields and steam fueled harvesting machines. Johnson built the family car from parts in a junkyard. As a teenager, he started a mechanics business to earn money for college. In 1930, he graduated from Purdue University
, with a Bachelor of Science
degree in mechanical engineering
.
, the forerunner of the Air Force
. On receiving his wings, Johnson served as the personal pilot for the 8th Air Corps commanding general.
After two years in the Army Reserve, Captain Johnson worked as a pilot in Muncie
, Indiana, where he flew a Sikorsky
S-39 amphibian from Lake Wawasee
in Indiana to the Century of Progress Exhibition
, also known as the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. A chance meeting at the fair led to another job as chief test pilot at the Cheyenne maintenance base of United Airlines
. In Cheyenne, Johnson developed the stabilized approach to landing that is still in use. His other innovations include cockpit crew coordination techniques, visual approach slope lights, propeller de-icing equipment, and a scrolling checklist. He held five patent
s.
In the 1930s, he helped test fly the DC-3 and evaluated the little-known DC-5. During World War II
, Johnson was based at the Cheyenne Regional Airport
, where he was responsible for the engineering and testing of hundreds of B-17's, B-24's, and PBY's coming through the modification center. Various aircraft were flown from the factory into Cheyenne where they were modified with armaments and combat equipment and then test flown by Johnson and his crews.
By 1948, having left United Airlines, Johnson started a general aviation
business which offered aerial surveys. He also operated a light plane dealership, and developed a fleet of wartime surplus aircraft. He outfitted planes to fight forest fires and inspect pests, such as fire ants and grasshoppers. He continued to fly until he was eighty-two, at which time he sold the business.
In 1937, Johnson married the former Ruth Bond (September 1, 1912–September 23, 2009), a native of Union City
, Tennessee
, who was reared in Nashville
. She graduated from Vanderbilt University
in Nashville with a degree in mathematics
and a minor in sociology
. She hosted a radio
program in Nashville. In 1936, Ruth visited Cheyenne to attend a rodeo
. While at the Farthing Ranch at Farthing
, also known as Iron Mountain, Ruth met Johnson, who at thirty was a test pilot for United Airlines. They married the next year and made Cheyenne their home until 1988, when they retired to, first, Scottsdale
and later Tempe
, Arizona
.
Ralph and Ruth Johnson died at Friendship Village in Tempe. The couple had two sons, U.S. District Judge Alan Bond Johnson
(born 1939) of Cheyenne and Stephen Johnson, an Air Force veteran, former government official, and an officer with the conservative Heritage Foundation
, who resides in Silver Spring
, Maryland
. A daughter, Janet J. Rowe, died of cancer
prior to her parents' deaths.
In 2008, Purdue University conferred on Johnson an honorary doctorate in aeronautical engineering.
Johnson donated one of his Lockheed
PV-2's to the Pima Air & Space Museum
in Tucson
, Arizona.
Johnson's friend Billy Walker said on the aviator's passing: "Captain Ralph S. Johnson was the Best of the Best. He was a mentor's mentor and left those of us in aviation an unparalleled legacy. For all of us, if we followed his example of personal values, we could solve much of what is wrong in our world. ... "
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
who served a single term from 1951-1953 as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member of the Wyoming House of Representatives
Wyoming House of Representatives
The Wyoming House of Representatives is the lower house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 60 Representatives in the House, representing an equal amount of single-member constituent districts across the state, each with a population of at least 9,000. The House convenes at the Wyoming...
. He represented Cheyenne
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
, the seat of Laramie County
Laramie County, Wyoming
Laramie County is the most populous of the 23 counties of the U.S. state of Wyoming. The county is located in the southeastern corner of the state. The county's population was 91,738 at the 2010 census. The county seat is Cheyenne, the state capital...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, where he resided from 1935-1988. In 1995, Johnson was among the first four inductees to the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame in Cheyenne.
A test pilot, Johnson developed several aviation businesses and created various innovations for pilots that are still in use. "He will forever be remembered as one of Wyoming's greatest aviators, as well as a truly great citizen of this state for many years," said John Richard Waggener, president of the Wyoming Aviation Hall of Fame and an associate archivist
Archivist
An archivist is a professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to information determined to have long-term value. The information maintained by an archivist can be any form of media...
with the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming is a land-grant university located in Laramie, Wyoming, situated on Wyoming's high Laramie Plains, at an elevation of 7,200 feet , between the Laramie and Snowy Range mountains. It is known as UW to people close to the university...
in Laramie
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 30,816 at the . Located on the Laramie River in southeastern Wyoming, the city is west of Cheyenne, at the junction of Interstate 80 and U.S. Route 287....
.
Early years and education
Johnson was born in GoodlandGoodland, Indiana
Goodland is a town in Grant Township, Newton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,043 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Goodland is located at ....
, Newton County
Newton County, Indiana
Newton County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population was 14,244. The county seat is Kentland.- History :...
, Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
, fewer than three years after the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
first flew at Kitty Hawk
Kitty Hawk, North Carolina
Kitty Hawk is a town in Dare County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,000 at the 2000 census. It was established in the early 18th century as Chickahawk....
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
. Johnson was the fourth of ten children born on a farm at a time when horses still plowed fields and steam fueled harvesting machines. Johnson built the family car from parts in a junkyard. As a teenager, he started a mechanics business to earn money for college. In 1930, he graduated from Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, with a Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is a discipline of engineering that applies the principles of physics and materials science for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems. It is the branch of engineering that involves the production and usage of heat and mechanical power for the...
.
Military and civilian aviator
He joined the United States Army Air CorpsUnited States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps was a forerunner of the United States Air Force. Renamed from the Air Service on 2 July 1926, it was part of the United States Army and the predecessor of the United States Army Air Forces , established in 1941...
, the forerunner of the Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
. On receiving his wings, Johnson served as the personal pilot for the 8th Air Corps commanding general.
After two years in the Army Reserve, Captain Johnson worked as a pilot in Muncie
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie is a city in Center Township, Delaware County in east central Indiana, best known as the home of Ball State University and the birthplace of the Ball Corporation. It is the principal city of the Muncie, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 118,769...
, Indiana, where he flew a Sikorsky
Sikorsky
Sikorsky is an English-language respelling of the Slavic surname Sikorski. Derived from the Polish word sikora – meaning "chickadee/tit" – it was originally the name of a noble Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth family....
S-39 amphibian from Lake Wawasee
Lake Wawasee
Lake Wawasee, formerly Turkey Lake, is a natural lake southeast of Syracuse in Kosciusko County, Indiana, United States. It is the largest natural lake in Indiana. It is located just east of Indiana State Road 13.-History:...
in Indiana to the Century of Progress Exhibition
Century of Progress
A Century of Progress International Exposition was the name of a World's Fair held in Chicago from 1933 to 1934 to celebrate the city's centennial. The theme of the fair was technological innovation...
, also known as the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. A chance meeting at the fair led to another job as chief test pilot at the Cheyenne maintenance base of United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
. In Cheyenne, Johnson developed the stabilized approach to landing that is still in use. His other innovations include cockpit crew coordination techniques, visual approach slope lights, propeller de-icing equipment, and a scrolling checklist. He held five patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
s.
In the 1930s, he helped test fly the DC-3 and evaluated the little-known DC-5. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Johnson was based at the Cheyenne Regional Airport
Cheyenne Regional Airport
Cheyenne Regional Airport , also known as Jerry Olson Field, is a joint civil-military public airport located one mile north of the central business district of Cheyenne, a city in Laramie County, Wyoming, United States. It is owned by the Cheyenne Regional Airport Board...
, where he was responsible for the engineering and testing of hundreds of B-17's, B-24's, and PBY's coming through the modification center. Various aircraft were flown from the factory into Cheyenne where they were modified with armaments and combat equipment and then test flown by Johnson and his crews.
By 1948, having left United Airlines, Johnson started a general aviation
General aviation
General aviation is one of the two categories of civil aviation. It refers to all flights other than military and scheduled airline and regular cargo flights, both private and commercial. General aviation flights range from gliders and powered parachutes to large, non-scheduled cargo jet flights...
business which offered aerial surveys. He also operated a light plane dealership, and developed a fleet of wartime surplus aircraft. He outfitted planes to fight forest fires and inspect pests, such as fire ants and grasshoppers. He continued to fly until he was eighty-two, at which time he sold the business.
Family, death, legacy
In addition to his legislative service, Johnson was appointed to the U.S. Export Expansion Council. In 1953, he served as the interim head of the Wyoming Aeronautics Commission. In 1961, he joined in the establishment of Teton National Insurance Company. He was president and chairman of Ideal Aerosmith, a precision instrument manufacturing firm.In 1937, Johnson married the former Ruth Bond (September 1, 1912–September 23, 2009), a native of Union City
Union City, Tennessee
Union City is a city in Obion County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,876 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Obion County. The name comes from its location at the union of two railroads, one running roughly east-west and the other roughly north-south...
, Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...
, who was reared in Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
. She graduated from Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
in Nashville with a degree in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and a minor in sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
. She hosted a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
program in Nashville. In 1936, Ruth visited Cheyenne to attend a rodeo
Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive sport which arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain, Mexico, and later the United States, Canada, South America and Australia. It was based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and later, cowboys, in what today is the western United States,...
. While at the Farthing Ranch at Farthing
Farthing, Wyoming
Farthing was a railroad station and post office in the U.S. state of Wyoming. Farthing is located southwest of Chugwater in the Chugwater Creek valley. The region was originally named Iron Mountain due to iron deposits discovered on a nearby ridge in 1850 and briefly mined in 1870...
, also known as Iron Mountain, Ruth met Johnson, who at thirty was a test pilot for United Airlines. They married the next year and made Cheyenne their home until 1988, when they retired to, first, Scottsdale
Scottsdale, Arizona
Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
and later Tempe
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
.
Ralph and Ruth Johnson died at Friendship Village in Tempe. The couple had two sons, U.S. District Judge Alan Bond Johnson
Alan Bond Johnson
Alan Bond Johnson is a United States federal judge.Born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Johnson received a B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1961 and a J.D. from the University of Wyoming College of Law in 1964. He was in the U.S. Air Force from 1964 to 1967, and then in private practice in Cheyenne,...
(born 1939) of Cheyenne and Stephen Johnson, an Air Force veteran, former government official, and an officer with the conservative Heritage Foundation
Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative American think tank based in Washington, D.C. Heritage's stated mission is to "formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong...
, who resides in Silver Spring
Silver Spring, Maryland
Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
. A daughter, Janet J. Rowe, died of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
prior to her parents' deaths.
In 2008, Purdue University conferred on Johnson an honorary doctorate in aeronautical engineering.
Johnson donated one of his Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
PV-2's to the Pima Air & Space Museum
Pima Air & Space Museum
The Pima Air & Space Museum features a display of nearly 300 aircraft spread out over 80 acres on a campus occupying 127 acres . Located in Tucson, Arizona, it is one of the world's largest, non-government funded aerospace museums...
in Tucson
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
, Arizona.
Johnson's friend Billy Walker said on the aviator's passing: "Captain Ralph S. Johnson was the Best of the Best. He was a mentor's mentor and left those of us in aviation an unparalleled legacy. For all of us, if we followed his example of personal values, we could solve much of what is wrong in our world. ... "