Sedalia Dave Posted August 31, 2016 Posted August 31, 2016 For you aviation buffs, Tex Johnston in partnership with the Smithsonian Institute is finally writing a book about his life and breaking years of self imposed silence about the most famous barrel roll in history. Barrel Roll In A 707? History-Making Pilot Ends Silence The barrel roll, Johnston concedes, was ``the most famous maneuver in aviation history . . . I still get 10 to 15 letters a week from people wanting to know about it. Most of them want photographs.'' With a grin, he adds, ``It sold a lot of airplanes.'' Did Allen know he was going to do it? ``Hell, no, he didn't know.'' But Johnston does not deny that he knew exactly what he was going to do that day. He knew the limits of both man and machine and made two carefully calculated maneuvers. There was nothing spontaneous about it. He just didn't bother to inform the front office beforehand. Johnston wasn't the only one who kept mum about the Gold Cup incident. Allen refused to discuss the subject in interviews for years. Finally, in 1970 - 15 years after the barrel-roll incident - he broke his silence, telling how he felt that day. Allen said that when Johnston performed the first barrel roll, he thought it was a mistake, that something had gone wrong. When he saw Johnston do the second barrel roll, Allen said, he thought the test pilot had either lost his mind or the aircraft was in serious difficulty. He said he turned to Larry Bell of Bell Aircraft, who had a heart condition that required regular medication, and said: ``Give me one of those damned (heart) pills. I need it worse than you do.'' Allen said he called Johnston into the office the next morning and asked why he had done it. He said Johnston told him he had absolute faith in the airplane and that the barrel roll, while sensational from the ground, had been well within the limits of the aircraft. Responding to Allen's comments now, Johnston says there was never any danger to the fans below. The maneuver pulled only ``one g'' - the exact force of gravity - and was almost like sitting in an easy chair. ``I wouldn't have done anything to jeopardize the aircraft,'' Johnston adds. According to Johnston, the time spent writing the book was more difficult than performing aerial stunts or hunting big game. http://youtu.be/AaA7kPfC5Hk http://AviationExplorer.com- NEWLY EDITED VERSION As part of the Dash 80s demonstration program, Bill Allen invited representatives of the Aircraft Industries Association and International Air Transport Association to the Seattle's 1955 Seafair and Gold Cup Hydroplane Races held on Lake Washington on August 6, 1955. The Dash-80 was scheduled to perform a simple flyover, but Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston instead performed a barrel roll to show off the jet airliner. The next day, Allen summoned Johnston to his office and told him not to perform such a maneuver again, Johnston's assertion that doing so was completely safe. Boeing Chief Test Pilot John Cashman stated that just before he piloted the maiden flight of the Boeing 777 on June 12, 1994, his last instructions from then Boeing President Phil Condit were "No rolls".
Del Rio Pete Posted August 31, 2016 Posted August 31, 2016 Cool... Those "Tex" kind of characters can be a little wild sometimes. lol.
Abilene Slim SASS 81783 Posted August 31, 2016 Posted August 31, 2016 The Seattle Times article is from 1990. Tex passed away in 1998. The book mentioned in the article can be found below. Thanks for the post, think I'll have to order a copy. https://www.amazon.com/Tex-Johnston-Jet-Age-Test-Pilot/dp/1560989319
Sedalia Dave Posted August 31, 2016 Author Posted August 31, 2016 The Seattle Times article is from 1990. Tex passed away in 1998. The book mentioned in the article can be found below. Thanks for the post, think I'll have to order a copy. https://www.amazon.com/Tex-Johnston-Jet-Age-Test-Pilot/dp/1560989319 I missed that. Thanks for the correction.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.