Dick Johnson
I met Dick 35 years ago at a contest at Minden. He struck me immediately as a man of direct and uncompromising quality, who spoke his mind without agenda or pretense, as well as being a formidable competitor in the cockpit.
His flight tests over the years--I do not have the number, but it must have been over 50 ships--made him soaring's objective oracle in the matter of sailplane performance. He set standards for test integrity and objectivity unequalled outside the factories that build the birds we fly. Whenever he tested, he did it under the most neutral conditions possible, took endless pains to get it right, explained clearly what he had done, how, and why, what results he measured and the handling qualities of the test article. The result was totally believable.
I last saw Dick at Marfa in Spring 2008 at the dedication of Marfa as a National Landmark of Soaring, and it was as if no time had passed since our last meeting, though it had been more than ten years. He retained the same endearing quality of candor without ‘side,' and in addition he exhibited one of the most extraordinary characteristics in a man who was no longer young: he was full of energy, curiosity and enthusiasm. We discussed an upcoming flight test to be conducted in the 2008-2009 winter months, and he was eager to get at it. He loved soaring.
Now Dick is soaring eternally in the great Universe, looking down on us. We owe it to him to follow in his footsteps, stand on his shoulders in flight test, use and extend his methods and retain the wonder and joy that he possessed, always, at the magnificent act of flight. He is irreplaceable, but his work and his achievements will endure as long as soaring continues.
John Joss
Womens Seminar
When the Women's Seminars were held at TSA in Midlothian, Texas, Dick was one of the people who helped make the seminars such memorable experiences. He shared his knowledge generously and I am very grateful I had the chance to learn from him. Like so many others, I will remember his kindness, his smile, and his deep love of the sport.
My condolences to his family and friends.
Pat Valdata, WSPA member
The Year I Was Born
When I started flying gliders in 1965, Al Parker had only recently broken Dick Johnson's free distance record set in 1951, the year I was born. Throughout my first decade and a half in soaring I read and heard about Dick Johnson's exploits and adventures, from his frequent contest successes to articles about building or improving the RJ-5, the Adastra, and later glass gliders. Like many who didn't know the man, I marveled (doubtfully, I must admit) when he described inspecting the tail surfaces closely as he sailed over them when bailing out of a doomed Standard Austria in "Epitaph to an Austria" published in Soaring magazine (from memory, sometime in the late 1960s). It was only after reading many more of his analytical accounts over subsequent years and finally meeting him in the early 1980s that I understood how he could have managed that under such stress.
Watching him in my early contest years was an education. Unlike the other "hot" pilots during that time, JD did not usually hang around the start line until everyone else had left, then attempt to slash through the crowd using markers. Instead, he was often one of the first ones to start, adding credibility to the phrase often attributed to him: "Start early and pray for rain!" It often worked. I also got used to hearing his short, cryptic radio reports to his wife Alice, simply "Stars" or "Bright Stars" with no other detail. The man walked along his own path. And he walked quietly. The word "gentleman" has been used many times the past few days to describe Dick and that's how I remember him: quiet, polite, personable, approachable, helpful.
When I met him the first time, at a national contest, I was--like many others have reported--impressed that he already knew my name. And he remembered it. That gave me the courage to telephone him one night in 1986 after my close friend Robert Robertson had crashed under mysterious circumstances. I expressed my misgivings about the facile way the accident had been attributed to Robert's Ventus being over gross weight or aft of the center of gravity limit and explored some rough thoughts I had about what might really have happened. Dick listened quietly, asked a lot of questions, made a few thoughtful comments, and promised to look into it. I was delighted when, six months later, he published his results in "Tail Stall While Towing," finally explaining (at least to me) what might have happened to cause Robert's accident.
I spoke with him a few times after that. Though I was still a bit nervous about approaching or imposing on someone with such exalted status in our world of soaring, Dick always made me feel like he was glad I called. I'm sorry I didn't ever get to know him better or have more opportunities to interact with him. We mortals are fortunate in soaring to be able to fly with the great ones from time to time instead of just watching them on television like in most other sports. There are few who have accomplished and given so much over such a strikingly long "career" as this legendary figure did.
It would be presumptuous of me to assume that Dick's family will draw any comfort from his going out "with his boots on," flying his Ventus. But it does seem somehow appropriate that he died while doing what he loved most and my thoughts and prayers go out to them during this very difficult time.
Chip Bearden
Video Interview with Dick Johnson
Like many others, I was saddened to learn of Dick Johnson's death earlier this month. I interviewed Dick at the SSA convention in February, but had not completed processing the video and let it sit, like a number of other digital projects. Events of course, kicked me in action, so this video interview is now up on:
http://hdsoaring.blogspot.com/
in both a Quicktime and Flash version. I've pretty much left the interview unedited, letting Dick share his thoughts. A true legend in soaring.
Kemp
A Quiet Giant
When I first met Dick in the late 70's , I introduced myself to one of my childhood heros and the first thing he said was "you are doing well with that PIK- keep it up". I was simply amazed that the great Dick Johnson would even know who I was. Mant times over the years since , Dick quietly counseled me as I sought to get more performance from my gliders. He was always encouraging. It made me feel special and lucky.
I now realize he did this with pretty much everybody. Guiding encoraging, teaching. We'll never know the depth of what Dick gave to us all.
I would guess Dick got as much as he gave. It is fitting that he would leave us in the seat of his Ventus, doing what he loved best.
See Ya in the next 10 knotter.
Good finish Juliet Delta
Hank Nixon UH
