VA-Vol-5-No-10-Oct-1977 by EAA Vintage Aircraft Association

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Restorer's Corner

flly ....R. NIELAl\nEH• .JR..

With the arrival of autumn and an increase in inclem ent northern weath er, the fly-in activity begins to grind to a halt signaling the close of another very successful season. With the exception of a few winter fly-ins in the southern states (Sun 'n Fun, Cactus Fly- In , etc.), this breathing spell wi ll permit us to repair and restore our old birds so that they will again be in top shape by the time that next year's fly -in season starts. Most of us enjoy flying so much that we really need this enforced maintenance period. If we didn't have it, we would fig uratively fly the fabr ic right off our poor old birds, so it's nice to know that even our o ld airplanes are included in nature's master plan and have their place in the overall scheme of things. Although we have not seen any actual totals, we believe that th is past season was probabl y the busiest in aviation history. Besides all of the regularly scheduled fly-ins, there were a who le series of addit ional aviation eve nts honorin g the 50th anniversary of Lindb ergh 's New York to Paris flight. Also, the EAA's Spirit of St. Louis replica, by its reinactment of Lindb ergh's good will tour aro und th e United States, has sparked many more aviation ac tivities on the local level over the past severa l months. Not all statistics for the biggest or th e most are necessarily the best. Th e EAA convention was the wet

test in history with extensive periods of IF R wea th er SlATEMENT OF OWNER;~;;~;;~e:~~·~';.;ENT ANO CIRCULAT'ON hampering operations. However, the participants at th e '",e.o " ••e" ..,o. (R,~.",.,l'USCJ"" ' . o.no. .,e,.' ---'Ule. - YilWU',,- AiI~lanltle_ _ _ _ ~;;:;-;==="",,;:'-;;~~~=;;;-j event seeme d to ta ke t he weat h er 'In stn.d e and not I et'It ........-m .".... t.:~.~'.~:~"'. ''''"'. ' ;:,~~ . e .•"",.,,,,•• dim in ish th eir enjoyment of av iation . As we make our .:eDm... ~I:'~.'.'!~~,< ......e"....... ,~,.<",.<•••,•.•• "~"'"_...u.,.~"., .$M.OO- _ ._. plans for next yea r's eve nts, we can only hope that the I",'nl:,',!"!.. ~?o~~;.v~~~~ .....!;ua.p..~1.;onl' .. ,c~12:.,!~~:.~,.H!.. r1:',,~~.2~ .., _ _Enre.Rt. HomP. FrA.Ilklln Idt WI . 5.313.2

sun will shin e down brightly on our efforts. I.

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For many months now each copy of The Vintage M'. ' ~'."' :.".';~~M:'~":~.' u. W' 00000 Ai rplane has contain ed two new mem be rsh ip a ppIi ca tio n ' ~.:~:.:~:,::::::~.::;';:'~:::::::":::; :.~,:'.: ::,:;:::.";;:'o::::: :;::::::::::,:'::';::~:::.:'.::::::.:''':':':~::',:,::::, blanks inserted between the pages, a total of fourteen so _~~ ... :-' •. ~'~ . "...... ".~rl . ._" O...... ....roo.o.""... ,.. .._••~ ~.... ....."...... .,........".... .... D.

far this year. Please remove these applications from the ~AA .An.t..Lq.U''-Cl~·;:~DiViS~. ' 0' W Fares;·::';: ' '1e magazine when you receive it and keep them in a handy ~_ place so that you can give them to your friends who are •. ... interested in older aircraft. Also, please take them along ......" ""1;1.""

-- ~=:JN~one ..• II -. No ;::':= with you to your local EAA chapter meetings or to your local flying club, and give them to your fellow members I "_I" •••• who show an in terest. Your local fixed base operator 'P>. might like to have a few on hand, too. If each of you O~::CEE';,~:.GC';,....::;: ':H~U .. '..C 0 :::C"/Q~::~Z"~:NU"fII~: G will sign up just one new member between now and the __ end of this year, we shall be ab le to increase the size ot ... TO ""'L NO CO",... "..".T ao ;:---;-... ,oe,';cur:: ... "iO .. ._ _ _ _ _+-_ .3,,226:1 - ---3-...3-00 - __ __ The Vintage Airplane. This increase will give us the ! 'i... .....T\E.... ............ . _0_ _ :..0=- ____ _ necessary space to print monthly features such as type -2... .AlH.- . _ _ _ club news, calendar of future events, etc., on a regular I--TO -r"'L .. ... ,O C'.. CUL ... T'ON ._ _ _.,,41 I _ _ _ _--1._--''-'''2=5 _ _ _ _ 2...4-84-__ _ _ _ 2 . " .. ", .... c....... ' o; .. 0" _.._________ _

basis, as well as provide your editor with more space for Q. .... 0;" OtlT. ..'.UT'O..••" ••.••• 12- _ _ l i L. _ __ feature articles. Th e end result is a bigger and better TOT... ... o,aT",.u-r'ON IS..... ole_d 01 ._-2.....6.16____ _ HO-r O,STO".uTEO magazine for you, so please make the effort to sign up at ~CD"'''. ~;;~''' ~~''~;'~' " . ,e.. . ._. _-llZ.1 least that one new member. -0 _ .=.0:. __. _ _ _ ul4~<l_I".'p~ .u." .....

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convention and signed up more new members than either of the other two EAA divisions. We sincerely ""'.f thank our headquarters staff chairmen, Kate Morgan and 0; Do nn a Bartlett, and our exhibit booth chairmen, Alicia "O." OR• ••• ,''C••, ,."o• . ' o. e.... _. ___._ ... ___ Ed i t o r Smith and Jackie House, as well as all of their vo lun teer ISet ~.~" ;~.,~; " l50lfi II workers, for this fine achievement. ok"o

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OFFICIAL MAGAZINE

ANTIQUE / CLASSIC DIVISION

Editorial Staff Editor AI Kelch Associate Edito r H. Glenn Buffington 818 W. Crockett St. No. 201 Seattle, Washington 98119

Associate Editor Robert G. Elliott

1227 Oakwood Ave.

Daytona Beach, Florida 32014

THE EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION

P.O. Box 229 Hales Corners, Wis. 53130

OCTOBER 1977

Assistant Editor Lois Kelch Associate Ed itor Edward D. Williams 713 Eastman Dr. Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056

Associate Editors will he identified in the table of con tents un ",ticle; they send in Jnd repeated on the deticle if they have written it. Associate EJilOrships will be "ssigned to thuse whu 4u,tlify (5 articles in any calendar year).

Restorer's Corner ............ , ........... ....... ........... .... 1

Johnson Bros. Monoplane ...... .. ... ... ... , ........... .. .. ..... , . 3

An I nterview with Harry J oh nson , ... . . _.. ..... ..... . . .. . .......... 6

Life Story of Lou Johnson . ..... . . .. , ........ ..... .. . .. . , . . .... . . 12

Vintage Album ....... . ....... ... , .... ... , .. , . . . .. . . ... , ...... 13

The First Johnson Airplane ...... .. , . , .. .. ... . ....... . .. ... , ...... 18

The Amazing Ross ... ............ .. . ... .. . , .... . .. . .. . ......... 23

Directors ANTIOUE AND CLASSIC DIVISION

OFFICERS PRESIDENT J. R. NI ELANDER, JR. P.O. BOX 2464 FT. LAUDERDALE , FL 33303 VICE-PRESIDENT JACK WINTHROP RT. 1, BOX 111 ALLEN , TX 75002 SECRETARY RICHARD WAGNER P.O. BOX 181 LYONS, WI 53148 TREASURER E.E. "BUCK" HILBERT 8102 LEECH RD. UNION, IL 60180

VOLUME 5 NUMBER 10

Wi lli",n J. lhlen Route 8 Box 506 Tampa, Florid" 33618

Box 1525 Lumberton, North Carolina 28358

CLJUde L. Gray, Jr. 9635 Sylvia Avenue Northridge, Ca liforn ia 91324

AI Kelch 7018 W. Bonniwell Road Mequon , Wi sconsin 53092

Dale A. Gustafson 7i24 Sh"dy Hi ll Drive In di,wapolis, Indiana 46274

Morton W. Lester Bux 3747 Martin sv ille, Virginia 24112

M.e. "Kelly" Viets RRI ,Box151 Stilwell, Kan s,1S 66085

NON-EAA MEMBER - $34.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division , 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; one year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associa tion , 12 monthly issues of SPORT AVIATION and separate membership cards.

NON-EAA MEMBER - $20.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division, 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE; c,ne year membership in the Experimental Aircraft Associa tion and separate membership cards. SPORT AVIATION nol included. EAA MEMBER - $14.00. Includes one year membership in the EAA Antique/Classic Division, 12 monthly issues of THE VINTAGE AIRPLANE and membership card . (Applicant must be current EAA member and must give EAA membership number.

I:.vandcr M. Britt

W. Br"d Thomas, Jr. 30 I Dodson Mill Road Pilo t Mountain, North Caro lina 2704 1 Advisors Arthur R. Morgan 513 North 9 15t Street Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226 Roger

Sherron

446-C Las Casitas Santa Rosa, Ca lifornia 9540 I

Stan Gomoll 1042 90th Lane, N.c . Minneapolis, Minnesota 55434

EAA ANTIQUE/CLASSIC DIVISION MEMBERSHIP

Robert E. Kesel 455 Oakridge Drive Rochester, New York 14617

Robert A. White 1207 Falcon Drive Orland o, Florida 32803

THE V INTAGE AIRPLANE is owned exclusively by Antique Classic Aircraft, I nc. and is published monthly at Hal es Corners, Wisconsin 53130. Second class Postage paid at Hales Corners Post Office, Hales Corners, Wisconsin 53 130, and additio n al mailing offices. M embersh ip rates for Antique ClaSSic A ircra ft , Inc . at $ 14.00 pe r 12 month period of w hich $ 10.00 is for the publicat io n o f THE V I NTAGE AIRPLANE. Membership is o p en to all w ho are interested in aviat ion .

ON THE COVER

Model of the Johnson Brothers' air plane, presented to the Smith sonian. (Before Covering) Photo by Dr. Paul Garber.

PICTURE BOX (Back Cover)

Photo of the 43" wing span John son model, as it appears in the Air & Space Museum, Photo by Dr, Paul Garber, Curator Emeritus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 90 Horse Power Steel

MONOPLANES

GREATEST OF ALL ATTRACTIONS

NOW BOOKING EXHIBITIONS

FLIGHTS GUARANTEED

ROSS L. SMITH, Aviator

For Information Write

Johnson Bros. Motor Co. Terre Haute, Indiana

B UILDERS OF T HE FIRST SUCCESSFUL AMERICAN MONOPLAN E

By: AI Kelch, Editor

The Johnson brothers' airplane, flown successfully just a few years after the Wright brothers' first flight, was apparently one of many built in the U.s.A. about that time. "All the World Aircraft for 1919" states that no less than 2,000 people in the U.s.A. had built flying machines, but that most of them were home made copies of standard designs. Most of them being copies of the Wright brothers' biplane. The percentage that was successful was no doubt very few.

The Johnson brothers' airplane was a great advance in the state of the art, but was never blessed by commercial success. It would be interesting to know how many good designs met the same fate. If Terre Haute, Indiana, which then had a population of 65,000 could have two successful designers in 1911, namely The Johnsons and Gus Riggs airp lanes, there must be hundreds of similar stories in the entire country. The tragedy is that people who know about them are rapidly passing from the

scene, and if the stories of these accomplishments aren't recorded, soon they will be lost forever. While rummaging through Dale Crites' collection of memorabilia, he called my attention to an Argosy Mag足 azine for September 1961, which carried an extensive article on the Johnson brothers' airplane. I read it with complete fascination, and started immediately prospect足 ing for further information to make up the complete story, and research the efforts of the J ohnsons. I soon

struck two mother load sources - o ne through a chance look in Weldon Ropp's scrap book, I found a picture of the Johnson airplane which I publi shed on the back cover of Vintage Airplane in June 1976. On asking Weldon where he acquired the picture, he advised that Mr. Johnson was a relative and that hi s son Harry Ropp had inh erited from the Johnson brothers, quite a collec tion of material on this early effort. Also, through the publication of an article entitled "One Man's Family" in Vintage Airplane October 1976 issue, I beca me acquaint ed with Deward Peterso n who lives in Terre Haute, I ndiana. Th e subject of th e J ohnsons came up, and he was very fa miliar with the story, si nce th e Johnso ns lived in Terre Haute at the time they built the ai rplane. He offered to research at the source for me, and has done an excell ent job. Credit for this art icle goes eq ually to Harry Ropp and Deward Peterson, my contr ibution being to ed it it down from the volumes of material, and separate the fact from fiction. Much of the material is original hand written notes of Louis Johnson, the or ig in al manuscript of the Argosy article, vo lumes of news paper clippin gs besides a manuscript furnished by Mr. Peterson, researched from microfilm copies of all the Terre Haute papers with some assistance by his son -in law. My regret is that we couldn't publish the whole package, but it would fill many volumes of our mag azine. I wil l attempt to give you a capsule of the story, and then we will reprint several of the documents from that era, which will help to fill in the fantastic excite ment that these brothers caused in Terre Haute. To start with, the early lethargy of our cou ntry was well known in the way that the public reacted, or rather did not react, to the flight of the Wright brothers. It took a trip to Europe and a presentation to the more romantic Frenchmen to cause excitement, whi ch spilled over to this country, and finally got the ball rolling. Th at was the first time that the French were involved - the second being with Lindb ergh's flight to Paris . They were considerab ly ahead of us in their aeronautical effo rts, havi ng so whole heartedly accepted the airplane. In this country, scattered efforts were made in many small towns, and it is hard to tell how many good things were left to whither on the vine and never be accepted by the aviation industry. The effort of the Johnson broth ers is a class ic, in that they were at least 10 years ahead of their day in the complete effort, and would have no doubt stolen a great deal of the thunder had th eir effort come to the public's

notice. Probab ly the first significant thing is that they had developed an engine as early as 1900, which was far ahead of any engine of its time. The pictures will verify the fineness of thi s piece of machinery. Its performance was unbeli evable for that day. Whil e others were fooling with make shift machinery , the J ohnsons developed the four cylinder V type engine, water coo led with a magnif icent weight to horsepower ratio, (65 Ib s.-65 hp.), and unbelievabl e reliability. The workmanship and the engineering on the engine is startling even today. The engine was not only a four cylinder V engine, it was a four cylinder two cycle engine with a very successful patented valving arrangement. The engine developed acco rding to their figure s 65 hp, but it's probably like the 90 horse OX5 . On today's scale it would be consider ably better. Many updates on the engi ne were mad e and its provin g gro und was on boats of the day, which it pull ed very successfully. Th e fin al comp letion of the aero nautical V type motor to quote Mr. Johnson, was completed in 1909, the same year t hat t hey mad e their first air pl a ne. The straight forward type of thinkers that they were is ev id ent in the following quotation from Mr. Johnson's notes. "In our development we never tinkered with anyth ing. Instead we prepared designs and worked out the problems with many drawings and mathematical calcu lations in a precision manner. Through our ca lcul a tions we decided the monoplane would be much more efficient t han the biplane that everyone was building, because of the less head resistance than the two planes and all the necessary wires ana structures between the planes." Mind you they had already developed a very successful engine, now they were going about it in the same methodical manner to develop an airplane. To quote the Argosy article "if the world had noticed them at the time, the name 'Johnson' would have been emblazoned in aviation history. Lou, Harry and Juliu s Johnson, of Terre Haute, Indiana, designed their plane in ways that nobody else, not even the Wright brothers or Glenn Curtiss or Bleriot, had ever conce ived. Wh ere these immortals had used wood, the Johnsons used alu minum, nickel and steel, and a long slender fuse lage that could have been the prototype of the monocoque fuse laged pl anes that are flying today. Like Bl eriot, they saw the basic correctness of the aerodyna mics of a mono pl a ne. Th ey worked out a tricycle landin g gear at a time when American plan es landed o n sk ids. It was very near ly the sa me sort of landing gear you see today". (There is much discussion about there being or not

bei ng a steerabl e nose wh eel. I refrain from mak ing the statement that there was, but invite you to take a good look at the pictures showing th e hinged front wheel a nd the steering horns, and make up your own mind.) Besid e the tricycle gear, th e rear wh eels were on hori zo ntal V struts with verticle spring loaded tubular memb ers very similar to oleos the later airpl anes in the 20s and ea rly 30s used. Now add to this the fact that th ey had a brake to slow it up after landing, a control arrangement that is entirely conventional today consist ing of a steering wheel, operating the wing warping which when moved fo rward and aft operated the eleva tors, and a rudd er bar to activate the rudders, all this at a time when planes had barely co me out of the prone pilot stage operating the ailerons with the body and skids for landing gear. In look in g at the pictures, you will note that the main fuselage tubes which are some 201" in diameter have cooling fin s along their length. Again in their inimitable manner, they used t he actual fuselage tubes as the ra diator in order to cut down frontal area, an idea that was re-enacted in mil itary planes of the early 30s with fu selage side radiators, etc. Now add to this a complete forward section of all welded tube with not a single piece of wood visib le, a monocoque tubular boom fu selage extending rearward from the tubular fuselage area to support the tail, this being braced with a minimal number of cables and again at a time when bamboo poles were being used to hold the tail on. If you will notice in the pictures all metal on the tail section is highly polished, all work on the tube is done in a very workmanlike manner that would put today's airplane companies to shame. The method of affixing the wings to the fuselage was to butt them into shallow welded stee l pockets held there entirely by the wire bracing structure, a feature that has cropped up many ti mes in later years. This allowed the wings more freedom in warping, which was used for control. The spars them se lv es did not twist due to not being rigid ly con nected at the butt end s. By looking at the cover picture of the mod el, yo u realize the exte nsive use of metal throughout the airpl ane, the outside edge th at forms the wings being completely tubular and all of the empenn age surfaces bein g welded aluminum tube. The onl y ev id ence of wood in the whole airplane can be found in the propeller and the actual rib sections which have metal caps to strengthen th em.

The design features of the airplane are as follows: Wing spread 36' All over length 34' Weight empty 738 Ibs.

The fuselage was made of steel, the total tail unit

made of aluminum. The fuselage consisted mainly of three large steel tubes, rigidly assembled together by brazing in cross tubes to form a bridge structure and fastenings for all the parts that were attached. Two upper tubes were spaced apart to take the 90 0 V type engine in a forward tractor position, providing space be hind the motor for gasoline tank and pilot's seat, thus being the first plane to use metal tubular construction throughout the fuselage and tail unit. The tail unit of the fuselage was a large tapered aluminum tube with re -enforcing structures throughout, including reinforce· ment at the large end with metal brackets to fit in the ends of the three steel fuselage tubes, forming a rigid attachment (detachable for shipping). The four cylinder V type motor was a 5" bore and 4" stroke, developing approximately 65 hp. The motor was water cooled, the water being pumped by a water pump through the three large main tubes of the fuselage which had cooling fins attached. The cooling was efficient and afforded very little frontal area as a radiator would on any other airplane. Quoting Mr. Johnson "learning to fly when the plane was completed, confronted us with the risk of a smash· up. We were v&"y cautious about it and went about it much as you would learn to walk. Stage one, I started ground work on a small field by doing considerable ground running to get well acquainted with the operat· ing of the motor, the controls, etc., keeping all 3 wheels on the ground at all times. Stage 2, I planned to lift the plane off the ground and then right down, but instead of that, the machine jumped up about 50' in the air with the end of the field close, and high wires ahead. I shut the motor off by the switch, made a rough landing bouncing up about 30', and down just in time to avoid a smash·up. There was no damage to the plane which provo ed its strer;gth. This was an error due to our eagerness to see it fly. We had only a switch down on the control column, but had not yet installed a push button on the wheel. I tried it again with the same results, so we decided to place a push button on the wheel in the hands of the operator (blip switch in later jargon). We then took the plane to a large enough field for longer ju mps. Stage 3, on a larger field and the push button

•

installed, I could hold it down close to the ground and make short jumps and finally could make long curves, banking successfully. I soon left the field and returned without a mishap and felt very elated about the whole thing. I made many flights around Terre Haute and contracted many exhibitions away from Terre Haute. Stage 4, I taught a student to fly by the same method I used and he was successful in flying the machine and did very well. Stage 5, I took on a young fellow named Ross L. Smith who learned to fly in a very short time, and was very good. He successfully carried out all our exhibi· tions and contracts without mishaps. Later he was a ci vilian flight instructor in the first World War. For three years he flew exh ibitions for us." Mr. Johnson, in some notes written in the late 1950s, states that Tom Beldon for some time urged us to get in touch with the Smithsonian Institution about our early development work on the monoplane, and he finally connected us with his friend Dr. Paul Garber, resulting in

considerable correspondence with Dr. Garber, who was at the time head curator of the Smithsonian. The 3 Johnson brothers decided at their yearly reunion, to take on the task of reconstructing their plans and build ing a scale model to be placed in the Smithsonian. The original plane having been sent to the scrap yard after approximately four years of existence and the prints having been thrown away, it was a momentous task to reconstruct from pictures and scattered notes the exact dimensions, and reconstruct the airplane. They had to work through much of the original engineering to do this feat. The model is complete down to miniature spark plugs, carburetor and all parts in exact scale. The beauti ful model stands as a monument to their supreme skill to the last. At the time of the presentation to the Smithso nian, Harry Johnson and his wife were present at a ceremony at which time Dr. Garber interviewed him, and with much foresight taped the interview. Transcript of that tape follows, giving much insight to their work . ~

Smithsonian

Pp6s6otatioo By Dr. Paul E. Garber (Curator Emeritus)

A TAPED INTERVIEW WITH

HARRY JOHNSON AT THE TIME

OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE

MODEL PICTURED AT RIGHT

"I found Mr. Johnson and Mr. Shaw discussing this beautiful model which Mr. Johnson is assembling". July 22, 1959 - This is Paul E. Garber, Head Curator, This model, currently on display at the Air & Space Museum, has a 43" wing span. National Air Museum recording an interview with Harry Johnson who with his brothers Louis Johnson and Julius Johnson constructed an airplane in 1911; an improve time on airplanes. We had to make money so we finally Mr. Johnson: The shape of them? ment on an airplane which they constructed in 1909. As gave up the airp1ane and went to Marine engines. Mr. Garber: Yes, and Bleriot used wing warping like Mr. Garber: You carved your own propeller too you do here. I arrived in our Aircraft Building Shop, I found Mr. Johnson and Mr. Shaw discussing this beautiful model didn't you? Mr. Johnson: The Wright Brothers used warping too. Mr. Johnson: Yes, I made that myself. I carved the All of their airplanes were something like this but the which Mr. Johnson is assembling, they are now putting the wooden figure of a man into the cockpit, but ac one on the model and I carved the one on the airplane. same principle of wing warping was not new with this Mr. Garber: What wood was in the original, one here, we knew. tually there is no cockpit, strictly speaking, because the Mr. Garber: Now for your steering control you have a man sits upon a band of canvas. There is no safety belt. mahogany? Mr. Johnson: No, spruce and walnut. But I made this rudder bar there for your feet and that moves the ver Mr. Johnson explains that the hands of th is figure were carved separately so that they could be fitted around the one of maple and mahogany because they are of a sim tical rudder, on a vertical axis. Were those controls cross ilar color. I wanted to put more strength in the propeller ed over, that is: when you pushed your right foot, did wheel which controls the airplane. you turn to the right or was it as in a sled or bicycle that Mr. Shaw: Do you notice how the magneto is operat on th is small model. Mr. Garber: Where did you get your basic idea for when you pushed the left end you turned to the right? ed by a lever on the steering wheel and how cleverly it is Mr. Johnson: We made it like a child's wagon. contrived so that the lever actually operates the magneto this airplane? Was it from seeing another airplane or in this model? Mr. Johnson has explained that the pilot reading books or magazines? Mr. Garber: Yes, thac IS quite logical and I have often Mr. Johnson: We made one like this before, you wondered why others didn't make the rudder bars move would hold that lever over in retard until the engine gets going. know, but we didn't have very good ideas then. We made the same way . I remember that it was awkward for me Mr. Garber: No safety belt, I see. Did you ever fly that in 1909. We wNen't trying to copy any existing to learn to move the rudder bar in a different manner this one yourself? airplane. There weren't any around at that time that I than I had been accustomed to on a sled and bicycle. Mr. Johnson: No, No, Lou did it and then the fellow knew of, but I remember a man named Benoist and Mr. Johnson: We preferred to turn the bar the way that we taught to fly but I never flew as a pilot. Lou another named Bleriot. I think he crossed the English we were going. flew th is for a whole year but it cost a lot of money to Channel and I did see some pictures of that, but that's Mr . Garber: Now for warping you turned the wheel teach a fellow to fly . At that time we were interested in all the part I can remember having seen. itself, turning it as in an automobile and I guess that as the development and sa le of Marine engines and there Mr. Garber: These wings are much like those Bleriot you pulled down on the right side you would raise the were some persons who thought we shouldn't waste our designed and used. trai ling edge of the right wing.

Mr. Johnson: When you pulled down on the right side you raised the left wing of the airplane upward and the right side went down. Mr. Garber: Then if you were making a right turn you would push your left foot forward and that would bring your right foot back a bit then at the same time you would pull down on the right side of the wheel and that would raise the left wing upward so that you would bank to the right. Mr. Johnson: That's right. Mr. Garber: That is instinctive and logical; and then to control the elevators the pilot would pull the whole wheel assembly to him and that would cause the airplane to climb. Mr. Johnson: Yes, that would make the tail end of the airplane lower than the front end and set at such an angle that it would lift. Mr. Garber: Now that's the controls and they cer tainly are understandable. I see that you have a brake here; you have a long metal sleeve there by the pilot's right leg. There is a handle on that rod in that sleeve and as the pilot pulls up on the handle a wire at the bottom end of that rod pulls up the front end of a drag bar, the other end of which digs into the ground and acts as a brake. Mr. Johnson: The drag on the ground slows the air plane after landing. Mr. Garber: That is certainly an early use of a brake. You don't have the front wheel of your three-wheeled landing gear steerable do you? Was steering on the ground just by using the rudder of the airplane itself? Mr. Johnson: It rolled on all three wheels but there was light weight on the front wheel; that made it easier to lower the tail section of the airplane and lift the airplane off the ground. Mr. Garber: That takes care of the controls. Of course you pushed the wheel assembly forward in order to descend. Now let's discuss the wings. Did you have metal spars for them( Mr. Johnson: No, those were of wood and so were the ribs. There wasn't much metal in the wings. Mr. Garber: Where did you get your wing section from? That is, the curvature of the wing. Did you get that out of a book? Did you just think that a curved wing was a good idea or was it from looking at some bird, maybe? Mr. Johnson: I don't recall seeing any curved wings before. We just made the structure as light as possible

and also to have strength; that required the bridge struc· ture as I call it. The cross pieces or ribs were made like bridge crosses and the spars were the same way. They have longitudinal sections separated by upright sticks between them. Mr. Garber: Then the wing section was not some particular shape that you were copying from some book. You realized apparently that you had to have curved wings but where did you get that id ea from? Why aren't these wings flat like a kite? Mr. Johnson : I think we must have gotten th at idea from somewhere; maybe from some picture but I don't even recall the magazines that were out at that time. Mr. Garber: There was "Aeronautics," put out by Ernest J ones and from time to time he would publish what he called, "structural aids." Mr. Johnson: We might have gotten something from those magazines. Mr. Garber: Do you remember a book called "Ve· hicles of the Air," by Lougheed? It came out about 1909 and had drawings of a number of airplanes of that time? Mr. Johnson: No, I don't remember that one. Mr. Garber: Then apparently your information came from a few photographs and magazines that you might have seen, and in that way you learned something about what others were doing. But there is so much original work in this that it doesn't look as though you copied it from anyone except the shape of the wing. The tail section is something like that which was on the Antoin· ette airplane of that day, and I think there was a Bristol which had a similar tail group. Mr. Johnson: Wasn't Antoinette a man who tried to race an airplane across the Straits of Dover? Mr. Garber: Antoinette was the name of the airplane; the pilot was Hubert Latham. Mr. Johnson: Had a square-end wing didn't he? Mr. Garber: Yes, we have a model of that one here in our Early Bird Case. The internal structure of your wing, then, was made from built up spars and built up ribs, each having a sort of a bridge truss shape, is that it? Mr. Johnson: Yes, that's right. Mr. Garber: The covering was what kind of cloth , was it muslin? Mr. Johnson: No, it was rubberized linen. Mr. Garber: Was that a commercial product or did you make it up yourself? Mr. Johnson : We bought it that way .

Mr. Garber: There was a Goodyear cloth which was rubberized and th en there was a material called Pena cloth which was put out by the Pennsylvania Rubber Company, so there were availabl e at that tim e some fabrics th at were impregnated. Mr. Johnson: It might have been an experimental cloth. Mr. Garber: So then you put it on with the warp and woof running at right angles spanwise and chordwise, parallel with the spars. The Wright brothers put theirs on diagonally so as to get som e additional bracing from the fabric, but apparently you put yours on straight across. Mr. Johnson : That's right. And then we put rib strips on like you see here to keep the fabric from tearing where the tacks are, and we also had rib stays inside which were wires to keep the wing from being bent backward diagonally. Mr. Garber: That takes care of the wing and the controls; now let's consider the construction of the fu selage and landing gear. In the fuselage you used steel tubing. Did you braze it or was welding in use that early? Mr. Johnson: No we had to braze it. Mr. Garber: Langley used brazing on his aerodromes. The landing gear of your airplane I see is something like that used by Glenn Curtiss, so although you may have copied the Bleriot wing you did not copy the chassis from that airplane. This longitudinal boom which constitutes the principle member of the fuselage, aft of the pilot, is very unusual. I had once seen a somewhat similar structure in a Smith Monoplane but apparently this idea was original with you. Mr. Johnson: With us it was just a means of carrying the elevator and rudder far back. Mr. Garber: I notice you don't have any long guys or stays, extending from the front of the fuselage out diagonally to the entering edge of the wing, to serve as a preventer for any tendency to backsweep, nor do you have any stays extending from the trailing edge of the wing back to the tailboom. Apparently you have all the stiffness that you need there in the tailboom itself and you have told me that you made that out of pieces of sheet metal that you formed into conically-tapering tubes and then riveted th em togeth er; but in th e model here you have turned the boom out of a piece of alu minum rod. This is certainly beautifully done. Mr. Johnson: That cooling system is interesting. Mr. Garb er: Yes I thought we ought to take up next

the engine. Mr. Shaw: I think he was one of the first to develop that method of coo ling. Mr. Garber: The Antoinette used surface cooling a long the fuselage. You have no drag at a ll for your radiator. In most airplanes the radiator was placed up front and was of a square shape. It created more drag than any th ing else. Mr. Johnson: That's right. Mr. Garber: This engine here you tell me is based on those that you had been making for use in boats. This is a four-cylinder shape with the cylinders arranged like two vees staggered with one another. What was the bore and stroke? Mr. Johnson: The bore was five inches and the stroke was four inches. It was two cycle. Mr. Garber: Those little spark plugs on this model are certainly well made; did you use a Mea magneto? Mr. Johnson: No it was a Bosch magneto. Mr. Garber: Then I guess the distributor was on the magneto itself. Did you use dry cells for starting the engine? Mr. Johnson: No we didn't need that. Turning the propeller would start the engine all right. Mr. Garber: Did you use any booster? Mr. Johnson: No, we didn't need it. Mr. Garber : Where is the carburetor? Mr. Johnson: We had a pipe here for carrying the gasoline through a needle valve. That's the needle valve, there, where we would adjust the gasoline while the engine was running and get the maximum speed out of it, the right mixture. There was no throttle on the engine. It was a one-speed engine and to start it we would prime the engine, put gasoline through the exhaust opening here and turn the propeller to start, and when the engine starts, the aviator pulls on this little valve control here, the one here by his right knee, and opens up to allow the gasoline to run through the screen; and with the engine running we adjust this lever here and then that can stay that way. It usually stayed that way for a long time and to control the engine he has a push button on the steering wheel which grounds the magneto to kill the spark, and he just cuts the engine in and out for control as when coming in for a landing on the ground . It had no throttle on it, and it works very well that way and we had the advantage of not needing any throttle. And then when the engine is running the avia路 tor only has to fly the airplane.

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, johnson Aero Engine, 2 cycle - V 4 - water cooled 65 lb. Mr. Garber: Then you didn't move the spark lever back and forth in order to control the speed of the engine? Mr. Johnson: No, we never did that. Mr. Garber: With the rotary engines there was a button on the top of the control stick, called a "blurp button" which was depressed to cut out the ignition for the engine. Sometimes when it would be cut in and out, the pilot would get a face full of castor oil. What kind of oil do you use in your engine? Mr. Johnson: We used a good boat oil like we had used in Marine engines but I can't think of the make of oil we used at that time.

= 65 HP.

Mr. Garber: Now in this tank here which is even with the entering edge of the wing, this triangular路sectioned tank, - does it include an oil tank? Did you mix the oil with the gasoline? Mr. Johnson: Yes, we did mix oil in the gasoline tank here and there was no other oiler on it. Mr. Garber: Now what is this header on top of the top of the gasoline tank? Mr. Johnson: We called it the steam dome at that time. It collected the water as it came hot from the engine and the steam collected in this. It has the steam escape here just as you have in the automobile at the top of your radiator, and here is an overflow tube the same

as in an automobile so that the water and steam could escape down here. The water was in there only about 2/3 full. Mr. Garber: Oh yes, you are speaking of this small tube that comes out of the front center and bends around to go down toward the left side, and I guess this top opening is where you put the water in. Mr. Johnson: Yes that's right. The water starts to flow here from the water pump which is at the back of the crank shaft. From there, the water is carried from these tubes here and up into here, and enters the water jacket here on the left side along this tube of the fu足 selage, and goes right and left, and then circulates through the four water jackets, and then comes out here into this hose and then through that hose and then enters into the steam dome. Mr. Garber: Oh yes, I see that it flows out from these tubes just behind the aviator's seat where one bends to the right and the other bends to the left and then the water flows into the center unit and then is piped into the longitudinals. It comes out of that tube just in front of the foot bar and then it goes from there to the pump. That is a complete circulation which continues all the time that the engine is running. The air-cooling flanges are fastened to the longitudinal tubes to increase their radiating surfaces. Those longitudinal tubes are not only the structural members for the fuselage but also, being hollow, provide pipes through which the water flows so that it can be cooled before re-entering the engine, and these flanges increase that cooling. Mr. Johnson: Those flanges were .soldered on to the tube to improve the heat conductivity. The air stream helped to cool the water. This system worked very well. Mr. Garber: It almost looks like you would have had more cooling surface than you required, but that is certainly better than not having enough. Now we have covered the construction of the wings, engine, fuselage, tail group, and under-carriage. Next: how about flying it. You say that the center of gravity is located just about in a line forward of the rear wheels of this three-wheeled landing gear. Mr. Johnson: Yes, and the center of pressure was about 1/3 back from the front of the wing. Mr. Garber: Then your center of pressure was for足 ward of your center of gravity, and your center of thrust was in a straight line from the propeller shaft back through this long telescoping boom to the tail group. That is a good distribution of forces. With the engine

started, could you hold the airplane back with the brake? I mean, this brake here that is pushed into the ground when you pull up on this handle. Or do you have to have someone to hold the airplane back for you while you were revving up the engine? Mr. Johnson: We had around 250 pounds of thrust, measuring it with a spring balance and a rope tied to a tree. Sometimes we would tie the airplane to the tree until the engine was running up or sometimes we had some men to hold it back. A man on each wheel here at the back could hold it. We have a picture of two men doing that, but most of the time we used a rope tying it to a fence or a tree, but out in the field sometimes when there wasn't anything to tie it to we would use men to hold it back and that gave them quite a lot of work to do, too. Mr. Garber: Did you have a slip knot in the rope which the pilot could release or did you have someone on the ground to let the rope 100se 7 Mr. Johnson: A fellow on the ground would do that. The pilot has to use a step ladder in order to get into the seat. Mr. Garber: I see, and so with th e pilot at the controls and the engine running, the airplane would be released either by cutting or untying the rope or by having the men let go, so then the airplane would roll along the ground and when it gained sufficient speed the pilot would pull back on this wheel column, thus depressing the tail, inclining the airplane upward, and up he would go. Did you ever measure the rate of climb or the extreme altitude? Mr. Johnson: No we did not have any way of meas足 uring it. We probably could have arranged a way but we didn't do that. I imagine that the speed at which we took off was about 30 miles an hour. We would find that out by an automobile running along side of it while the man in the car would watch his speedometer. Mr. Garber: How fast was the airplane flying as it came in for a landing? Mr. Johnson: I guess that speed was about 35 miles per hour maybe, just a little faster then what it took off at. We could slow it down by this push button which would cut the engine in and out. In the air the speed was about 50 or 60 miles an hour, straight and level without a tail wind; but at that time we had no way of measuring it. That is just our guess. We never tried for altitude, sometimes we would say it was up about a mile high but we just said that. The airplane would look pretty small if

Steering yolk is conventional - it straddles the main lower tube of the fuselage. Forward is down, back is up, turning the wheel creates a normal bank. Note the rudder bar at bottom of photo, with leather loops to hold flier's feet. it was as much as a mile high up. We have some pictures of it way up high and it looked pretty small. It could have been a half a mile high, but that is just a guess after all. We had no way of measuring how high we were, but Lou always said that it felt mighty high. Mr. Garber: Well now Mr. Johnson you have been very obliging and patient to answer all of these ques足 tions. We have discussed this airplane along the same method that I used in the Navy when I was teaching recognition of enemy airplanes. We have also considered

the structure and performance, but I wish that I could hear from you some anecdotes of the times when you and your brothers were building and flying this airplane. You have told me that th is was constructed as an improvement over the one you and your brothers made in 1909. May I suggest that Mrs. Johnson and you might have lunch with me. We can continue our conversation there. Mr. Shaw: While you two are at lunch I'll glue these hands together around this wheel. Mr. Garber: Thanks, Win. We'll be back before long. (Later) Mr. Garber: Now we are back from lunch. It was particularly enjoyable to have Mrs. Johnson with us. During lunch we spoke further about the airplane. Mr. Johnson said that there were two things which in fluenced their discontinued operations of the airplane and their further interest in aeronautics. One factor was a cyclone which demolished their factory, and another factor was their hope to get a contract for some airplane engines from Russia. That was after the beginning of World War I in Europe, 1914. The Johnson airplane had conti nued in flight through 1913 and during that year the brothers were thinking of developing a more power ful engine. The engine as shown in this model had 4 cylinders but the brothers intended to develop the type with 6, 8, and possibly 12 cylinders. The Russians became interested in the most powerful Johnson engine, and the Johnson Brothers invested a great deal of money and effort into the development of the 8 and 12 cylinder engines. The Russian government was rather unsettled at that time and it seemed difficult for the agents of that nation to make up their mind. When the Johnson Brothers learned that the Russians preferred a 12 cyl inder engine they decided that it should be of the 4 cycle type, but the brothers could not obtain a magneto of sufficient power and reliability to use in the ignition system. Had the Russian government ordered the 8 cyl inder engines in quantity or had the brothers been able to get an experimental contract for development of the 12 cylinder engines and been able to produce a proto type that was satisfactory, the Johnson Brothers might well have gone into the business of manufacturing air plane engines and developing more advanced examples of their airplanes. But, not receiving such encouragement the brothers decided to concentrate on Marine engi nes. Also there were some financiers who were considering investing money in the Johnson Company. The investors

believed that aviation was an unstable field and they would not agree to put their money into the Johnson Brothers' enterprise when the state of aeronautics was so indefinite, and considered to be unreliable. Moreover, there was the thought on the part of these investors that if any of the Johnson Brothers were injured in the course of their flying, that their company would thereby be deprived these services, thus reducing or even closing the operations of the Marine engine plant. So those three factors: the severe damage to their plant by the torna do, the loss of the Russian contract, and the attitude of investors caused the brothers to give up airplanes and airplane engines and concentrate on Marine engines. For a while the brothers made a small gasoline-engined unit which was attached to a bicycle and called the Johnson motor wheel. (I remember that these were sometimes built into 4-wheel wagons and used by boys for transportation around the neighborhood. A friend of mine had one about 1916 which he and I would fre quently go from my home which was then near the Naval Observatory, all the way over to my friend's family's summer home in Virginia.) After that the brothers got into the making of outboard motors, they being the first ones to use a rope for starting the engine. Now, of course, Johnson outboard motors are famous and the company itself is very substantial. Mr. Louis Johnson and Mr. Harry Johnson are retired from their business and Clarence is continuing it. Julius Johnson I was told had withdrawn his investment several years ago into another line. Clarence was the youngest of a family of 7 children but at the time when the airplane was being made and flown he was too young to participate other than by lighting bonfires so that the pilot could land the airplane when evening was coming on. At present time one of the five brothers and one of the two sisters have passed away. Mr. Johnson is there anything that we haven't covered in our discussion here in the shop or at lunch? Mr. Johnson: How about the springs on the landing gear. You notice that they extend upward at an angle from their lower connection near the rear wheels. Those springs were very useful when we were rolling over rough ground, and then when we landed these springs would stretch upward so that the skid would touch the ground and help to slow us down for landing. Mr. Garber: I see that you have made miniature springs here, and that they operate the same as in the original airplane.

Mr. Johnson: Yes, I have put it all in there exactly as it was nearly 50 years ago. Mr. Garber: I notice that you have some heavy springs up here in the horizontal section of the control cables where they connect to the cables coming off of the control wheel. They look like whiffletree springs. What were they used for? Mr. Johnson: Well, when the aviator pulled his control wheel back it would tend to shorten this cable here but the springs were so arranged as to take up that extra play, and similarly permitted the connections to elongate when the aviator pushed the wheel forward. That would keep the chain from coming loose on these sprockets over which the length of chain passed. Thus the spring would expand or contract to compensate for the over-all differences in the lengths of the connections to the elevators. Now, for take-down purposes we could take the wings off and lay them alongside of the body when we were going down the road or moving it from one place to another. One end of the wings would rest on this pin here and the other end on this cross bar, while the trailing edge would lay against the upper struc ture of the fuselage. We would tie the wings in place and then we could pull the whole machine along acountry road behind a horse-drawn wagon, and then bring it into a field where we could take off. One of the fields that we used had a bluff there and we would usually take off from the top of the bluff. Mr. Garber: About dimensions, you have told me that the scale of this model is 1: 1O. That is 1/10 size, every part being 1/10 that of the original. A decimal scale. Mr. Johnson: Yes that is right; the wing span was 36 feet and the length was 34 feet. That was measured from the front of the front wheel to the extreme rear, over-all. The propeller was 8 feet in diameter and the width of the wing was 8 feet. Mr. Garber: Do you remember the pitch of the propeller? Mr. Johnson: Yes that was 4Y2 feet. The revolutions per minute were about 1200 on the ground but I don't know how fast the engine turned up when the airplane was in the air. In the air it must have been more than on the ground. We had no indicator on the machine, how ever. Here is another thing I had not mentioned. The cables extending from the rear spar connections on the right side of the wing to the corresponding fittings on the left side would pass over the pullies on top of these upright cabane braces here, and in that way they would

move span wise from side to side when the wing was warped. Mr. Garber : You told me during lunch that in all of the flights with this airpl ane there had never bee n any serious crack-ups. You said a few minor damages had occurred that were easily repaired and that the airplane was flown until 1913. Mr. Johnson : Yes right up to the winter of 1913 but not over into 1914. Mr. Garber: Was there any change in the design during that period? Mr. Johnson: No, thi s model shows how it was at the beginning and how it was al l the time we were flying it. I don't recall any changes that were made all that time except these flanges here on these longitudinal fuselage pipes. At first we didn't have them on, and then we added them in order to help make the engine run cooler. They were on in 1911 however, so we must have put them on rather soon after we built it. On the model I have made them out ofrsheet brass, but on the airplane they are made of copper and were of L-sh aped section. On the model it was quite a problem to figure out how to make them but first I ran the brass through a set of gears so as to form these parts that expand up, and then I made a tool for pinching those U-shaped parts flat. That formed the shape that would fit around the pipe. Th en I soldered them together, soldering the joint on the unerneath line of the tubing on this model, but in the original airplane we soldered each piece on separately. Mr. Garber: That is certainly a wonderful story and I marvel not only at your ingen io us craftsmanship in constructing the original but also in the exquisite jewel like precision and beauty with which you made this miniature reproduction. Is this to be accessioned as a gift from all three brothers? Mr. Johnson: Yes that's right, from all three of us. We are very honored to have it here in the National Air Museum. Mr. Garber: Well I assure you Mr. Johnson, and I assure your brothers that we ourselves are honored to accept it from you and to display it. I know that our visitors will be thrilled by the excellence of this beautiful model. Those brothers are yourself, Louis whom I met, and Julius who I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet. Mr. Johnson: That's right, that is Louis J. Johnson, Harry L. Johnson, and Julius M. Johnson.

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Mr. Garber: The correspondence clearly indicates that th is is being given by the three brothers to the National Air Museum. At the time when I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Louis Johnson he mentioned also a trophy and said that would be available, and I assured him that we will be pleased to have it. I will contact Mr. Beldon about that. May I confirm the address please? Mr. Johnson: Yes. Louis J. Johnson is now at Drum mond Island, Michigan. Julius M. Johnson is at Meadow Court Hotel, Bradenton, Florida, and after Mrs. Johnson and I return from a little trip we are taking, we will be back home at R. R.-1, Culver, Indiana. We will stop off at

Washington as we turn back toward home after we visit some friends up North. Mr. Garber: Thank you again Mr. Johnson; and Mrs. Johnson, we are further indebted to your husband for bringing you. I hope that you have enjoyed your visit to the Museum. We will proceed to put this beautiful model on exhibition so that we and our visitors can enjoy it. Again and always our sincere appreciation to you. Letters of acknowledgment will be sent to you and to your brothers, and we are very grateful to you per sonal[,y for assembling the model here, and informing us aboutit.~

~ife Story of

Louis johnson makes first st/ccessful flight with johnson Aeroplane.

Lou

JOHNSON

Pioneer Airplane Manufac足

turer and Aviator, Developer of the Vee Type Motor and Modern Outboard Engine As Recorded in an Interview

By Dorothy Jefferson Konold Especially for MoToR BoatinG March 1927

Lou Johnson grinned cheerfully as he answered my questions concerning his initial flight. Lou is the eldest and the leader of those four red-headed Johnson broth足 ers who designed, constructed and flew the first success足 ful American monoplane in Terre Haute, Indiana, eight足 een years ago, and who have taken many remarkable steps in the perfection of V-type motors. "Kind of funny," he sa id , with that quiet, reticent humor which is so much a part of his personality, "When that machine was ready to go up I had not the remotest (Continued on page 15)

Vintage Upper Left: Note the brass steam condenser (tea kettle) just behind the engine. In front of the condenser is the ignition system. Large box was magneto and selective cylinder control, later substituted for blip switch.

Lower Left: The johnson Motor wheel served the Company for a period of time - after aeroplanes and before outboards. As a child I remem足 ber a johnson motor wheel powered buckboard. (a bicycle wheeled contrivance about twice the size of a child's wagon, accommodating two passengers).

Album

Upper Right: A good shot of th e east side of the engine, with Louis John son's wife at th e controls. The propeller was made of alternate strips of spruce and walnut.

Lowe r Right: This engine could enhan ce my living room anytime! Everything the John足 son brothers did was done to perfection. I magine what a 72 cylinder 2 cycle engine could have done for an aeroplane 足 too bad they were never successfully applied.

idea how to fly. Had to learn that at the same time I was testing out the plane. Quite different nowadays, learning all the principles in an aviation school and then having a perfectly good, standardized, thoroughly inspected plane delivered into your hands. In the old days you had to keep your wits about you, all right. You never knew what might happen next. I'll never forget the first time I went fifty feet off the ground. It was lots more of a surprise to me than it was to the spectators!" We were sitting in the cheerful, home-like living room where Mr. johnson does most of his reading and much of his designing. A log fire snapped on the hearth and the atmosphere suggested such peace and retirement that it was almost impossible to see in the modest, kindly man who sat before me, that rugged, grimly determined Hoosier lad who never allowed a class-mate to pass him in school, who dreamed fantastic things with his boyish brain and carried them out with his amazingly skillful boyish hands, who permitted no failure, even heavensent destruction in the form of a tornado that completely wiped out his entire motor plant in a few hours, to come between him and his goal, and who has accepted success with an unconscious grace known to few. At forty-five Louis james johnson occupies an enviable position in the engineering world, yet one has only to converse with him a few moments to be certain he feels that only a very small portion of h is work has been accompl ished. And what he admits of success he attributes in no great measure to his own ability. He tells you, gravely, of two paramount influences in his youth, and insists that a boy, given these, could not have failed. The first influence, as you may have guessed, was his home life. Meeting Mr. johnson's parents as they are today, it is not difficult to understand the reverence that is accord ed them by all of their five children. Father johnson, at eighty-four, has the keen clear eye of a man of sixty. His most prized possession is a motor wheel presented to him when his sons were manufacturing them, and he rides daily. During the war he was called by the gov ernment to take over an important task in an ammuni tion factory, for though he had been long in idleness, his ability as an expert tool dresser was well known, and they were unable to find skill in younger men that matched his. Coming from Denmark when he was nine he went at a very early age into a machine shop, reaching the place where he could gauge steel by his senses as accurately as other men ga uged it by instruments. And,

from the first, hi s so ns were benefited by an interest and cooperation which very few fathers know how to give. "We always had our own tools and work-benches," Lou explained, "Father indulged us in these things as wealthier men indulge their children in expens ive toys. We were encouraged to try our hand at any sort of construction that appealed to us. And father was always there to advise and assist. No task, even the building of a sled, was regarded as trivial. We were taught to put sincere effort into everything and to finish whatever we began." Mother johnson, quietly sitting, softly rocking, speaks in a low, almost awed tone of "her boys," and you know at once what her part in their story has been. "When Lou was only twelve," she says, "he decided he wanted a new sled. We couldn't afford to buy him the kind he selected, so he took an axe and went out into the woods and cut down a tree. He worked at it until he had his lumber ready. Then he sat down and drew a design. We didn't think he could carry it out, he was such a little fellow, but first thing we knew he had some thing that looked like a real sled. The only trouble was with the runners. Finally he took the rim off an old buggy wheel, pounded it down flat and fastened it to his wooden runners. Father got him some red and black paint and I want to tell you he had a sled to be proud of! I have it in my attic now, and you couldn't buy a better one." , The second influence you cannot guess. It was the Wabash river. When the johnson boys were still youngsters the family moved from Effingham, Illinois, to Terre Haute, I ndiana. All of the boys, Lou, Harry, julius, Clarence and Arthur, (the latter being the one who lost his life some years ago in a factory accident) were enchanted with the river. "Our Danish blood," Lou smiles quietly. It seemed to them that life would not be worth living until they owned a boat. "Make it," their parents encouraged. So the boat was begun, and before the summer ended ' it was an admitted success. But another summer came and brought new ambitions. Louis and Harry wearied of rowing each other about one day and began to dream. "If we had a motor - " "We couldn't afford to buy one - " "We could race, n'everything."

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Lou johnson and Nell Cockerham johnson. It is rumored that she flew the johnson air plane. The family doubts that she did. Pictures of her in the plane may have been responsible for the rumor. (See page 74)

"Gee, how fast d 'you suppose we co uld go?" They approached their father a nd mother. "Make it," said the parents fi nall y, with less enthu siasm than they were wont to show. Gasoline motors were strange toys in those times. But the moto r, slowl y asse mbl ed, proved the env y of all their small assoc iates. It was t he two-horse power, inboard type, a quaint ancestor for the outboard of today, but it chall enged, and defeated, many a marine moto r of prouder origin. The influence of the Wabash High Schoo l was comp leted, with so exce ll ent a record in mathematics that T erre Hau te professors still speak of Lo u's asto nishing ab ility in that line, and the yo ung inventor, for he was now recognized as that, sought hi s father's consent to engage in marin e moto r man ufacture. As usua l, hi s parents nodd ed approval. They had a lways wished their boys to be in business for t hem selves, a nd there was money ready for a sma ll factory . Here it is interesting to make a no te on the progress of Louis Jo hn son's education. No m ore schooling, yet syste matic stu d y, never neglected in the press of any c irc umsta nces whatever. More mathematics, a keener interest in everything pertaining to the mechanical sciences, e ngineeri ng co urses. Constant reading, ev id e nced today by the books that surround him in his home . A few years of this marine work, and then the brain that dreamed and the hands t hat were ever ready to carry out those dreams united in a burni ng desire to drive something far more romantic than river boats with a gaso lin e engine. He wanted a sled, and made o ne. He wanted a laun ch, and he made o ne. He wanted an air pl a ne, and he made one. It was America's first triumph with a monopl ane. No o ne, probab ly, will ever know just what those broth ers suffered in the way of ridicule, disappointm ent a nd discourage ment in the first period of their struggle with th e unknown air monster. But they drove ahead , unda unted, and fi nally so mething that resembled a n ominous bird of prey was hatch ed. Not only the Indiana town in whi ch it was bo rn thought thi s creation a fantastic f ledglin g. Looking over Mr. Johnso n's scrap-book one co mes to hi ghl y amusing comments by the press in various parts of the country . Wright and Curtiss were ex perim enting at the sa me time, of course, but air asce nsion was still regard ed in the light

of so rcery. "Working fev er ishly day and night and with th e utmost secrecy the John so n brothers of T erre Haute, India na, are said to be toiling and sche ming to put together a huge bird-like machin e which is slated either to f ulf ill their fo ndest hopes or prove their bitterest disappointment", says a cl ipping of September 26, 1909. "Desp ite the Jo hnson's effo rts at secrecy, spectators began to throng the camp in the old reservoir bed ear ly Saturday afte rnoon, a nd late r automobiles could be seen on every road leading to the hiding pl ace of the Flyer . All the far mers took the afternoo n off to view the mach ine, news of which had leaked out in spite of the covered e ntra nce to the farm where the try-out is to be held." This, a li ttle later, in the Terre Haute Tribune. Mr. Joh nson ch uckl es soft ly as he reviews these notices. "The betting ran high at those fi rst ex hibitions," he says . " Bets ran about two to one that we'd not get off the gro und . Peopl e a lways paid to see the machine, too. One day in Hill sboro, Illin o is, we took in 2500 gate admissio ns of twenty-five cents each." Gasoline, of course, was regarded with much fear and the greatest caution used. Before the engine was started a crier ran down the f ield warning spectators of the imminent danger and forbidd ing them to smoke. But the queer creature t hat the Johnson brothers had labored w ith was now winning wagers for those who had faith in it. Th e press spoke of a f light as a "lift," a nd , fo ll owi ng a discouragingly ra iny sum mer when muddy fields delayed the tests for weeks, we read : "After a period of experiment covering some time, the Jo hn son brothers made a successful lift at their camp Sund ay evening. The machine was started on the aer d ro me track fr om which it was run down the field in an effort which finally succeeded in raising it clear of the ea rth . Seve ra l times the craft raised for d istances of from fifteen to twenty feet, though th e height attained was not more th a n a foot from the ground at any time." "Among the things that the history of tomorrow will carry will be the invention a nd construction of the first successful American monoplane. It will recount the years of una ided struggle by those red-headed Johnson bro th ers in T err e Haute, I ndiana, who brought out of a chaos of thought the most wonderful th ing, up to th e year 1912, in the way of an aero engine mounted on a steel flyer that really flew."

Th e original motor was mounted on a wooden fra me, the wings were of silk and the po sition of the flyer was perilous. Th e improved monopl ane boasted a steel frame, stronger win gs, and the aviator was pl aced above and behind the mac hinery, eliminating the danger of being crushed by th e engin e in a fall. This successful ai rplane had a spread of 36 feet, a length of 34 feet, 260 square feet of plan e surface, and weighed 750 pou nd s. It had a speed of better than sixty mil es an hour and was drive n by a V-type motor, which was in the nature of a revolution. Th e n came the Johnson School of Aviation. Now that there were pl a nes to fly there mu st be av iators to fly them. But, while many young men took a keen interest in the sport fro m the sidelines, most of them were sti ll decid ed ly earthbo und. However, there were two imm ediate ap plicants and Ross L. Smith , who trained one hundred a nd fifty men during t he war, was Lou Johnson's first pupil. Frank Schutt was the other, and to him befell the thrill of crashing to ground from a heig ht of 1500 ft. a nd la nding unhurt. His acc id ent was caused by a shortage of gas, as were many other similar catastrophies of the time. But there is a more perso na l note to be sounded in connection with Mr. Jo hn so n's f lights. Something other than motors a nd his aviatio n schoo l engrossed him. Th ere was a charming young person in the hood a nd dust coat, supposed to represent the ideal sport costume of the day always ready to assay the clouds with him. Up to now spectators had gazed in obvious ad miratio n at the mother who bade her son such a brave god-s peed when he started up o n those fearsome, uncharted voy ages. Her gallant bearing unfa ilingly caused a little ripple of com ment. But now a noth er woman stood at her side, eq ually anxious, yet equally hero ic. It was whispered that Miss Ne ll Cock erham, also of Terre Haute, had often been up in the mac hine with Mr. Johnson, and that she evidently took a keen interest in monoplanes Th e story is briefly told in two headlin es from the local paper: DISCOVERED- PRETTY MISS WHO FLEW IS I NTERESTED IN BIRD MAN . THEN , AVIATOR JOHNSON UP IN AIR- MISSED TRAIN ONWEDDING DAY. A new partnership was formed, for it is evident to everyone who contacts the J ohnsons in eith er a business or a social way that theirs had proven a very successful marriage, and that Mrs. Johnson's intere st has been

manifested in every phase of the inventors' work. But the influence of the Wabash Flying was all very well, Mr. Johnson admitted when questioned concerning his return to motor-boat building, but the call of his first love was too strong to ignore for long. Of course, during these remarkable three years, he had never ceased to manufacture the Johnson marine motor, but following his marriage he devoted himself intensively to the development of several ideas he had held in embryo while he sought the conquest of the clouds. Soon the Johnson brothers were offering twenty models of marine motors. Racing motors ranged from single cylinder to twelve cylinder type. One of these held therecord in the 320 in. class for four years. But the fates, having accorded this much in justice to the originality, persistency and energy of the Johnson family, evidently decreed that the number thirteen must cast an ominous influence upon the new industry. The Black Demon III was a 23 footer powered with two tornado of 1913 is well remembered by all who lived in having 780 horsepower. the vicinity of Terre Haute at that time, but to none, perhaps, was it more devastating. the red-headed Johnson boys now wondered whether a "Lou and I had been in the theatre while the storm bicycle driven by their motor would compare favorably was at its worst," said Mrs. Johnson, when we had come with types already on the market. Apparently it did, for to this part of the narration, "And Lou spoke of the in 1917 the Johnson Motor Wheel Company was a going satisfaction of being in a nice new brick factory. We business with an output of 10,000 machines a year, and went home and knew nothing of the damage that had the slogan - "SIXTY MILES FOR TEN CENTS" was been wrought until the following morning. Then, when familiar to many of us. the men reported for work, they saw a pile of wreckage Warren Ripple, Chicago financier, was especially that would have sickened any heart. The highest portion interested in this new venture, and through his influence of the plant left standing was a bit of the brick wall, the factory was moved to South Bend in the early part three feet above the ground." of 1918. Wea ker men wou Id have broken, perhaps, but In eight years the growth of the Johnson Motor apparently Lou and his brothers bowed to the will of the Company has furnished South Benders with an in gods and accepted their loss calmly. In humbler quarters exhaustible subject of conversation. First, it was but with no lessening of spirit they designed something "Did you hear about those Johnson people? They've taken over the o'd Bottling plant next to them." new in the manner of a racing craft. In 1914 Johson's most famous boat, Black Demon Then: "Have you heard the latest about Johnson? They've III, entered a special match race against some of the fastest boats in the country, on Lake Michigan. Disturb leased that whole block of stores on Lincoln Way and er IV of Ch icago took first honors, but Black Demon put their offices over there." On and on it went, this amazing growth. Soon a was a close second, out-classing a number of favorites. It was a recognized triumph for the V-type motor, which vacated portion of a large underwear mill across the river had been exhibited in Chicago a few months before and was commandeered, neighboring houses, sheds, buildings was causing much comment. Black Demon III was a of any type whatever were given over to the manufac 23-footer, powered with two 12-cylinder high speed ture and housing of Johnson motors. It was said that one must carry a road map to complete a tour of the plant. marine motors, each having 180 horse-power. The wheel had gone into the discard, but there was Ever casting about for new transportation methods,

2 cycle 72 cylinder high speed marine motors, each

never a lull in activities. The out-board marine motor had quietly taken the place of the motor-driven bicycle - and Lou Johnson was back again doing homage to his first love! Strange influence-"On the Banks of the Wabash - " tho' now, of course, it was the St. Joe river that knew his experiments. Mr. Johnson's smile changed as he finished the little resume of his work and, walking to the fire-place framed by the well-filled bookcases, looked thoughtfully into the flames for a few seconds. "Of course it is only a beginning," he said, "This is the age of mechanical development and no one can foretell the progress that will be made in the next ten years, even though one may feel it coming. Naturally the thing that interests me most, and always has, is the improvement of water transportation. Better boats, fast er boats- " He paused, and the smile was again in his eyes. "America is only beginning to enjoy water sports. presume we Johnsons have that in the blood!" And suddenly I saw him as he is, a tall Danish American captain, commanding in spite of his reticence, who began his voyage about three decades ago on a childishly constructed raft in the Wabash river and has been coming, fearless of current and snag, upstream ever since. ~

Wednesday , August 3, 1910 JOHNSONS' PREPARE TEST AIRPLANE - machine stands ready after more than a year's work for its initial flight - brothers guard secret of place of first trial. Air足 ship has as original feature , V type 2 cycle engine , built for strength and lightness . Harry, Louis, and Julius Johnson, the Johnson Broth足 ers, who have been at work for more than a year manufacturing an aeroplane at their shop, 717 N. 10th St., have at last completed the machine and will leave Friday for a place in the open country near Terre Haute,

to make the first attempt at flying it. Thus far, the Johnson Brothers have kept the location of the place where they will try to fly the machine, an entire secret. It is desired to have no crowd about to bother while the machine is being tried. Everything was completed Wednesday with the exception of putting the parts together. The machine, which weighs 650 pounds complete, will be shipped knocked down to the scene of the first attempted flight. The propeller, which is over 10' in length, the wings, seat and balances will not be attached until the scene of

try-out has been reached. Wednesday morning the airplane stood in the big building erected especially for the purpose of building it, at the rear of the Johnson home , on North 10th St. It is 36' in length and measures the same exactly from tip to tip in width. Every part of it has been manufactured by the three young men while they at the same time carried on their occupation of gasoline and marine engine manufacturing. It was begun just a little less than a year ago. The wings, which are to extend on either side from

the front of the machine, measure 16 Yz x 8 ' and are made of light waterproof canvas, stretched over stout framework. The engine is a V type 2 cycle engine , the only one of its kind to have ever been made . "There are V type engines " said Mr. Johnson, "but they are 4 cycle. The 2 cycle engines have previously been built straight, causing increased weight. Everything about the machine has been built for speed and light· ness. " Two 7% gallon gasoline tanks will furnish the propell· ing power for the machine. It is expected it will take a day and a half to set the machine up after it's been shipped to the place where it will be tested.

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Saturday, August 6 , 1910 LOCAL AVIATORS MAKE READY FOR FIRST TRIAL. JOHNSON BROTHERS MOVE AIRPLANE TO FIELD NEAR BLACKHAWK AND SET UP MACHINE FOR TEST· everything was hustle and bustle at the Johnson brothers aero camp, a few miles from Black· hawk , Saturday , where the three young men , manufac· turers of engines and incidentally builders of an airplane , were engaged in putting together their airplane prepar· atory for a trial flight . One of the busiest of the workers was Clarence Johnson , a 12 year old broth er , who showed himself a handy man about the place. Owing to the fact that due to their hurried move from Terre Haute with their machine Friday , the Johnson brothers left behind some necessar y blocks and braces , and the flight that was scheduled for Saturday , will be postponed until some time Sunday. The strange man by the name of Zakarius, supposed to be from Indianapolis and well versed in aviation , was with the three brothers Saturday as they worked on their machine , which was enclosed in a 40' tent, to shut out the view from the spectators. Another important personage at the scene was Dr . Dupui, of Riley, who was on hand in case a flight should be made, to see to the injuries of the aviator in case he should meet with an accident. The tryout grounds are admirally situated in the center of a 100 acre farm in the reservoir of the old Wabash and Erie Canal. There is a wide stretch of clear country , without any woodland within its radius of two miles. It is believed the airplane will be assembled and ready for a trial late Saturday afternoon, but it is not thought a flight will be attempted before Sunday.

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Sunday, August 7, 1910 JOHNSON BROTHERS PREPARE FOR INITIAL TEST OF BIG AIRPLANE . CONFIDENCE PER· MEATESCAMP AS TIME FOR TRY-OUT NEARS· the first flight , if flight is to be , of the Johnson airship, now resting in all readiness for its try-out at its camp at southeast of Terre Haute, will come at about noon today, and the result of a year 's work and effort to build a successful airplane will be determined . In spite of the Johnson effort at secrecy, spectators began to throng to the camp in the old reservoir bed early Saturday afternoon, and later in the evening automobiles could be seen on every road leading to the hiding place. The farmers also took Saturday evening off to take advantage of the opportunity to see the machine and the men. A heavy steel roller was brought to the scene Sat urday evening and the Johnsons will layout the course early Sunday morning on which the aviators who drive the machine in the preliminary try-outs will score down for a start. The meadow as it stands , is rough , and trouble was feared when the wheels of the flyer were started over the ground before the machine raised into the air . Just who would be the first man to steer the machine on its initial effort , the Johnsons refused to state, but the crowd of sightseers who have been watching the progress of the work at the camp picked the man who they believe will be in the seat when the airplane raises first. It is William Zachow , the stranger from Racine, Wisconsin who arrived in this city just in time to take an active part in completing preparations for the try-out. Zachow refused to give out his name, but the above is the name he registered under at the Philbeck Hotel. Gossip has it that the Wisconsin man is an experienced aviator, and it is on this fact that the spectators base their belief that he will be the one to drive the machine when it is tried out. There is no spirit of speculation in the air about the Johnson camp, but in plain , businesslike manner , the men are carrying forth the work which is to determine whether or not Terre Haute has produced a parallel to the Wright Brothers. There were several men on the ground Saturday afternoon who professed some knowl edge of mechanics. All the men who have seen the machine since it has been brought near enough to completion for an idea to be formed as to its efficiency, has had nothing but praise for the thoroughness with which it has been finished, and experienced mechanics say that from a mechanical standpoint, the machine looks good. An experienced mechanic who examined the machine Saturday , stated that the V type , 2 cycle engine , a

distinctive feature of the new machine , is especially adapted for the use on airplanes. The Johnson brothers claim the distinction of having made the first engine of this type , and mechanics say that it is the coming engine for use on aerial machines. The Johnsons, themselves, though they do not talk much, have all confidence in their creation. The men have had years of experience in the manufacture of all kinds of engines, and in addition have put in consider able time in research work on the subject of airplanes and other flying machines . They have been close students to the methods of the Wright Brothers. -"" Ii

Monday , August 8, 1910 MAKER LAYS PLANS TO PILOT AIRPLANE ON INITIAL FLIGHT· with the airplane removed from the tent in which it has been housed , and the engine of the plane in perfect running order, the Johnson brothers were expected Monday at noon to make an attempted flight at any time. The field , located near Blackhawk , south of the city, where the first trial will take place, is in perfect condi tion for the flight. The only thing that may cause a delay of the flight is the lightness of the wheels which s upport the airplane on the ground at the start. It was feared Monday that heavier wheels would be necessary . In case this is decided on , the trial of the machine will not take place for a day or so. One of the Johson boys will pilot the machine on its initial attempted flight. This was definitely announced Monday. It was thought at first that William Zachow, who was present at the aviation camp would pilot the machine , but it has developed that the stranger is a salesman for an airplane supply com pany. He is said to be thoroughly fa miliar with the mechanism of airplanes, however, and has been of great value in getting the machine ready for flight. A test of the engine was made Monday morning , it developed 40 HP. Confidence was expressed by the Johnsons that the engine could develop 20 HP additional if necessary.

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Saturday , August 13 , 1910 WEAK SPRINGS POSTPONE JOHNSONS' TRIAL OF FLIGHT . CROWDS GATHERED AT AVIATION

FIELD TO AGAIN LEARN THAT MACHINE'S TEST MUST AGAIN BE DELAYED - the Johnson brothers made no attempt to fly this afternoon . It is reported that they would make their initial attempt to scale the clouds today. A crowd followed in the wake of the rumor , and by 2:00 this afternoon many people swarm ed down from the meadow. When the Johnson machine was wheeled out at 2 :00 it was found by the inventors that an important set of springs were too weak. These will be strengthened and it is probable that the apparatus will not be taken out of the tent again until Tuesday of the coming week. Two of the brothers hurried to Terre Haute this after noon as soon as the defect in the machine was discov ered. They will return to the camp Sunday and begin adjustment.

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Sunday, August 14,1910 BROTHER AVIATORS DELAY DEMONSTRATION AGAIN. PART OF MACHINE USED IN MAKING LANDING GETS OUT OF ORDER SECOND TIME though delayed again in their preparation for the initial flight of the first airplane ever manufactured in Terre Haute, the Johnson boys, Louis, Julius and Harry, went to work to remedy the defect which made necessary the postponement of their flight for the second time . The defects which they are now forced to repair causes no despair in the Johnson boys, or lessens their faith that the machine will fly after they are completed. "We have encountered no difficulty whatever as yet which would in any way interfere with the successful flight of the machine," said one of the boys Saturday. "The trouble is only in the wheels and supporting spring, those parts of the machine which are used to make a landing on, and the defect is not curious in any way, though it does take some time to make the necessary changes ." The intention of the trio was to fly Saturday, and the day was ideal, but it was decided at the last minute that the chances of flying and making a safe landing would involve too great a risk. Louis, the eldest of the Johnson brothers, said to a Tribune representative Saturday, "I am sorry that we could not fly today. In the first place the weather is ideal, and in the second place when the statement that we have been halted again appears in print , a great many people will believe that the machine is a failure. As for us, we are certain, as we have been all along, that the airplane will fly."

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Monday, August 15, 1910 JOHNSON PROMISES TO MAKE AIRPLANE TRIP WEDNESDAY. BROTHERS OCCUPY ENTIRE DAY REPAIRING CARRYING TRUCK OF HEAVIER THAN AIR MACHINE - the work of getting ready the remodeled parts of the carrying truck for the airplane, occupied the day of the Johnson boys at their work shop on 10th Street on Monday. The men expect to have their work completed and will take their remod eled parts to the camp near Blackhawk, Tuesday eve ning. Louis Johnson said Monday that they expect to have everything in readiness for the trial by Wednesday. One man has been left at the camp, while the others came to their home in Terre Haute over Sunday.

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Friday, August 19 , 1910 JOHNSONS WAIT WEATHER FOR FIRST TEST OF FLYER. HUGE MONOPLANE GIVES EVERY EV IDENCE OF BEING FULLY CAPABLE OF NAV IGATING THE AIR - the initial flight of the Johnson monoplane was scheduled to take place Friday after noon , but a strong wind swept over the field here, and made the test impossible. The huge flyer waits serenely for the first chance to take to the air, having been thoroughly tested on the ground. Friday afternoon the monoplane was staked to the ground headed into the wind, and the engine turned on for the purpose of determining her power. Under full speed the flyer acquired the full strength of the helpers to keep her from leaping upward. At half speed the power developed was not sufficient to convince the builders that the test would be a success in the wind, as it is their desire to fly first under half power, leaving the remainder for reserve while in the air. After the test of the engine, Louis Johnson expressed himself as being unsatisfied with the condition of the engine and propeller.

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Saturday, August 20,1910 JOHNSON SHIP REFUSES TO QUIT TERRA FIRMA. ENGINE FAILS TO DEVELOP SUFFICIENT SPEED

TO LIFT MACHINE INTO AIR - the Johnson brothers have made half a dozen attempts to fly the monoplane upon which they have worked for so many months, and in none have they succeeded in getting the big machine into the air. Three times Friday they turned the big propeller under high speed and freed the machine from all restraints. At a rate of about 12 mph it tore down a rough field, only to be stopped at the limit of the course without having raised from the ground. Three of these efforts were made before, and three after alterations had been made to the propeller. Saturday morning the John sons were not disheartened or discouraged, they had come to the realization that they were not as far advanc ed in the building of the machine as they had thought. Their attention was turned to alterations that were expected to have a decided affect on the plane and also to the grounds upon which they were flying. The avia tion camp is located on exceedingly poor grounds. It is rough and full of ruts, and so soft that the tired wheels sink to 1" to 3" in it when the machine is started _Those who have watched the attempts to fly are of the opinion that the nature of the grounds is largely responsible for the failures, as it is impossible to start the machine at a pace that will make it rise. Whether the Johnsons will move or prepare a smoother runway is a question that has not yet been determined. The three efforts to fly Saturday morning were made early, while the sun was rising and the wind was low. A fairly steady breeze from the south made it necessary to drive the machine up a slight grade into the wind, but this was not sufficiently a factor to which to attribute a failure to rise. The mono plane failed to fly simply because it did not have enough power to raise it from the ground. There is no speed indicator in the camp and it is impossible to tell at what rate the propeller is revolved, but several have estimated it at about 900 rpm. 1500 rpm is considered necessary for success, and the Johnsons may have to make radical changes in the propeller before making the desired speed_ Saturday evening , before a large crowd , they started the engine three times and raced down the field with Louis Johnson in the machine . The first was probably the best of all the trials. The monoplane attained a good rate of speed, but it did not leave the ground. The build ers decided the trouble was due to the size of the propel ler, and they cut it down several inches. The result was the engine operated faster and more smoothly , but it was by no means as speedy as necessary and the test made established that more alterations were necessary, espicially if attempts to fly are from the present loca tions.

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Sunday, August 21,1910 FOUR DEVOTEES OF AERONAUTICS MAINTAIN CHEERFULNESS IN FACE OF PARTIAL DIS APPOINTMENT . WAITING FOR CALM. JOHNSONS ADVANCE IN CONQUERING AIR. SIX TRIALS OF MONOPLANE PROVE MANY THEORIES CORRECT BUT BRING PARTIAL DISAPPOINTMENT. LOW SPEED PROPELLER PROVES TOO WEAK TO RAISE WEIGHT. DIFFICULTIES AT FIELD AND APPLICA TION OF MOTOR'S ENERGY PRESENT PROBLEMS THAT MUST YIELD BEFORE PERSEVERENCE - Sun day, the Johnson brothers, who are now so earnestly engaged in the attempt to fly a monoplane in the old canal basin near Blackhawk, are going to demonstrate that they can build a high power, low speed motor fully adapted to the needs of the aviator. Just now they are encountering difficulties that would discourage many, with a patience that means success, they are working under handicaps that appear as insurmountable , but must give way before their deter mination. Saturday morning, the last of six attempts to make their machine leave terra firma failed and they went back to their tent disappointed after two weeks of the hardest kind of labor. In spite of the cheerful attitude they assumed, there was an air of disappointment all around the camp and even the jokes of the jolly party did not dispel it. The disappointment lay not so much in the fact that the machine failed to leave the ground in its trials, as in the evidence that higher speed would be necessary for the proper operation of the motor. It is the object of the Johnsons to develop a motor that will run a monoplane without the terrific speed common to those in use. If they succeed in securing one of this type, they have a fortune at their command. They do not desire to construct an airplane merely for the purpose of flying. If they did, they could easily obtain the pattern of the Wright brothers' machine or other machines and build accordingly, or they could purchase a machine at less cost and trouble than they have encountered. But, having as their object the development of a low speed motor, the failure of the one now in use to do the work expected, was disappointing. Although it whirled the propeller at a speed that astonished the spectators, it was not operated at a rate of which it is capable, but at a rate very much lower, and which the builders hope would be sufficient for its purpose.

Consequently, when the speed attained by the motor in the first trials Friday proved insufficient , one of the hopes of the Johnsons was dashed. Reluctantly they cut down the size of the propeller, knowing that every inch shaved from it would increase the speed of the engine . Two inches all around were sacrificed in the desire to raise the skybird, and the result was a perceptible increase in the number of revolu tions and consequently a steadier engine. Some consola LIon was offered by the fact that even with the reduced propeller there was little vibration noticeable about the machine. Late Friday night the airplane was run out of its tent, and the motor started . The effect was extraordinary and the hopes of the Johnsons that they had accomplished their purpose ran high. Saturday morning, early , the fourth attempt to fly, and the first with the reduced propeller, was made. Whether the alterations had any effect on the raising power of the motor was difficult to determine, because of the conditions under which the trial was made. A steady breeze from the south, made it necessary to start the machine .from the north end of the field at the foot of the small incline, and on ground that was wet and soft. The machine behaved no better than before, bllt whether it was due to the propeller, the grade or the soft ground, was a question the Johnsons were not ready to answer. To eliminate the grade is almost impossible. To wait for a more favorable wind is nerve racking, yet the Johnsons will have to do all of these things before making sure that they have the propeller rightly propor tioned for the task. Whatever may be determined regarding the propeller, it remains that the Johnsons have demonstrated an engine that is remarkable for its power and speed combined with its steadiness and construction. The motor is of the 2 cycle type, 4 cylinders. This means that an explosion occurs in each cylinder just twice as often as in the more common 4 cycle 4 cylinder type. More power is the result and 75 hp is the indication. This is accomplished by combining the Johnson patent valve with cylinders set at an angle of 180 0 and big carburetors. The patent valve is one on which the men have worked for a long time and they have shown by it a method of allowing more gas to enter the cylinders with out increasing the size of the valve, a point, of corisider able value in construction. Then, they have obtained a motor that will run at great speed and create so little vibration that it scarcely causes a tremor in the light wooden frame of the airship. All in all, the motor has conducted itself in a manner that is deemed most satisfactory. It is applying it to the airplane that has

proven the puzzle and that is the very point the John sons are seeking. The Johnson monoplane will fly because it is constructed on the proper principles for flight. That it has not been successfully launched as yet is due to two things - the experience in designing and operating of the men in control of it and the unfavorable conditions under which the trials have been made. Both of these points will be overcome in time. While they are eliminat ing the unfavorable conditions, they are learning from experience the points they have overlooked in designing, and they are learning rapidly how to operate it. The story of the construction of the Johnson mono plane is one of hard work and persistent effort. The Johllsons have had no teacher in the art. They have studied much, observed a great deal, and gathered from experience a great deal more than the average man will ever know about airplanes. No one realizes more than they that there is a great deal more to be learned. That is why, after months of work they took their machine to the Blackhawk basin. It was two weeks ago today that they arrived there, and since that time they have fought mosquitos, malaria and rain in a most credible effort to work out the theories they have formed. It is not a pleasant task, but one that requires thought , constant experiment and careful reasoning. They are not partic ularly interested in what the public thinks about their work. They want to apply the Johnson motor to aero nautics. As one enters the aviation field, he is greeted by a sign that reads " Welcome - Outside the Tent". The sign is expressive of the attitude of the Johnson boys. They are willing that anyone watch them at work, free about giving information when asked, but they promise nothing, and consequently are not responsible for the disappointment of the many who have come to see them fly, and have left without that satisfaction. Julius Johnson expressed their attitude well when he said, while waiting for a wind to subside, "we have waited a year to get to this point with the machine , and we can afford to wait another day rather than run the chances of breaking up the airplane". Last week's activity at the camp became intensive. Thursday morning, when the machine was run out of its protection for the first time, the frame buckled. This was immediately repaired and trials of the engine and frame made that evening. Friday, three unsuccessful attempts to raise the machine were made, and Saturday, with an altered propeller, three more efforts brought no better success. When the last visitor departed from the aviation field Thursday night, the Johnsons rested content with their

preparations for a flight on the early morning air. Time and again the builders had been disappointed in not having it ready for flight at the time agreed upon. Little weaknesses that could not be foreseen became apparent when the machine was started across the rough field, had yielded one by one to careful attention and ingenuity . Every nut and bolt on the unwieldly looking skybird had been inspected and found in first class condition. The alterations made necessary by faulty calculations as to weight and pressure on the running gear were completed and the new woodwork covered with a preserving paint. In the center of the structure the light, but powerful engine, shown in polished brilliancy. Just in front of it the big propeller, built of many pieces and smoothed to a surface like glass, was perfect to the last detail. A sliver that had been knocked from it was replaced with cement, and its bearing was as true as science could make it. Stretching away on each side for 16', were ribbed wings on which so much depends , each without a flaw or scratch. At their tips hung the balancing planes, so delicately fitted that the slightest movement of the operator was reflected by a changed position. To the eye the machine was perfect and the builders who worked so patiently, at last were satisfied it was ready for its initial trip. It now appeared that nothing stood in the way of a thorough demonstration, but the Johnson brothers were doomed to meet another disappointment. Under its power for the first time, Louis Johnson drove the airship down the field from the tent in which it had been housed. Three of the four cylinders were in operation , yet it was evident that the Johnson motor was suffi ciently powerful for the purposes of the craft. At speed that hurried those who accompanied it, the aircraft ran along over the rough ground with little or no vibration from the motor and a steadiness that spelled success. Four men hung to it with their weight keeping it from mounting the air, while the driver accustomed himself to the situation and watched the engine and the plane. This was the final test of the monoplane before it was entrusted to the element for which it was constructed. This test fully demonstrated that the care bestowed upon its construction was not misplaced . There was not a flaw noticeable in any of its moving parts. There was nothing about its action that indicated a single weakness. But one thing marred the success of this test, and Thurs day night saw that one point corrected. The long body or frame that extends from the plane to the rudder on the tail , was not sufficiently strong to stand the strain of alighting from a height as was shown in its action during this test. Immediately the builders prepared to strength en it, and all day Thursday they worked on this one part, rebracing and adding to the solidity of this frame

work, until, as the crowd left the field Thursday night , they saw the end of the last bit of preparation for an air test. While it has been disappointing to visit the aviation field and fail to witness an attempt to fly, the chagrin of the Johnson brothers and Pearl Conover has been greater. Living in a single big tent pitched in a malaria

breeding district, pestered by insects and blistered with the heat, they have put up with all kinds of inconven

iences since leaving Terre Haute, and every hour's delay has been bitter to them. Malaria sent Clarence Johnson, the youngest of the camp, back to the city unfit to be about. Mr. Conover succumbed to it one day, but was able to throw off the attack. The Johnson brothers have all felt the effect of life in the camp and as Louis John son expressed it, "Are dead anxious to get to doing something".

noon for further tests to be made solely on the ability of the machine to lift. It is expected that the trial will1ake place about an hour before sunset. No effort at flight will be made at this time, the test being confined to determining the buoyancy of the machine, its balance and general fitness for flight.

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Tuesday, October II, 1910 JOHNSON GIVES EXPRESSION TO SATISFACTION WITH PLANE. TEST CONTINUED TO OCCUpy TIME OF BROTHERS AT AVIATION FIELD - Louis Johnson, the elder of the Johnson brothers, builders of the Johnson Monoplane, spent Tuesday in Terre Haute looking after business matters. The other two brothers, Julius and Harry are at the aviation field , making a few ..." required minor changes in the mechanism , preparatory : ~~ to attempting a flight Wednesday or Thursday . Louis will return to the field Tuesday evening to be Monday, October 10, 1910 ready to sit at the wheel of the machine in the initial MONOPLANE JUSTIFIES EFFORTS OF JOHNSONS. attempt at flight. "We have gone far enough now, to see through to the AIRCRAFT GOES INTO AIR SEVERAL TIMES AT TESTS MADE SUNDAY- after many weeks of quite end, and we now know that the theory which we have work at their camp on the old reservoir prairie 3 miles been working, is the right one. We will fly within a few east of Blackhawk, in an effort to perfect the airplane, days, possible Wednesday or Thursday. The changes now which, when first tried out, was found to be lacking in a being made are only minor adjustments, which were seen few particulars, Louis, Harry and Julius Johnson, the to be necessary in our tests as to the lifting power of the inventors and builders of the Johnson Bros. airplane, machine". succeeded in making several lifts with the aircraft at tests made Sunday evening. Three tests were made , and it was "",., on the third one that the machine lifted from the ~~ ground. Several times the craft raised for distances of from 15 to 20'. Though the height attained was not Editor's Note : more than a foot from the ground at any time, this fact The brothers apparently abandoned the attempts to was rather to lack in certain details than because the make the 1910 airplane fly shortly after this, in October airplane could not raise higher. The craft exhibited a wonderful buoyancy for the 1910, and started work on an improved design , which test and tended to leave the ground at all times higher was successful in the summer of 1911. Between the end than it was allowed to. However , necessity for certain of October and the middle of July 1911, they built an corrections was manifested before a flight could be entirely new airplane but used the same power plant that safely made and to avoid possible wrecking of the had been used in the 1910 version. The new airplane was machine, it was held down at all times. radically different in design using basically a metal An assistant of the Johnson boys, in their efforts framework, cloth covered wings and cloth covered tail toward perfecting the machine, stated Monday that an surfaces, which were supported on a single aluminum idea of buoyancy of the machine could be gained from the fact that when starting on the soft dirt just previous boom. I t had a tricycle gear as contrasted with the to the test, that it would leave no track in the soft dirt , conventional gear in the 1910 plane. It had wing-warping but that when being brought back for a second test it in place of the moveable surfaces at the tips of the wings, steerable nose wheel and brakes and many other would plow back into the soil for a depth of 6". Preparations were almost completed Monday after- engineering refinements. ~

Ross Smith had never seen an airplane, and was attract足 ed to one ofthe public displays of the Johnson monoplane, the practice being a charge of 25蔵 to see it in the tent to help alleviate the costs. The plane had barely flown, and excitement was running high. Ross evidently took one look at it and said "that's for me". It's hard to guess how he convinced the Johnsons that he should take a hand at it, however it is very possible that he was the only one with enough nerve, and the Johnsons had spent a great deal of theirs. A bird in the hand at this point was probably welcome. According to the records, the

motor was started, and Ross ran the plane up and down the field for some half hour, experimenting with the controls, learning how to use the throttle, steering the airplane, accelerating until it was light. Evidently Ross had figured play ti me was over and the description states "suddenly the plane shot forward and then rose grace足 fully into the air." His very first flight lasted for 30 minutes, and he thrilled the onlookers as he flew back and forth over the field. (I nstructors take note - how many students would you turn loose, in a better machine of today, with 30 minutes of instruction?)

Barely two days atter Ross's first flight, he launched into the professional flying ranks in a big way. He imme足 diately received an offer from his home town of Mattoon, Illinois, to engage in some demonstration flights, and was paid for three flights at $500.00 per flight. Airplanes were so rare in these days that people paid to look at them, and in most cases such flights were initiated by promotors seeking a quick fortune. You would believe that flying such an airplane was enough of a daredevil stunt, but not for our friend Ross. He managed to concoct stunts that even from this distance

in time seem absolutely ridiculous. Daredevil is too mild a word. One of his next exploits was an engagement to fly the monoplane during a 10 day Chautauqua. Now for you youngsters, you'll have to run to the dictionary, however, I'll save you the effort. The name Chautauqua originated in New York where some wise promoter start足 ed an educational summer camp. Families took their vacations, very similar to those going to Oshkosh for the week long fly-in, lived in tents in a large tent community that attracted as many as 50,000 people during its run. This particular Chautauqua that contracted for Ross's services with the Johnson airplane, was at Merom Bluff, Indiana, a high point on the Wabash River. The bluff was in Sullivan County and stood 150' above the river on one side, while the opposite side fell to flat farm land going away from the river in a flat plain. Th is particular Chautauqua was obviously one of great importance for the midwest, and attractions included William Jennings Bryan, Senator Robert LaFollette, William Howard Taft, former President of the United States, Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, a gal named Maude Ballington Booth discussing prison reform, John Temple Graves, a noted orator of the time, and Jeanette Rankin, the first American Congresswoman. The Chautauqua encom足 passed every subject from religion to suffrage, child care, and anything at all that would interest the family. To spice this particular Chautauqua, Ross came up with the idea of building a 250' wooden platform with its far end hanging over the bluff on the river side. The intent was to fly the airplane from this platform, and fly it he did for many performances. Descriptions of the flight states that "the airplane labored uphill, gained speed and disappeared from the end of the platform, in what must have been a free fall until it gained flying speed, leveling out some safe distance above the river, then circling back over the Chautauqua area like a peacock preening its feathers". It must have been a supreme thrill for all to witness. There was no possible way to land at the Chautauqua area, so Ross would cross the river to the Illinois side, and land on a road at the ferry. The plane would then be disassembled, hauled back across the river, pulled back up the winding road to the bluff, for its next day's operation. I n the eyes of the Chautauqua attendance, Ross was no doubt walking mighty tall despite his slight stature. It was quite common practice for the Johnson airplane to be engaged for fairs, etc., at which time it generally flew off the racetrack. Evidently by this time a standard stunt

This monoplane, piloted by Ross Smith flew off the Merom Bluff daily, August 22-37, 7973, during the Chautauqua.

This was the view from the Merom Bluff. The picture is deceiving, for it was 750' down to the water. Note the Ferry, cars and buggies waiting to cross and climb the winding road up the bluff. This is the view Ross Smith had as he literally dove his plane off the platform without adequate flying speed. The result was a near free fall, with flying speed gained in time to narrowly miss striking the water below. The flight was enacted daily to please the crowd.

Ross Smith preparing for an exhibition flight. Note man with ladder at right, below wing. It was a tall gear and a long climb to mount this machine. had been for the airplane to race a car on the track. Dirt track races being part of almost every fair, there was always someone present willing to race. At one such event, it states that "Speed in the air and on land, thrills thousands. Aviator Ross L. Smith and Speed King "Wild Bob" Burman, held first place in the hearts of sensation lovers for the wild thrills they gave the thousands at the fairgrounds on Sunday. Taking off from the track, Ross flew around the track, circled the infield, and landed directly in front of the.grandstand, amid the applause of thousands". As an additional build up to the race, Burman took Ross for a ride in his 300 hp Blitzen Benz, and proceeded to smash the world record for a mile on a half mile dirt track, breaking his own former record. His

speed was just over 60 mph, but this meant that 80 mph must have been his speed on the straight away. On the first lap he gave Ross a thrill by hitting the turn too fast and almost losing control in a skid. Evidently Ross did not appreciate the ride, for when Burman said he would go up with him in his plane, Ross calmly said that if he did, he would get pushed out. Burman of course imme足 diately changed his mind. Evidently this was the last of Burman's summer appearances, and he was going to spend his time readying himself for the 500 mile motor speedway event. He had held the lead the previous year, until his machine caught fire and burned while he was many laps ahead. As to the race between the airplane and the car, the

airplane invariably won all events, in spite of the fact that the cars appeared to be going faster. Speed in the air does not seem to be speed compared to a roaring monster of an auto, spewing exhaust and throwing large clods of dirt as it rounds every corner. Smith evidently thrilled the crowd with a simple thing that today would be called a "touch and go". Newspaper emotes over the fact that even the French exhibition flyers had not done such a thing, stating that Ross had no trouble at all in thrilling the crowd. In another engagement it states that "Ross L. Smith will pilot the Johnson brothers' mon足 oplane during the Corn Week Show, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Terre Haute". The big thrill of this event was to be a flight down Wabash Avenue, between the

buildings, just above the street car wires. It was stated it would be the first time in history that an aviator would attempt such a dangerous feat. The plane was to be brought down until the wheels barely cleared the wires, then proceed west down the street to the Court House where the plan was to circle the big dome. I n a flair of penmanship the author writes "it will be unusual for a businessman to see the wings of an airplane almost brushing the windows of his building". He further states "the trip will be a dangerous one, but the aviator and the builders of the machine have such faith in the mon oplane, that they believe that both will stand the test". I n a later account where Smith was engaged to fly an exhibition over Elsworth, he decided to give them a new thrill and go for altitude. With much circling, he reached dizzying height of 2,000', where he passed through a cloud bank that confused him for a short time. On ~ recovering from the confusion, he found himself at 1,000', (he invented vertigo no dOUbt). Evening flights from the field were customary. In still another account, it states "the Johnson mon oplane gave one of the best exh ib itions of the art of flying it has been our pleasure to witness. There were no Ross did not remain silent on this issue and at a later The General promptly whipped out a 45 caliper pistol time stated in print "when the Atlantic is crossed, it will and shot McGuire through the heart. In revenge, the death defying stunts, just plain flying". The monoplane took off on the back stretch of the be by a flying boat, and not a dirigible". remaining three proceeded to burn Villa's airplanes, In reading the history of these days, all of the em saving one to make their escape in. They successfully race track, and for 30 minutes circled, dived, swooped and turned, running up and down the valley for several phasis on long range travel was transfered to the gas bag. flew that one back to the United States. This was not Ross's last encounter with Army life. As miles. It states "the limited space in which he had to History proved Ross to be 100% right and the Navy's World War I came along, there were but 50 flyers avail land caused him some trouble. He had failed to make the NC4s were the first to fly across. To further add hues of color to his career, Ross was able for instructors in the U.S. He was one that formed first descent (made a go-around - probably the first). When finally on the ground, Aviator Ross stated it was perhaps the first American aviator to get an offer from a the nucleus of the great Flying Corps. This group was the hardest day to fly on he had ever experienced, as the foreign government, and probably one of the first called on to also perform test pilot functions, and in air seemed dead and no breeze whatsoever was stirring". conceptions of military aviation was born . President their vernacular did nose dives, tail spins, and no doubt Huerta of Mexico offered him a high ranking position in were the first creators of aerobatic flying in this country. {Density altitude). About the year 1913 Ross was running out of tricks, the Mexican Army if he would organize an air force for This was no doubt a cup of tea for our adventuresome the bag was getting empty, so he decided to scoop them them. Ross immediately declined. Poncho Villa, who Mr. Ross, captivated the services and the record that he all. He announced that he would like to fly the Atlantic, was then the bad boy of Mexico and conducting what established was remarkable. General Andrews commen and from all records, it appears that he was the first to we would call today Guerilla attack, tried to make Ross ded Ross with a citation ending it with a comment have such serious ideas. He was at least 19 years ahead of a better offer of $2,000 a month in gold to do the same "Seven years without a serious mishap". Ross lived a his time. He proposed to fly the flimsy Johnson airplane thing for his side. Ross declined that too. Time proved long and successful life and became very well known in across the Atlantic alone - a statement that makes Lind how wise he was in declining this offer for one of his Wash ington and for years was Public Relations Manager bergh's remarks an echo of the past. He approached the best friends was killed - not while he was flying, but by for the Hot Shopps, a food chain in the East. He lived a Navy Department and asked them to place 10 battle Villa's own men. Four of Ross's friends had decided to full life and died on February 19, 1959. For an adven sh ips at intervals of 300 miles apart, figuring that th is fly for Villa, but when weeks went by and they received turesome person who lead such a colorful life and would be the maximum load of gasoline possible to no pay, they drew straws to see who would confront seemingly knew no fear, he must have also been blessed carry. The Navy, of course, refused considering the flight Villa with the facts. Mickey McGuire (the wild Irish with skill and a great amount of common sense. In the across the Atlantic, as only a hair brained scheme. The Rose of the skies) was unlucky enough to get the job, Hot Shopps Company magazine, from which some of Government was not very interested in flying at this and foolish enough to make the attempt. He faced the this material was gleaned, they coined an epitaph for time, and their decision was certainly not a surprise. illiterate General in his tent and asked for the money. him stating simply "An amazing man". ~