[AlaskaRC] Non- Pilot Aircraft Mechanic Takes Off . .Solo . . In A Sabre Jet . . At Night
Steven Lingle
barisax at olypen.com
Sat Apr 18 22:27:19 AKDT 2015
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> Subject: : Non- Pilot Aircraft Mechanic Takes Off . .Solo . . In A Sabre Jet . . At Night
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> Enlisted Airman George R. Johnson . . a 20-year-old mechanic at Williams AFB skipped the preliminaries . . to zoom ' around solo in a sophisticated fighter jet. And on the night of September 20, 1956 . . aircraft mechanic Johnson took an F-86 Sabre jet fighter went up for a night joy ride . . at o'dark thirty.
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> Up 'til then, Johnson's flying time was limited to a couple of hours dual in a old Piper Cub. . under a flight instructor's direct supervision.
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> When I asked around in the rather large community of former F-86 pilots, I was surprised to find how little anyone knew about his exploit. After retiring from the Air Force, I decided to look him up.
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> Now 79, Johnson was amazed that anyone would still be interested in his long-ago unauthorized joy ride in a jet fighter.
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> An intensely private man, he nonetheless agreed to meet me at a budget motel in Safford, Arizona near his home town.
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> He had been fascinated with airplanes. And Johnson clearly recalled the bright yellow AT-6 Texan trainer that ' buzzed ' his family’s Pima, Arizona roof during World War II.
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> At 17, a letter of his mother's permission in hand . . underage Johnson enlisted in the Air Force in January 1954. Because he had mechanical skills he was sent to the jet engine school at Chanute AFB in Illinois.
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> At Chanute he ' sniveled ' airplane rides in a bright yellow T-6, and the nose of a twin engine B-25. And he squeezed enough quarters from his $ 82/month pay for a couple short flying lessons in a civilian Piper Cub.
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> Although Airman Johnson dearly wanted to become an Air Force pilot . . as a kid he had stared too long at the sun watching a eclipse . . and he slightly burned one retina . . making it not possible for him to pass the eye test.
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> In the Fall of 1955, Johnson arrived at Williams, about 30 miles southeast of Phoenix. The base was transitioning from a Basic Training site, where students had flown the Lockheed T-33 jet trainer . . to Advanced Pilot Training . . using the famed North American F-86 Sabre jet fighter.
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> Assigned as an T-33 mechanic, Johnson did hydraulic and electrical repairs, engine changes, flight control and system checks, and flight instrument calibrations.
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> He also learned how to start and run a jet engine . . how to taxi a jet fighter . . and was proficient enough to be reassigned to the F-86 Sabres early the next year.
> Airman Johnson wor king the night shift on ' Willys' flight line on September 20, 1956. The day shift had done major maintenance on F-86F Sabre jet fighter # number 52-5039.
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> But the work was still ' messed up.'
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> One of its rudder control cables was inoperable.
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> The night shift pulled off the Sabre's aft section . . again . . realigned the control cables then reinstalled the aft section before the mechanics could reach in and reconnect the wiring, cables, and control tubing.
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> But before the evening shift’s work could be signed off . . the mechanics still needed to perform a functional check, before the Sabre could be turned over to the maintenance Test pilots the next morning.
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> While one mechanic connected a ground power unit to the aircraft, Airman Johnson quickly gave the Sabre an external check, grabbed his headset and microphone from his toolbox, climbed into the jet fighter, and started the engine.
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> Normal procedure called for the aircraft to be taxied to a short spur of concrete 'run up ' areas near the active runway, where the mechanic could make various monitoring tests . . after locking its brakes . . and accelerating the Sabre's engine up to full power.
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> Donning his headset, Airman Johnson called the Tower, manned by Airman First Class Theodore Davis . . And Davis cleared the mechanic to taxi the Sabre to the engine run-up spur.
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> After the engine check, Johnson called the Tower for permission to use the active
> lighted runway and make a high-speed taxi test—a common procedure after any work on the brakes, nose wheel or after re-installing the Sabre's aft section.
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> The Tower guy Davis granted clearance, and watched Johnson taxi the Sabre over to lighted and active runway . . 30L . . a runway that was seldom used at night.
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> “ My believe my intentions were still just to make a . . high-speed taxi,” Johnson recalled : “ I don't recall having . . earlier conscious intentions to zoom around in that transonic jet fighter.
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> The nose lifted off the runway at about 105 knots. As I approached that speed, I could feel the nose getting light.
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> But then I thought I would just wait ' a handful . . more . . thrilling seconds '. . to see if I could feel its main gear getting light. But too many seconds whipped by . . And all of a sudden I didn’t think I had enough room left remaining runway . . to be able stop the Sabre without damaging it.
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> So I took-off.
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> Quickly I forced my focus to maintain enough climb speed. And when I had the Sabre at a solid climb . . I glanced at its landing gear speed knob . . reached over and ' sucked up' its wheels.
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> Now . . I was committed to flying it.
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> There was no wind at all that night . . and the moon-lit night air was smooth as glass.
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> The time was 10:34 p.m.
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> But the explosive reaction below was . .
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> I-m-m-e-d-i-a-t-e !
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> As the stolen transonic Sabre jet climbed northwest into the moonlit sky, Tower Operator Davis unsuccessfully attempted to make radio contact . . with the ' sky-larking ' enlisted man.
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> At that point, enlisted man George R. Johnson . . wasn't talking to anybody. Hmmm maybe he was shouting . . " WHOOPIE " in the sleek trans-sonic fighter's cockpit . . before justifiable ' fear of the unknown ' crept into George's . . recently a teenager's . . immature brain.
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> He then alerted the Officer of the Day, who in turn notified other officers, including Base Commander = Colonel Jerry Page . . and Fire/Rescue Chief = Edward Anderson.
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> As all of them converged on the airfield, Airman Johnson finally came on the radio, and calmly the mechanic announced he had ' accidently ' taken off.
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> Then, in a fairly submissive tone of voice he asked Williams' Tower : " Okay . . what shall . . I do now ?
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> 2nd Lt. McCormick, who by then had run up the stairs of the Control Tower, asked Airman Johnson to orbit eight or 10 miles from Williams AFB . . but avoid the lighted houses of Mesa or Chandler . . and stay clear of the Superstition mountains lurking NE.
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> McCormick, who was also an F-86 pilot, soon joined up on the absconder's wing and began talking the mechanic through specific power reductions . . cease climbing . . but not dive . . just level off using the trim button . . and fly the thing straight ahead.
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> Sitting there in the nondescript motel room, Johnson told me he was apprehensive about his predicament, during those exciting moments . . he was not as yet . . afraid for his life.
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> " I knew that airplane,” he said, “ I knew the pattern speeds . . I had asked around . .
> plus I intimately knew the pilot’s handbook . . studied it for hours . . and fantasizing all the necessary control movements. So, in my opinion, I was as prepared as one could be . .without actually flying the trans-sonic fighter .
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> “ The F-86 have one unfavorable characteristic. You could get into trouble on takeoff, by lifting its nose . . too high at 105 knots . . resulting in so much airframe drag . . it dis-allowed the fighter jet to accelerate out of it. So you had to ease the nose back down . . and let it accelerate to take-off speed."
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> “ I knew all about many things like that. So I flew the airplane largely with its electric trim button. Because I'd heard all about over-controlling. I ' wasn’t gonna do ' aerobatics.' Or any-thing like that . . you know."
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> " It was very stable. And its controls instantly obeyed where ever I wanted to go.
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> After I finally responded ' Willy Towers ' alarmed and urgent radio calls . . I knew I now needed to spend the rest of the flight at 10,000 feet. . circling the base . . while becoming better acquainted with the Sabre's smooth as women's lingerie flight controls . . HOWEVER . .
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> being a good boy . . now doing exactly as I was ordered to do.”
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> Though Airman Johnson said he was not that worried, the men on the ground were. For one thing, Johnson was using a simple canvas work cushion . . and NOT wearing a parachute, of course .
> Base officials felt the mechanic's only way end this in a survivable midnight landing . . would be with their combined assist.“ So there was quite a lot of radio chatter back and forth [ and back an forth some more ] on EMERGENCY GUARD Radio Channel,” Johnson recalled.
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> “ Everything got pretty well stabilized with me at slow cruise and orbiting the base. I could see everything moving around down below . . using on Willy's lighted taxiways and runways.
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> I don’t recall being scared. . But I was very respectful of its ' real time ' controls.”
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> Johnson asked the Tower to contact 2nd Lieutenant George Madison to come up . . and fly on
> his wing. George Madison, an F-86 check pilot, had until recently been Johnson’s supervisor, and the 'flying mechanic ' trusted and respected the young officer.
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> One of the senior maintenance pilot, a Captain Linden Kelly, also a pilot, rousted Madison
> from bed and briefed him on the situation. Madison jumped into his flight suit . . soon grabbed his helmet, parachute and a working flashlight out of the equipment room . . and rushed to the flightline, where a crew had readied an F-86. Madison asked Captain Kelly to accompany him in another F-86.
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> Within minutes, both were airborne.
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> “ The F-86F is very stable in smooth air. And that night it was smooth,” the former
> aviation mechanic told me via e-mail . Because he would not tell me where he was now living.
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> “ I knew that if they could get me in a controlled descent of about 500 ft/min showing
> 140 knots . . and they kept me ' lined up ' with the runway . . there was a chance to live.
> I was told to just relax when the aircraft hit the runway . . and keep it straight . .
> trying to make sure the Sabre would not bounce. Or ' porpoise its tri-cycle gear up and
> down on the runway . . in the dark . . with its landing light sometimes pointing up . . at nothing.
> The power was at idle . . but I was afraid of my skills using the brakes to assist in
> slowing down . .so I just aimed for the crash barrier on the runway's opposite end . .
> hoping it would do its job . . and catch me.”
> Said Johnson : “ When we turned to final approach, they [ Madison and Kelly ] had me nicely lined up with the runway. On their instructions, I had extended the speed brakes and landing gear . . then lowered the wings' landing flaps . . full down.
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> Just at the right time, my friend Lt.Madison told me . . ease back on the throttle . . and
> I touched down very smoothly . . Sabre's nose wheel was right on the runway's centerline.
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> Within nano-seconds . . my side vision picked up both F-86's . . accelerating away in the dark.
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> And just after I'd touched down . . some anonymous voice on the radio said : ' Good boy. ’
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> Even though he made the landing approach and ' flared out ' for a landing a bit faster
> than normal . . and the mechanic had lots of experience in braking and steering the Sabre.
> He took Lt. Madison’s advice and let the Sabre roll out for the entire length of the runway.
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> Where . .
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> Airman Johnson safely plowed the Sabre into the barrier.
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> “ It seemed to me that I was still going too fast. I intentionally stayed off the brakes
> . . and struck the arresting barrier right in the middle.
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> The Sabre picked up some crinkles . . but it engaged smoothly . . its heavy Navy anchor chain links . . flipped like dominos on the runway's edges . . and tugged the thing to a stop.
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> Johnson electrically opened the Sabre's canopy . . he was shutting down the Sabre's avionics
> and navigation lights . . when ' Willys' Fire chief himself hopped up on his wing . . and silently peeked over one . . Air Force mechanic's . . relieved shoulders.
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> ' This bird really can fly by itself, Sir ' mechanic Johnson soon shared with his 2nd Lt. friend
> in still awed amazement. ' But now . . its all over but ' shouting ' now . . PLUS my sitting there
> in the ' Willy stockade ' for a while."
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> Mechanic J ohnson had flown the sophisticated sub-sonic-86 Sabre . . for a magical one hour and two minutes.
> After his adventure, he was whisked off to the base hospital, given a blood test to check
> for alcohol or drugs . . then had him ' turn in ' the potentially suicidal assist of boot laces
> . . the confined his exhausted total self within a A.P. guarded room in ' Willys' stockade.
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> The next morning, the Base Commander, Colonel Page arrived at the stockade. He gazed
> at me and asked : “ Well son . . what do we do now ?”
> Johnson had expected a tongue-lashing, but found the Base Commander to be a kind man.
> Colonel Page first complemented the mechanic . . he'd put on quite a show of flying skill.
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> And under other circumstances Page might even have considered recommending him for pilot training.
> However, the Base Commander told him . . a court-martial was inevitable.
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> If he were to show leniency, he told Johnson, “ I would have half of my mechanics trying the same damn fool stunt tomorrow night.”
> Johnson's general court-martial was held on March 26, 1957. The mechanic faced three charges: stealing an F-86F worth $217,427 and causing $195 worth of damage to the aircraft when he struck the arresting barrier. And for flying the aircraft without proper flight orders or clearance.
> The trial lasted a day, and listening the Tower's voice transcript . . members of the court were keenly interested in whether Johnson had appeared mentally disturbed. Or if he in any-way ' even hinted '. . any intention to fly the Sabre. Witnesses who spoke with him on the radio that night . . and those who ' listened in ' on GUARD channel . . were unanimous : The mechanic seemed calm and completely in control of situation .
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> Ultimately, the court agreed that Airman Johnson had not intended to steal the Sabre. And he was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser charge of : wrongful appropriation.
> He was found guilty on the second charge of damaging the aircraft. But was acquitted on the third on the grounds that the regulation applied only to Air Force pilots.
> The court sentenced him to six months confinement at hard labor, took away all of his stripes . . plus loss of 2/3rds pay for six months.
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> But because of no significant damage to the Sabre and probably additional other silent : " Atta boy's " . . the young mechanic was discharged .
> He served his jail time at Williams AFB ' brig.'
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> As he looks back on his imprisonment as not all that depressing. Daily he was allowed out-side to serve on various work details, such as mowing grass. His cell door was seldom locked. And he spent many evenings playing cards with his guards.
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> Johnson was freed after five months . . for good behavior.
> ' They ' put him back to work in a different maintenance squadron. But he was given a desk job. And given charge of the technical and maintenance library . . where Johnson soon excelled at the work . . and he began to earn back . . his lost rank.
> Johnson served another two years at Williams until the base transitioned to training pilots in the new F-100 Super Sabre.
> In early 1960, he was transferred to Okinawa, Japan, and assigned to the 18th Fighter Wing HQ. Following his overseas tour, Johnson opted not to re-enlist because it looked like ' they ' were afraid to trust him back on the flight line. And in late 1961, he was released from active duty with 2 of his 3 stripes ' earned back '
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> Johnson went to work in the computer industry as an engineering and service representative . . earned his pilot’s license, flew crop dusters . . then flew his own Mooney M20 four-place airplane.
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> He did not consider his Sabrejet flight a huge event in his life. “ It was kind of a dumb thing to do. But . . hey . . I got away with it. “
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> Editor's whimsical note : Hmmmmm. I kind of wish I'd ' poked the Sabre's nose down to accelerate through the speed of sound . . before finally answering ' Willy ' Tower's urgent calls over emergency GUARD channel . . it would been worth spending an added month or more . . of policing cigarette butts . . and playing cards with my guards.
> Sources : Paul Mather . . various and vetted abridged sources.
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> P.S. ' Pete ' Piotrowski was increasing his ' the guy to go to ' reputation . . eventually earning him 4 Stars as USAF General . When he was ' arrested ' by the Air Police during the surging next day's stolen jet fighter aftermath. . as he was following through after being asked to ' problem solve ' a temporarily inoperative jet . . having puzzling electrical questions.
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> ' Pete, Sir' still remembers the Willy Air Patch 'stockade's innards. And so do I . . along with visualizing my ' Earth Quake ' Bob Titus noisy anger level after ' Willy ' AP's pulled me out of bed . . during a separate . . not carefully thought through 'arrest.'
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> ' Spook ' dba Tom Weeks
>
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