Curiosities 25 - Do a Barrel Roll! The Tex Johnson Story
João Henrique Barboza Jorgetto • Mar 2, 2024
Present in the most varied aerial exhibitions, the Barrel Roll is well-known among acrobatics enthusiasts. But did you know that there was already a crazy person who did something like this on a commercial plane?
Our story today is that of Alvin "Tex" Johnson, a notorious American test pilot who worked for large companies such as Boeing and Bell Aircraft. Born in 1914 in Admire, Kansas, Alvin had his first contact with aviation on a flight at the age of 11, when an aerobatic pilot landed on his parents' property. From then on, the young man only thought about becoming a pilot, and at the age of 15, he was already flying alone on a pilot course in the region. As an adult, Tex (who earned his nickname for always wearing a cowboy hat and boots) dropped out of Engineering college to follow his dream of becoming an instructor pilot. In 1942, while the Second World War was still violently affecting the world, Tex was hired by Bell Aircraft, becoming a test pilot for the P-39 Airacobra fighter plane, widely used by the American Air Force and exported to the Soviet Union during that phase of the conflict. At the same company, he had contact with important aircraft in the history of aviation, such as the XP-63 KingCobra and the first American jet fighter, the XP-59 Airacomet. His last outstanding achievement at Bell was being part of the design team and test pilot for the Bell X-1, the first plane to overcome the sound barrier.
It was then, in 1948, that Johnson went to Boeing, also as a test pilot. His mission was to be one of the first pilots to fly the B-47 Stratojet and make the number 1 flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. However, on a commercial plane, Tex Johnson wrote his name in history.
On August 7, 1955, during a presentation of the then Boeing 707 prototype in Seattle, during the famous Seattle Seafair fair, Tex decided to do something more. In front of hundreds of spectators, Boeing President Bill Allen and all the engineers, Tex performed a Barrel Roll with the giant plane, to everyone's disbelief. The maneuver (extremely risky, by the way) caught everyone's attention and had not been agreed with anyone. Crazy Tex even had time to take a photo from inside the cabin! Everything was filmed on local TV.
Amid the president's reprimand for the unsafe act, a question arose: What was the reason for such a maneuver? Tex responded: "- He was just selling his plane." This action did not cause him any problems later. Still, it created a particular legend about the pilot who remained at Boeing for many years, being part of inter-ballistic missile teams and even NASA's space programs.
The photo above shows Boeing president Bill Allen and Tex in a friendly conversation. Everything ended well.
The legend Tex Johnson wrote a memoir in 1991, and in 1998, he passed away, leaving his legacy to us aviation fans.