JOHNSON AIRWAYS: United States (1931-1934). In December 1931, A. E. Cambas sells his New Orleans Air Line, which has been operating foreign airmail (FAM) route 3 from New Orleans to Pilot-town, to a gentleman named Johnson. Johnson Airways takes over the foreign airmail route on January 1, 1932, employing an amphibious N-2 Neptune and a pair of Sea Rover flying boats.
En route to New Orleans from Pilottown on October 12, 1933, the N-2 Neptune, flown by pilot George Canaday, crashes near Belle Chaise. With the principal mailplane now gone, it is less than two months before the carrier goes out of business, losing out in competitive bidding to Tropical Airways.
JOHNSON FLYING SERVICE: United States (1928-1975). With $14,000 subscribed in stock, Bob Johnson’s unique air service is incorporated at Missoula, Montana, on December 6, 1928.
Passenger air charter and contract service flights begin late April 1929 after a $13,000 Travelair 6000, the Mae Gerard, is acquired. Flights are undertaken with this and other single-engine aircraft, including U. S. Forest Service freighting contracts begun in May 1931, until 1934 when, on September 5, a big and new Ford Tri-Motor, 5-AT-102, is purchased from Pacific Air Transport (PAT).
Caught in a down draft while landing at Big Prairie, Montana, on September 3, 1938, the aircraft breaks a landing gear and swerves into trees; although there are no injuries, the plane must be written off.
The first older and smaller Ford Tri-Motor, 4-AT-58, is purchased from the Link Aeronautical Corporation on April 10, 1939 while the second, 4-AT-46, purchased from William “Bill” Monday, the “Flying Cowboy” of Cody, Wyoming, is delivered on September 19. Over the years, the company comes to specialize in forest fire fighting and builds a fleet around the delivery of U. S. Forest Service smoke-jumping firemen and antifire devices. Employing his two Ford Tri-Motors, Johnson, under contract, makes the first test of the smoke-jumping concept in August 1940 against a Montana fire.
A third Ford, 4-AT-62, is acquired in March 1941. Operations continue apace during the next quarter-century, as men are delivered by parachute to fire sites in Idaho, Montana, and occasionally California.
The first Douglas DC-3 is delivered in 1946 and under sponsorship of the U. S. and Idaho agricultural departments, the company participates in the Tussock Moth Control program in northern Idaho during 1947. For this the control assignment, two Tri-Motors, 4-AT-58 and 4-AT-62, are fitted with special tanks that allow them to dispense 96,527 gallons of spray. In late summer 1948, the carrier cooperates with 20th-Century Fox in the production, at Missoula, of a movie about smoke jumpers, Red Skies of Montana.
The Ford 4-AT-58 is modified into a convertible insecticide sprayer in spring 1950 and although licensed in that modification, it is not initially so employed. A larger and later model Ford, the 5-AT-58, is purchased from Tucson-based G & G Airlines in June 1951. A record 362 fire jumps are made in 1952.
Having begun service with Pan American Airways (PAA) on March 16, 1935, a DC-2, well used throughout South America, is purchased from the North Hollywood firm of Hasmer Independent in March 1953. It is modified to carry smoke jumpers and provide aerial spray. On July 14, the Ford 4-AT-62, while spraying near Boulder, Montana, hits a static cable over a power line and crashes (two dead).
Another Ford, an 5-AT-40, is obtained on August 1; noteworthy as the only 5-AT ever equipped with 420 hp Wright engines, it, too, is lost in a nonfatal crash while taking off for a smoke-jumping drop in Flathead Forest, Montana, 17 days later. By the end of August, an extremely busy fire season has resulted in a huge increase in smoke jumps, to 1,131.
A new subsidiary, Johnson Airlines, is formed in January 1954 to offer DC-3 flights between Seattle and Spokane and to the tri-cities of Pasco, Richland, and Kennewick. Washington State certification of the intrastate airline is quickly received. The company moves into a new airport late in the year, at which time JFS owns a fleet that includes 1 Curtiss C-46, 2 DC-3s, 1 DC-2, 3 Ford Tri-Motors, 2 helicopters, 1 Beech 18, and 20 single-engine lightplanes.
En route from Newark to Tacoma on December 22, a DC-3 with 5 crew and 23 passengers, runs low on fuel and ditches in the Mononga-hela River, 2 mi. S of Allegheny County Airport at Pittsburgh (10 dead).
Only 429 smoke jumps are made in 1955. In 1956, Northwest Airlines leases 5-AT-58, repaints it in company livery, and employs it in a multistop New York-Seattle promotional tour. While spraying sagebrush near Townsend, Montana, on June 19, 1957, the left wing of 4-AT-58 hits a hill causing the plane to crash; both pilots are killed, including 25-year company veteran Penn Stohr. Another Tri-Motor, 4-AT-55, is acquired in October, while 4-AT-69 arrives in May 1958.
Back two years from its Northwest Airlines lease, 5-AT-58 crashes while landing at Moose Creek, Idaho, ranger station on August 4, 1959 (four dead).
Two more films receive Johnson support in 1960—a segment of the television series You Asked For It and the Disney film A Fire Called Jeremiah. The 1953 record for smoke jumping is surpassed in 1961 with a total of 1,938 jumps being made during the fire season. Operations continue apace in 1962-1963 and the fleet grows to include 5 Grumman TBM torpedo bombers, converted to carry slurry against fires.
The workforce in 1964 exceeds 50, although some pilots continued to be employed on a seasonal basis to spray weeds or fight fires. A Douglas DC-4 joins the fleet on May 10. The Ford 4-AT-69 is sold to an Ottawa, Kansas, aerial spraying outfit in July.
A permanent supplemental certificate is received from the CAB in September 1965. In Forest Service Region I, covered by Johnson, the fewest smoke jumps (322) are made since 1955. Although $711,251 is received in revenues, expenses are $843,821. As a result, Johnson Airlines suffers a loss of $102,831.
Negotiations are completed in August 1966 for the sale of JFS to Columbus, Ohio-based Executive Jet Aviation, Inc.; however, the transaction will not be completed. In November, Johnson expands its business northward into Canada. A total of 1,564 jumps are made during the year. Revenues reach $1,213,626 and a net profit of $75,244 is turned in.
A record number of 1,687 smoke jumps are made in 1967. Chief pilot Floyd O. Bowman dies in August and is succeeded by Frank A. Borgeson. Now the 11th largest supplemental, the airline division increases its earnings to $1,513,896. Profits also rise: $193,995 (operating) and $124,531 (net).
The original developer of smoke jumping, Frank Derry, dies at Big-fork, Montana, on August 2, 1968. Airline revenues are down on the year to $1.08 million. Profits are also down to $92,555 (operating) and $59,701 (net). The JFS parent shows a net loss of $42,014.
The U. S. Forest Service decrees an end to the use of Ford Tri-Motors in 1969. Consequently, the 4-AT-55 is purchased by Jack Adams Aircraft Sales of Walls, Mississippi, in February. The 4-AT-46 is sold to Dexter Coffin in May and donated to the Naval Aviation Museum. Each plane brings in excess of $50,000.
Airline revenues climb to $1.35 million, but operating losses are again suffered: $78,669. Still, a $26,577 net profit is banked.
In 1970, JFS owns and operates, among other aircraft, the former Pan American Airways (PAA) Douglas DC-2.
Income advances to $1,499,155. Again, an operating loss is taken ($23,924), but a net profit $33,679 of is realized.
In 1971, Johnson is the smallest of the 10 surviving supplemental carriers, but still manages to operate 27,000 FTKs. An effort to sell JFS to USSteel is disallowed by the CAB and during the summer fire season, 1,094 jumps are made. On the basis of increasing U. S. Forest Service requirements and a hoped-for improvement from the airline division, Johnson leases a used Lockheed L-188A Electra turboprop first flown by Western Airlines.
The 78-employee company sees its airline business slide in 1972 as the number of FTKs operated is down by 1,000.
A total of 28,000 charter passengers are accommodated. Income this year is $3.18 million, but expenses are $3.19 million. The losses are $6,000 (operating) and $71,000 (net). The sale, in July, of the last Trav-elair 6000 does not help the balance sheet by more than $9,000.
Johnson rallies in 1973 and makes a turnaround in both traffic and finances. Consequently, a second Electra is purchased and increased transport of military personnel under the Civil Air Movement program is realized. The DC-2 is traded as partial payment for a used DC-8 jetliner.
Enplanements for the year skyrocket by 67.9% to 47,000 and 697,000 FTKs are flown, an incredible increase of 2,580.8%. Revenues are $2.87 million and expenses are $2.73 million. The operating profit is $139,000 and the net profit, the first since 1970, is $152,000.
After decades of fire fighting and smoke-jumping operations, the nation’s oldest supplemental carrier makes a determined effort in 1974 to continue its charter service revival. With 63 employees and 2 Lockheed L-188A Electras painted in attention-grabbing red, white, and blue livery, the carrier takes over the facilities of defunct Purdue Airlines at West Lafayette, Indiana, and establishes a satellite facility at Seattle.
On March 31, a sale of JFS to McMinneville, Oregon-based Evergreen Helicopters, Inc. is negotiated. On June 4, Johnson becomes board chairman and Morten S. Beyer, from Hendersonville, Tennessee, is named president/CEO.
With a CAB law judge’s recommendation that the supplemental be allowed to institute international charters, the airline division changes its name to Johnson International Airlines on September 3.
The noble goal is not realized as passenger bookings actually fall 22.6% to 36,000. The previous year’s success in freight transport fails as well; FTKs operated drop 96.7% to 23,000. Income drops to $3.98 million, but expenses rise to $4.32 million. The losses—$342,000 operating and $273,000 net—will prove fatal.
The company changes its leadership on April 13, 1975 when Vice President/General Manager Jack R. Hughes succeeds Beyer as president/CEO. The end of an era occurs on April 30 when it is announced that the U. S. Forest Service has accepted the lower fire fighting and smoke-jumper transport bids of Thermopolis, Wyoming-based Christler Flying Service. Out of its decades-old contract business, the firm continues its emphasis on air transport. The carrier’s Electras cannot now reverse the carrier’s headlong plunge toward bankruptcy.
Passenger enplanements fall 19% to 29,160 and cargo is off another 5%. These figures are for the first nine months of the year as Johnson suspends operations on October 1. Income for the year to date is $3.99 million, but expenses are $4.03 million. As a result, the operating loss is $43,000 and a final $10,000 net loss is posted.
With the approval of the CAB and President Gerald R. Ford, the pioneer’s certificate is acquired by Oregon-based Evergreen Helicopters on November 28. The sale price is $1 million cash. Following absorption, the new company is renamed Evergreen International Airlines. In 1979, the wreckage from three withdrawn Ford Tri-Motors will be sold to Kal Aero of Kalamazoo, Michigan, for restoration.
World History
