Distance wood has flown

Dick Johnson made the first ever over 500 mile flight
from Odessa, to Salina, Kansas. And interestingly
enough, two days before, he crewed for another person
at the Odessa camp on a straight out distance flight.
How many people can you think of now that would give
up potential record days to crew for someone else at
a record setting camp?

Steve Leonard
Wichita, KS



---Johnson's flight (the world's first 500+ mile flight)
was done in a wooden glider, the RJ-5. Flight was 861km/535
miles flown in August 1951, which beat Olga Kleoikova's
1939 record of 749km/465 miles (which BTY stood as
the world feminine record until 1977!) which was also
flown in a wooden glider, a Rot Front-7. Johnson also
set a Natinal goal record of 510km/ 317 miles, a National
distance record of first 579km/360 miles, then 584
km/ 363 miles (both before the big one), and an 85.0
kph/ 52.8mph 100k National speed triangle record in
it for that matter as well flying that same wood.

Paul Hanson

'Do the usual, unusually well'-Len Niemi