Dick Johnson is gone.

July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

Oh, my - what terrible news! I never had the pleasure of meeting him,
but he is indeed a legend and will be sorely missed. My heart goes out
to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Dick.

-John

On Jul 23, 3:39 pm, Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

Newslink:

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dw....83f9f93e.html


On Jul 23, 3:39*pm, Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). *He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. *My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. *Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. *Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

I knew Dick from when I was a teenager in Richardson, I lived just a few
blocks from him. My Dad worked with him at Texas Instruments and he helped
my Dad with his project of designing a homebuilt.

One of my first memories of Dick was at contests in Littlefield, TX. One of
Dick's habits was to make an effort to remember anyone that he met. When he
met you, he would put your name in his little notebook and something about
you to help him remember you. The next time he saw you, he would call you
by name; great trait.

Many years ago at a contest I was helping Dick put away his Ventus and
noticed that he saved his wing tape to be used again. He was our guest
speaker at our Christmas Banquet that year and we gave him a whole box of 3M
tape. When I helped him put the Ventus away this year at Marfa he said that
he was still using tape out of that box.

Certainly soaring has lost one of it's best ambassadors and one of the
finest gentlemen you could ever meet. My prayers go out to Alice and his
other family members.

Fred Blair
Houston, TX


"Tim Hanke" wrote in message
...
Newslink:

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dw....83f9f93e.html


On Jul 23, 3:39 pm, Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

this is very very sad......
tim

"Burt Compton - Marfa" wrote in message
...
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

Our hearts reach to Dick's family and to the world of soaring for this
tremendous loss.
Sad. Our deepest condolences.

--
Message posted via AviationKB.com
http://www.aviationkb.com/Uwe/Forums...aring/200807/1

On Jul 23, 5:46�pm, "Tim Mara" wrote:
this is very very sad......
tim

"Burt Compton - Marfa" wrote in ...



July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). �He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. �My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. �Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. �Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

The Soaring movement World Wide will mourn Dick Johnson's passing .
Although he hardly knew me he generously helped me on several
occasions both with advice and tools . I have always thought of him as
one of the truly great examples of a Leader in our chosen sport.God
Bless his wife Alice and family following this tragic loss.

Ron Clarke.

awful news. i had a very nice chat with Dick at the convention in
Memphis about flying the Cherokee II. It was nice to talk with him
about low performance soaring while standing next to the Antares and
in my short exposure i cant really imagine a nicer guy.

The soaring community in Iowa is mourning.

Dammm -- he was a great and gentle man
--

"Fred Blair" wrote in message
...
I knew Dick from when I was a teenager in Richardson, I lived just a few
blocks from him. My Dad worked with him at Texas Instruments and he helped
my Dad with his project of designing a homebuilt.

One of my first memories of Dick was at contests in Littlefield, TX. One
of Dick's habits was to make an effort to remember anyone that he met.
When he met you, he would put your name in his little notebook and
something about you to help him remember you. The next time he saw you,
he would call you by name; great trait.

Many years ago at a contest I was helping Dick put away his Ventus and
noticed that he saved his wing tape to be used again. He was our guest
speaker at our Christmas Banquet that year and we gave him a whole box of
3M tape. When I helped him put the Ventus away this year at Marfa he said
that he was still using tape out of that box.

Certainly soaring has lost one of it's best ambassadors and one of the
finest gentlemen you could ever meet. My prayers go out to Alice and his
other family members.

Fred Blair
Houston, TX


"Tim Hanke" wrote in message
...
Newslink:

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dw....83f9f93e.html


On Jul 23, 3:39 pm, Burt Compton - Marfa wrote:
July 23, 2008

I just received a telephone call from a reliable source that Dick
Johnson has crashed at the combined World Class / 1-26 Nationals at
Midlothian, Texas (south of Dallas). He was flying as sniffer.

Apparently he dove-in after release from tow. My source reports that
Dick has perished in the crash.

I am stunned. Nothing to speculate about now -- he is just gone.
So God Bless Alice his wife, and his family. Alice lost their son
Nels many years ago in a hang-glider accident.

Mr. Johnson was a mentor to us all, world-wide soaring legend, and a
dear friend of my family.

Burt Compton
Marfa, Texas
USA

One of my first memories of Dick was at contests in Littlefield, TX. �One of
Dick's habits was to make an effort to remember anyone that he met. �When he
met you, he would put your name in his little notebook and something about
you to help him remember you. �The next time he saw you, he would call you
by name; great trait.

This would explain my first meeting with Dick. I was a 17yr old kid
in the mid 70's crewing for a California pilot at a Standard class
nationals in Hobbs NM. Dick was flying the brand new Pik 20. All I
ever accomplished at that point in my soaring career was I had the
longest flight from Region 11 that year. Dick was a legend in my eyes
and he came up to me, introduced himself, and congratulated me on my
flight. I was so impressed that a man of his stature, from Texas,
would even know about some kid in California making a nice flight,
then take the time to intoduce himself to me. He was truly one of the
greatest ambassador's we had in this sport.
My deepest condolences go out to Alice and his family.

Barry Danieli
El Verano, CA