My Flight Instructor Everett Johnson was my flight instructor at Sussex airport in New Jersey. As I remember he was a tall fellow who had served in the Army Air Force. When he got out of service he bought an Army surplus Ryan S-T. The Ryan S-T was a low-wing monoplane, painted blue and yellow (Army colors) with an insignia. It had a silver fuselage with Tandem open cockpits. It also had a six-cylinder radial engine made by Curtis Wright Corp, or Pratt and Whitney. It had chrome-bracing wires from the fuselage to the top of the wing and underneath, back to the fuselage. It also had chrome-bracing wires on the tail section. It was a very beautiful airplane and looked almost brand-new. Everett thought the world of his Ryan S-T and would polish it all the time. One day he asked me if I would like to go for a ride in it with him. I really was happy to be able to fly with him. As I remember, Everett's plane was very noisy and it seemed to vibrate quite a bit. But all and all I really enjoyed it with the wind blowing in our faces, and the exhilaration of the flight. It reminded me very much of the Stearman I had flown on many occasions. All of the time I was taking my private pilot's course with Everett he never complimented me on how good I was doing. He would say, "You did fair", or he would tell me that I could do better than that. I wondered for a long time why he wouldn’t compliment me. A lot of times I know I did the maneuvers required of me very well. But he gave me confidence in a lot of different ways. I realized he liked me but he didn’t want me to get big-headed about my flying ability. He wanted me to complete it and do well, which I finally did, making him proud of me by passing my private pilots examination. He wanted me to go on and try to get my commercial license. Index | Photographs | My Stearman| Learning To Fly| My Flight Instructor WARTIME EXPERIENCES Liberty In Leyte | Leyte | Tokyo Rose | Sea Of Bodies This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page