There’s a photo of legendary RV-4 pilot Jon Johanson with the Wiley Post Commission’s Spirit Award at a black-tie function in Oklahoma City, USA. Dressed in a tuxedo, the man from Adelaide has the contented look of someone comfortable in his own skin. Someone comfortable with what he has achieved in a remarkable life spent criss-crossing the world in a single-engine aircraft.
A former carpenter, nurse, midwife and flight instructor, Johanson in 2007 became the award’s first international recipient. His many accomplishments include being the first person to fly solo over the South Pole (2003) in a single engine aircraft and the first person to circumnavigate the world solo three times in a home-built aircraft (1995, 1996, 2000). Johanson also holds multiple world speed records.
The Wiley Post Spirit Award was created to recognise an individual in general aviation who best exemplifies the
innovative and pioneering spirit of American aviator Wiley Post, the first man to fly solo around the world.
In particular, the organisation wanted to recognise someone who had dedicated their own time, money and hard work to further advance the field of general aviation without government or corporate support. Johanson easily fitted the bill.
Three years after completing his third round-the-world flight in his beloved RV-4 homebuilt, VH-NOJ, Johanson’s journey to the South Pole caused a stir when adverse wind conditions forced him to land at Antarctica’s McMurdo-Scott Base en route to Argentina. Surviving on dry food and water, Johanson departed Invercargill on the southern tip of New Zealand and had been in the air for 26-and-a-half hours when he realised the strong winds had placed his chances of reaching South America into serious jeopardy. Overflying the vast white continent, and denied permission to land at Rothera by the British Antarctic Survey, he was advised to turn back and divert to McMurdo. He accepted the advice on safety grounds but his arrival and official refusal to provide him with enough fuel to return to New Zealand, became big news.
Johanson needed 400 litres of fuel to return to New Zealand but both the US and New Zealand (who jointly operate McMurdo-Scott Base) refused to supply it as part of a policy to discourage tourists to the base. Instead, officials offered him a flight back to New Zealand and to later ship his plane home; both at his own expense. Dismayed by his predicament, Johanson spent three nights sleeping on a couch in the refueller's shed and the last three he slept on the floor in his own sleeping bag in the passenger terminal.
Authorities accused Johanson of being irresponsible and ill-prepared, accusations the pilot vehemently denied.
Johanson said in planning his flight the weather forecasts had not predicted strong winds over the centre of Antarctica, which robbed him of the fuel he needed to complete his journey.
"Any suggestion this was a flight on a whim is far from accurate," he told AAP. "It can happen to any flight anywhere in the world that things just don't work out as forecast."
Neither the NSF (National Science Foundation) or Antarctica New Zealand, both of which are government-funded scientific research programs, supply or stock fuel for private individuals, which placed Johanson in an uncomfortable situation.
After five days in limbo and uncertain of his future, Johanson received an unexpected lifeline when British aviatrix Polly Vacher generously offered him two drums of Avgas, enough to reach New Zealand. Vacher was stuck at Rothera after having weather trouble on her own trip around the world via the South Pole but had shipped fuel to McMurdo/Scott the previous season. Johanson gratefully accepted the kind gesture and to his relief (and probably the relief of Kiwi and US officials who’d copped a hammering in the press for being so difficult), departed Antarctica, new record and all.
Johanson said at the time: “Put simply, my goal was to fly over the South Pole. I had flown my plane around the world: East, West, then North over the North Pole. The South Pole was the final point for me to complete the four corners of the earth. I had intended to overfly the Antarctic continent via the South Pole to South America, then I would have continued on to South Africa and back to Australia, making another round the world flight.”
Despite his remarkable achievements, Jon copped a barrage of abuse from faceless online bloggers who condemned him for being a publicity-seeking adventurer. Why, they asked, should tax-payers fork out the dough to pay for a stricken risk-taking private flyer who’d been officially advised not to make the journey?
Johanson has never been a publicity hound and his exploits have been driven by a burning desire to achieve personal goals. He admits he flunked school and was always told he’d never amount to anything: even in later life as a nurse and as a pilot. But by rolling up his sleeves and dedicating himself to achieving his dreams, Johanson proved that where there’s a will, there’s a way.
"I was never good in school ... actually, I was pretty awful" Jon recalls. "I never quite quit, but the message I got from school was that I was too "thick" to amount to much, so I shouldn't expect much out of life. So for a long time, I didn't. I just got by, day to day, not thinking much about anything."
Jon’s dream of overflying the South Pole, just like all of his flying dreams, were driven by the need to complete a job well done - getting started on a project and never quitting. “Looking into a mirror is hard enough, but seeing someone like that (a quitter) looking back was not for me,” he once said. Flying to the South Pole was simply something he “had” to do.
Johanson had no desire to follow in the footsteps of legendary Australian aviators such as Sir Charles Kingsford Smith or Bert Hinkler. No, his original dream was to build an aeroplane and fly it to Oshkosh. But he achieved so much more and became an inspiration to those who lack the self-belief and confidence to pursue their goals whatever they may be. For this reason alone he should afforded the due respect he deserves.
Johanson’s beloved VH-NOJ is currently on display at the South Australian Aviation Museum (SAAM) in Adelaide.
Recognising the aircraft as an important piece of state history, SAAM needs to raise $55,000 to prevent it from being lost to a museum in the United States, where the Smithsonian Institute has reportedly valued the piece at more than $110,000.
Hopefully, given the aircraft’s history, enough funds will be raised to preserve a wonderful piece of South Australian aviation history on South Australian soil.
