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This Day in History – June 10, 1969 – The X-15 gets a place in history

10 June 1969: The U.S. Air Force donated the first North American Aviation X-15, serial number 56-6670, to the Smithsonian Institution for display at the National Air and Space Museum. The first of three X-15A hypersonic research rocketplanes built by North American for the Air Force and the National Advisory Committee (NACA, the predecessor of NASA), 56-6670 made the first glide flight and

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Johnson, Phillip Wayne

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  • Johnson, Phillip Wayne

Phillip Wayne Johnson

Preferred Name: Phil
Date of Birth: October 24, 1944
Highest Military Grade: Select
Hometown: Lubbock, TX
Biography
Pilot Information

Phil Johnson served in the USAF as an F-100 pilot in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 and was an instructor pilot at Reese Air Force Base from 1969 to 1972.

In 1972 he attended “Texas Tech University School of Law, where he was a member of the law review and graduated with honors in 1975.

He has served on numerous committees of the State Bar, is a member of the College of the State Bar, is a Life Fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation, and has served as president of the Lubbock County Bar Association. He is board-certified in civil trial law and personal injury trial law.

Phil practiced law with the firm from 1975 until 1998 with the Lubbock law firm of Crenshaw, Dupree & Milam, L.L.P., went on to the Seventh Court of Appeals in 1998 and was elected chief justice in 2002. (1)

On March 15, 2005, Johnson was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court. He served until 2018.

Phil is married to his wife Carla. An article in the Longview News-Journal By Jeff Brown
on Dec 15, 2018 (Updated Jun 15, 2020) tells the story…His enduring devotion to his wife, Carla, was born from tragedy and grief. They met at the ceremony where Justice Johnson was awarded the Silver Star. Carla’s first husband, also an Air Force pilot, was also to receive the Silver Star but had been killed in action. She was at the ceremony to accept the posthumous decoration on his behalf. And a love story was born. Carla and Phil have 5 children.

 

 

Sources: (1) https://web.archive.org/web/20130124225221/http://www.supreme.courts.state.tx.us/court/justice_pjohnson.asp

Units Assigned

  • 1967-1968 Vietnam (F-100)
  • 1969-1972 IP, Reese AFB, TX

Awards & Decorations

Silver Star
Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Distinguished Flying Cross (2)
Vietnam Cross Of Gallantry
Vietnam Cross of Gallantry
Air Medal
Air Medals

Flight Info

Military & Civilian Education

Civilian Education:

  • BS/Mathematics, Texas Tech University
  • 1975 JD, Texas Tech University School of Law

Wall of Honor Location

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The mission of the Super Sabre Society is to preserve the history of the F-100 Super Sabre and the men who flew the aircraft.

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