The Dude Who Barrel-Rolled an Airliner

image via Wikipedia

I've previously written about how one moronic airline pilot accidentally caused an airliner to nearly complete a barrel roll. What I haven't written about is the pilot who actually performed a barrel roll in an airliner. Twice.

And unlike the previous post, this pilot did it entirely on purpose.

image via AirlineReporter

And also unlike before, I didn't edit this photo to appear upside down.

That image above is a genuine photo taken as Boeing test pilot Alvin "Tex" Johnston barrel rolled the Boeing 367-80, a prototype of the famous Boeing 707 airliner, above Seattle in a demonstration to reporters in 1955.

Boeing had been working on the project as their first jet airliner and had sought to demonstrate to a weary public that jet airliners were a safe form of travel; at the time, the de Havilland Comet's were having a little problem with staying in the air.

image via SAS1946

A notable flaw when it comes to air-travel.

In order to demonstrate the safety of their new aircraft, Boeing scheduled a flyover at the Seafair Festival over Lake Washington near Seattle. And that was all it was supposed to be, a simple flyover. But that's not what Tex Johnston had in mind.

image via LIFE

If  you didn't already figure it out, Johnston is that sauve playboy on the left.

In full view of thousands of spectators, Johnston proceeded to roll the aircraft. And in case anyone didn't believe what they saw, he decided to do it a second time. The whole thing can be seen on video.

Needless to say the president of Boeing, Bill Allen, was less than happy to see his company's entire profit from WWII being played with like a teenager spinning donuts in a parking lot. When he angrily questioned Johnston about his maneuver, Johnston simply replied he was "selling airplanes."

image via Getty

They only sold over a thousand.

Boeing made a point of preventing such stunts ever again. Even in 1994, forty years later, test pilot John Cashman was reportedly still instructed "no rolls," when testing the Boeing 777.