Donald I. Johnson, born on a ranch near Greeley, Nebraska, enrolled at the University of Omaha to study aviation maintenance after graduation from Scotia High School in 1941. He served as a crew chief on a C-47 troop carrier in the South Pacific. Johnson obtained his Aircraft and Engine rating at the Lincoln Aviation Institute. He learned to fly and worked for Lincoln Air Service and Prairie Air Ways.

In 1961 the Johnsons moved to Wayne, Nebraska to establish Wayne Air Service, a full service, Fixed Based Operation that offered flight training, ground school, charter work, and aircraft maintenance. He also served as maintenance supervisor for Graham’s Flying Service in Sioux City. Johnson accepted an aviation maintenance instructor position at Western Nebraska Community College in Sidney, Nebraska in 1980. Upon retirement in 1990, he was the Designated Mechanics Examiner in the Panhandle, administering the oral and practical examinations and issuing the mechanic’s A&P Certificates.

back