Abstract

Theodore Jay Johnston (1923-2013) was born in Olympia, Washington and was a pilot with the Eighth Air Force (398th Heavy Bomb Group) during World War II. After the war, Johnston spent 37 years at Boeing, workings on a variety of projects, including the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. The collection contains slides and technical documentation related to Johnston's personal history with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.

Contents of the Collection The collection consists of an incident report and photographs of a B-17G crew, 490th Bomber Group, 850th Squadron, based in Eye, East Anglia, England with its aircraft that was damaged by enemy fire during a bombing mission on March 9, 1945. The two-page report by B-17 pilot Robert Mason describes that the crew came under flak fire en route to their bombing target: railroad yards in Frankfurt, Germany. A shell passed through the No. 2 engine in the left wing without exploding....