Jimmy was one of the best people I have ever known in my life. He was a pilot who loved flying and airplanes almost more than he loved life. He could name any aircraft that he saw, and could describe almost any air battle of WWI or WWII. He loved the Beatles and especially John Lennon...I still have a few of his Beatles albums after all these years. Most of the boys in our class would argue over whether the Camaro or the Mustang was the "baddest", but Jimmy loved American Motors...and his little yellow Javelin was his pride and joy. I will always be grateful that he also loved me.
If anyone else has photographs of Jimmy, I would love to see them and/or have copies. I only had a few, and lost most of them when my parents' home burned in 1975. Thanks...
i also have a lot of fond memories of jimmy, in Gordon, growing up with jimmy, stevie barron, mark dupree , carrol blankenship and rogers johnson,.
We spent many times together...he was the ace, went twith him to flying lessons many times, saw Good Bad & Ugly at the Capitl Theatre,, his dad got us passes, we were awed....
Jimmy truly was a prince of a guy. I remember so many good times that we had together. We decided early on that we would be best friends and spent a lot of time together. We had discussed it for a while but one day at the Wilco gym, I guess we were 8th or 9th grade, we decided to become blood brothers. We took a knife, cut our thumbs and held them together just like the indians used to do so they we would become blood brothers. I'm not sure what it was about Jimmy but we just hit it off from the very start and I don't think we ever had any disagreements as friends.
I can't tell you how many times we would skip school and go to the Macon Airport and work fueling planes and flagging them in when they landed. One day he talked me into taking my first and last flying lesson. It was on a day that we had skipped from school and I thought I was gonna crash the plane but the instructor, Mr Arnold, who is the same person that taught Jimmy how to fly, recovered nicely. That would have been real cute for my family to find out I met my maker in a plane crash when I was supposed to be at school. Thanks goodness for a good instructor. Jimmy had told me that Mr. Arnold was a flight instructor for fighter pilots during WWII, so he definetly was a very good pilot, I remember Mr. Arnold reaction to the incident. He just laughed while I amost threw up, I must have been white as a sheet.
As Sandra mentioned Jimmy knew his facts about airplanes. I remember when one of our classes, I think from Gordon Elementary took a field trip to Robins AFB and the guide on the tour bus was explaining the different type of planes to us and Jimmy was added more facts about the planes so much so that the guide, I believe gave him the microphone and offered him a job. He certainly had a love for planes. He was also a member of the civil air patrol, if any of you can remember that organization.
I could go on and on about times we spent together but better cut it short. In closing, Jimmy Johnson was one of the best friends I had during the time he lived in Gordon and we were class mates, and beyond. He is truly missed by everybody who had to opportunity to know him. And Sandra, you were right, he did love planes better than life however, that love was only rivaled by you. I have never seen anybody so star struck by anyone like Jimmy was by you. Thank you for making him the happiest person in the world, even if it was for a short while.
That field trip must have been while we were in high school because I was sitting with Jimmy near the front seat of the bus when that happened! (I think it was a combined trip for the business and vocational classes or something because it seems that I remember Mrs. Everett was there.) Jimmy was pointing out different planes to me and explaining about them when the guide heard him and offered him the mike. He did take over the tour and knew far more about all the aircraft than the guide.
And the part about skipping school to take a flying lesson is priceless! I'm glad that y'all survived that flight, and I also remember Mr. Arnold. Jimmy would work weekends at Arnold Aviation in order to afford flying lessons--or maybe just in exchange for the lessons. He had actually soloed while he was in high school, so that he could fly alone but couldn't take up passengers. My first time flying was when Jimmy talked a couple of his friends, who were actually dating and were both also pilots, into a trip to Kitty Hawk, N.C. to the site of the Wright brothers' first flight. (I remember that I knew then that Mary and C. W. Duke must have liked Jimmy, and trusted him to take care of me, because that was the only way they would ever have let me go in an airplane. I guess they figured that with THREE pilots on board, I was as safe as I could be that far off the ground.) We actually had headwinds that made the trip take a lot longer than we ever planned, and I got home at about three a.m. We had stopped to refuel somewhere earlier and had to call to let my parents know we were going to be late, or I might never have been allowed to see Jimmy again outside my living room!
Thank you for your kind words...it means a lot that you took the time to write them.
awesome leslie, thanks and sandra thanks for sharing, i remember the blood brother thing leslie, i was in on that also....
how awesome, thanks for remembering because i had forgotten about that
WOW.
yes i remember Jimmy and always will, We went to See the most famous Spaghetti Western,,, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Jimmy's dad was playing in a band and he got us tickets at the capitol theatre,
we would go and see jimmy's grandmother, and she would count change to him for flying lessons
Sandra Duke (Sallee)
Sandra Duke (Sallee)
Sandra Duke (Sallee)
Jimmy was one of the best people I have ever known in my life. He was a pilot who loved flying and airplanes almost more than he loved life. He could name any aircraft that he saw, and could describe almost any air battle of WWI or WWII. He loved the Beatles and especially John Lennon...I still have a few of his Beatles albums after all these years. Most of the boys in our class would argue over whether the Camaro or the Mustang was the "baddest", but Jimmy loved American Motors...and his little yellow Javelin was his pride and joy. I will always be grateful that he also loved me.
If anyone else has photographs of Jimmy, I would love to see them and/or have copies. I only had a few, and lost most of them when my parents' home burned in 1975. Thanks...
Rick Williams
i also have a lot of fond memories of jimmy, in Gordon, growing up with jimmy, stevie barron, mark dupree , carrol blankenship and rogers johnson,.
We spent many times together...he was the ace, went twith him to flying lessons many times, saw Good Bad & Ugly at the Capitl Theatre,, his dad got us passes, we were awed....
Leslie Brooks
Jimmy truly was a prince of a guy. I remember so many good times that we had together. We decided early on that we would be best friends and spent a lot of time together. We had discussed it for a while but one day at the Wilco gym, I guess we were 8th or 9th grade, we decided to become blood brothers. We took a knife, cut our thumbs and held them together just like the indians used to do so they we would become blood brothers. I'm not sure what it was about Jimmy but we just hit it off from the very start and I don't think we ever had any disagreements as friends.
I can't tell you how many times we would skip school and go to the Macon Airport and work fueling planes and flagging them in when they landed. One day he talked me into taking my first and last flying lesson. It was on a day that we had skipped from school and I thought I was gonna crash the plane but the instructor, Mr Arnold, who is the same person that taught Jimmy how to fly, recovered nicely. That would have been real cute for my family to find out I met my maker in a plane crash when I was supposed to be at school. Thanks goodness for a good instructor. Jimmy had told me that Mr. Arnold was a flight instructor for fighter pilots during WWII, so he definetly was a very good pilot, I remember Mr. Arnold reaction to the incident. He just laughed while I amost threw up, I must have been white as a sheet.
As Sandra mentioned Jimmy knew his facts about airplanes. I remember when one of our classes, I think from Gordon Elementary took a field trip to Robins AFB and the guide on the tour bus was explaining the different type of planes to us and Jimmy was added more facts about the planes so much so that the guide, I believe gave him the microphone and offered him a job. He certainly had a love for planes. He was also a member of the civil air patrol, if any of you can remember that organization.
I could go on and on about times we spent together but better cut it short. In closing, Jimmy Johnson was one of the best friends I had during the time he lived in Gordon and we were class mates, and beyond. He is truly missed by everybody who had to opportunity to know him. And Sandra, you were right, he did love planes better than life however, that love was only rivaled by you. I have never seen anybody so star struck by anyone like Jimmy was by you. Thank you for making him the happiest person in the world, even if it was for a short while.
Sandra Duke (Sallee)
That field trip must have been while we were in high school because I was sitting with Jimmy near the front seat of the bus when that happened! (I think it was a combined trip for the business and vocational classes or something because it seems that I remember Mrs. Everett was there.) Jimmy was pointing out different planes to me and explaining about them when the guide heard him and offered him the mike. He did take over the tour and knew far more about all the aircraft than the guide.
And the part about skipping school to take a flying lesson is priceless! I'm glad that y'all survived that flight, and I also remember Mr. Arnold. Jimmy would work weekends at Arnold Aviation in order to afford flying lessons--or maybe just in exchange for the lessons. He had actually soloed while he was in high school, so that he could fly alone but couldn't take up passengers. My first time flying was when Jimmy talked a couple of his friends, who were actually dating and were both also pilots, into a trip to Kitty Hawk, N.C. to the site of the Wright brothers' first flight. (I remember that I knew then that Mary and C. W. Duke must have liked Jimmy, and trusted him to take care of me, because that was the only way they would ever have let me go in an airplane. I guess they figured that with THREE pilots on board, I was as safe as I could be that far off the ground.) We actually had headwinds that made the trip take a lot longer than we ever planned, and I got home at about three a.m. We had stopped to refuel somewhere earlier and had to call to let my parents know we were going to be late, or I might never have been allowed to see Jimmy again outside my living room!
Thank you for your kind words...it means a lot that you took the time to write them.
Rick Williams
awesome leslie, thanks and sandra thanks for sharing, i remember the blood brother thing leslie, i was in on that also....
how awesome, thanks for remembering because i had forgotten about that
WOW.
yes i remember Jimmy and always will, We went to See the most famous Spaghetti Western,,, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, Jimmy's dad was playing in a band and he got us tickets at the capitol theatre,
we would go and see jimmy's grandmother, and she would count change to him for flying lessons
thanks leslie for reminding me of that
and yes sandra, we all knew he loved you also