Jack A. Johnson, 82; Honored Instructor of Tuskegee Airmen

Jack Arthur Johnson, 82, a flight instructor who trained 165 fellow Tuskegee Airmen to fly, died Nov. 4 in Los Angeles of prostate cancer.

In 1999, Johnson was one of more than two dozen survivors of the renowned group of African American pilots from World War II present in Lancaster for dedication of a monument to the Tuskegee Airmen. The city, the first to honor the group with a permanent marker, placed the monument on the Lancaster Aerospace Walk of Honor. Johnson also received the Tuskegee Airmen Heritage Award for Primary Flight Instructor at a recent national convention of the Tuskegee Airmen in San Antonio.

Born in Little Rock, Ark., Johnson grew up near Chicago. The son of a flier, he made his first solo flight at age 18 in 1938 and joined the Tuskegee Airmen in 1941. He was assigned to teach at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where some 1,000 young black men were training to become pilots, bombardiers, navigators and support personnel.

After the war, Johnson owned and ran Johnson and Crane Real Estate in Detroit, and after moving to California worked as a real estate appraiser. During his retirement, he was active in a program at Edwards Air Force Base to provide children their first opportunity to fly.