Johnson Rocket 185
The Johnson Rocket 185 was a 1940s American two seat cabin monoplane designed by Johnson and built at Fort Worth, Texas. Development Johnson originally built a homebuilt Rocket 125 which first flew in 1942. The Rocket 125 was a low-wing cabin monoplane powered by a Lycoming O-290 engine. He developed the design into the Rocket 185 with a 185 hp (138 kW) Lycoming O-435-A engine and retractable landing gear. It was a high performance aircraft for the late 1940s with a top speed of 180 mph (290 km/h). In August 1945, Fred Pittera who had been an Advanced Military Pilot Training instructor on the four-engine B-24 Bomber at the nearby Fort Worth Army Air Field, joined the Johnson Rocket Aircraft as a test pilot, flying the P-39 aircraft look-alike through its various test regimens and finally in late 1945 flew the Johnson Rocket 185 with an FAA flight examiner for its first production qualification approval. A Federal Aviation Authority Type Certificate was issued on 10 September 1946. Introduced in August 1945, the Rocket 185 was pitched with the phrase "get a super-performing airplane for only $5,000 – order your 'Rocket' now!". A sales tour began in June 1946. However, because