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Helicopter pioneer, Johnson believed in the use of the rotor-powered flying machine as an aerial workhorse and predicted a terrific future where man would utilize helicopters to move houses and haul timber out of forests. He served as a Marine Air Wing fighter pilot, flying dive-bombers in the South Pacific. Joining the Marine Corps Reserves as a helicopter pilot, he received the first commercial helicopter operator’s license in the nation in 1950. Purchasing his first helicopter the same year, he launched his company, Dean Johnson, Inc. Over the next few years, Johnson and his company proved the helicopter’s capabilities through aerial surveys of power lines, snow fields and timberlands; airlifting men to fight forest fires; rounding up wild horses for Native Americans, transporting heavy material for construction projects, and hauling at least 25 “authentic” Santa Clauses. Johnson’s award is posthumous.
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