John Henry Livingston attended one year of high school before quitting to work in a bicycle shop. Other jobs he held and worked at were: Ike Albert's Harley Davidson shop as a mechanic; mechanic at Miller Scales Aviation Company; and The Iowa Airplane Company as an aircraft salesman, and later owner of this company naming it the Midwest Airways Corporation. He flew his first airplane in 1919. In 1928 John and his brother Aden took over Chapman Field, in Waterloo, Iowa. Livingston was a national celebrity in the 1930's as an accomplished race and test pilot. From 1928 through 1933, Mr. Livingston won 79 first places, 43 seconds and 15 thirds in 139 races throughout the country, many of them at Cleveland. He placed first in a cross-country race from New York to Los Angeles winning $13,910 in 1928. Waco Aircraft Company hired him as a test pilot from 1935 to 1937. For the duration of World War II, he trained students to fly; he worked for the Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa with a contract from the War Training Service. Following the war, John returned to aircraft sales and in 1959 he served as National President of the OX-5 Club of America. He retired to Pompano Beach, Florida where in 1974, as he was testing an aerobatic monoplane, he suffered a heart attack. He died immediately after he got out of the airplane. His brother Aden remarked in his obituary: "In all of his years of flying, he never scratched an airplane." John Livingston was inducted into the Iowa aviation Hall of Fame on April 27, 1995. He was the man who inspired Richard Bach, a former Iowa Air Guard pilot, to write the best-selling novel "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," about a free-wheeling seagull. Johnny Livingston leaves his wife, Wavelle, two brothers and four sisters.
John Henry Livingston attended one year of high school before quitting to work in a bicycle shop. Other jobs he held and worked at were: Ike Albert's Harley Davidson shop as a mechanic; mechanic at Miller Scales Aviation Company; and The Iowa Airplane Company as an aircraft salesman, and later owner of this company naming it the Midwest Airways Corporation. He flew his first airplane in 1919. In 1928 John and his brother Aden took over Chapman Field, in Waterloo, Iowa. Livingston was a national celebrity in the 1930's as an accomplished race and test pilot. From 1928 through 1933, Mr. Livingston won 79 first places, 43 seconds and 15 thirds in 139 races throughout the country, many of them at Cleveland. He placed first in a cross-country race from New York to Los Angeles winning $13,910 in 1928. Waco Aircraft Company hired him as a test pilot from 1935 to 1937. For the duration of World War II, he trained students to fly; he worked for the Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa with a contract from the War Training Service. Following the war, John returned to aircraft sales and in 1959 he served as National President of the OX-5 Club of America. He retired to Pompano Beach, Florida where in 1974, as he was testing an aerobatic monoplane, he suffered a heart attack. He died immediately after he got out of the airplane. His brother Aden remarked in his obituary: "In all of his years of flying, he never scratched an airplane." John Livingston was inducted into the Iowa aviation Hall of Fame on April 27, 1995. He was the man who inspired Richard Bach, a former Iowa Air Guard pilot, to write the best-selling novel "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," about a free-wheeling seagull. Johnny Livingston leaves his wife, Wavelle, two brothers and four sisters.
Bio by: Lisa
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