Back to Home
CHAPTER 87

Amelia Earhart, James Bond and J&J

Profile picture for user mgurowi
By Margaret Gurowitz
Jun 19, 2009

It’s appeared in episodes of The Simpsons and in a James Bond movie.  Legendary pilot Amelia Earhart had one…and so did General Robert Wood Johnson, who used it during the 1930s.  What was it? 

It was an autogyro.

autogyro-in-flight

Robert Wood Johnson’s autogyro in flight, from our archives, 1930s

So…now you know what it was, but still, what on earth is an autogyro, anyway?  An autogyro is a forerunner of the modern helicopter, and it looks like a very small plane with a propeller and big rotor blades on top.  If you’re interested in how autogyros work, there’s information at this site.  And this site has a great old vintage British Pathe film from the days of Robert Wood Johnson’s autogyro, showing an autogyro taking off and flying (the flying part is about four minutes in).  The old film gives you an idea of how noisy they were – and how maneuverable, as the autogyro buzzes riders on a horse-jumping course and a man riding a bicycle.  Autogyros are still around today, but are used mostly for exhibition flying at airshows. 

autogyro-landing

Robert Wood Johnson’s autogyro drawing the attention of a crowd, from our archives

So how did one of our former chairmen come to have an autogyro?  It stemmed from his interest in aviation, and his constant search for new ideas.  Robert Wood Johnson was so interested in aviation that at one point in the 1920s he even bought a biplane and flew it around the New Brunswick area.  [Robert Wood Johnson, The Gentleman Rebel, by Lawrence G. Foster, p. 183] 

Robert Wood Johnson

Robert Wood Johnson

If the biplane raised some eyebrows, then no doubt Johnson raised many more when he said in a newspaper interview that he was thinking of providing airplanes for all of the Company salesmen, so they could save time and improve their performance. [Robert Wood Johnson, The Gentleman Rebel, p. 182]  (In case you’re wondering, that idea never came to pass.) 

Johnson had actually developed a prototype amphibious biplane, which was tested but ultimately did not work out when the prototype landed badly on its second test, taking off from the bay at Keyport, N.J. and flying to New Brunswick for its first runway landing.  A wheel strut snapped during the landing, the plane skidded down the runway, flipped onto its back, and skidded some more before crashing to a stop.  Miraculously, the pilot was unhurt, but the plane was destroyed, ending Johnson’s hopes of bringing a new industry and aviation jobs to New Brunswick.  [Robert Wood Johnson, The Gentleman Rebel, p. 184-185]

autogyro-article-3a

Johnson soon became interested in autogyros, which were brand new, and he began taking lessons on how to pilot them.  He was awarded an autogyro pilot’s license – the first nonprofessional autogyro pilot’s license in the region (he had License #1), and the first one in Middlesex County, N.J.  Johnson eventually bought a Pitcairn autogyro and was soon using it for business travel, because it was a quick and efficient way for him to get around.  (Many executives at the sites he visited probably felt that it got him there a little too quickly and efficiently for their liking.)  Johnson’s autogyro was small, with short wings that angled up at the tips, with two open cockpits.  It had a propeller in front and four huge rotor blades like a helicopter.  Although the only photos we have of it are black and white, our records tell us that the autogyro was green and white.  In 1932, Johnson used his autogyro to visit Montreal, where Johnson & Johnson had had an operating company since 1919.    

autogyro-article-1

This was during the depths of the Great Depression, and the Company was looking for ways to increase its business.  So in 1931 Robert Wood Johnson announced that he would visit 16 midwestern cities in which there were major wholesale drug customers.  And to save time, because the Company’s Sales Department had given him a very full schedule, he would use his autogyro.   According to an article in Sales Management, he planned to visit druggists in Fort Wayne, Chicago, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, St. Louis, Kansas City, Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Joplin, Springfield, Fort Smith, Little Rock, Memphis, Evansville, Louisville and Atlantic City, all in a little over two weeks.   Here’s what The Wichita Beacon said:

“In order to cover the territory as rapidly as possible, yet spend sufficient time in each city, Mr. Johnson is making the entire trip by air, using his auto-gyro so that landings can be made in places ordinarily inaccessible to the regular type plane.”  [The Wichita Beacon, "Surgical Dressing Expert to Visit Here in Auto-Gyro," Sunday, October 11, 1931]

autogyro-article-2b3

While autogyros may seem quaint or archaic today, in 1931 they were considered “…the most modern means of transportation at the command of the civilized world…” [The Wichita Beacon, "Here's How He Checks Up on Business," Thursday, October 15, 1931]   Not only was Johnson’s mode of transportation on his economic fact finding tour considered cutting-edge and modern, so were his ideas and opinions.  “Modern business…demands action and a first-hand knowledge of what is going on throughout the country.  The day is past when you can run a business from behind a desk,” he told a Kansas newspaper.  [The Wichita Beacon, October 15, 1931]

A rare photo from Hadley Field, NJ. showing the lighter side of General Robert Wood Johnson.  Johnson (R) pretends to read a newspaper while sitting with pilot Ken Unger (a famous former WWI flying ace and former air mail pilot) on the frame of an autogyro waiting to be rebuilt.

Johnson’s love of aviation gave rise to one of the most famous General Johnson stories in the history of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies.  In his later years, Johnson was known for making surprise inspections at Company facilities.  Many times, the local manager would receive advance word of the surprise inspection, and employees at the facility would race around hiding clutter and making sure that everything was up to Johnson’s exacting standards.   The manager at one site decided to store some materials on the roof to get them out of sight during General Johnson’s visit.  Unfortunately, Johnson came in by air that day.  And the first question he asked the nervous manager was…you guessed it: what is all that stuff doing on your roof?

Share this article

Read 5 comments
Full name will be displayed as entered.

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
By submitting your comments, you agree that your comments may be made available to the public. All comments will be reviewed before posting, and if approved, will be shared publicly on the site. Please do not include any information and/or comments that you would like to remain private. Since this blog is about history, topics that don’t directly relate to the history of Johnson & Johnson and its operating companies won’t be posted.. Issues not related to the history of J&J, including any product complaints, will be forwarded to the appropriate Johnson & Johnson team for follow-up as appropriate. This site will not publish any comments that have inappropriate language... so be nice! We will use the information you submit in accordance with our  Privacy Policy.
Chuck Ackerman
JULY 07, 2009 09:33 AM

I loved this story. Shared with my family and continue to learn more about the organization. Thank you!

Mary Beth
JULY 07, 2009 11:39 AM

This article is very interesting and provides history into the innovative and creative mind of Mr. Johnson in other areas. The HCP customers will be delighted when I share this in casual conversation.

Thank you,

Puneet Kumar
JULY 28, 2009 07:34 AM

This article has been quite interesting in a sense that Mr. johnson business acumen was tremendous as out of thinking person to gain momentum even at the time of great depression as using autogyro.