Wayne Johnson
Wayne P. Johnson was born and raised in New Jersey, as he says, “… in what was then truly the ‘Garden State’.” The area around his hometown of Woodbury included Revolutionary War battlefields, hardwood forests, lakes, streams, tidal estuaries, farmland and orchards where he learned to fish, hunt, explore and appreciate nature. Early on, he discovered a talent for sketching birds and other animals. It was a kid’s dream come true and he reckons he still hasn’t grown up.
To his admitted surprise, Wayne was a career soldier who was drafted during Vietnam and served in the infantry until discovering aviation. After graduating from the United States Army Aviation Center as a rotary wing aviator, he served as a warrant officer for several years before receiving a direct commission to first lieutenant; followed by challenging logistics, materiel, operations, and training development assignments in the United States, Australia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iraq, and Korea; leadership roles in the Army’s Light Observation Helicopter Program Management Office during and after the Persian Gulf War, and multiple aviation task force commands in combat zones.
Wayne’s early interests in writing and photography were developed and honed as a freelance technical writer and photojournalist where he illustrated and penned a series of articles entitled “At Speed” for amateur motorsports periodicals. In January 2000, Wayne became a contributing photographer to the prestigious Road & Track magazine and AUTOCOURSE motor racing annuals, covering Formula 1 as well as the worldwide IndyCar and CART series for seven years. His work has been published internationally and his photographs are in the private collections of prominent motorsports drivers, owners, teams, and museums.
In his teens Wayne pursued falconry; capturing, training and flying American kestrel falcons, Northern goshawks, and red-tailed hawks. As he fondly recalls, “They were amazing flyers and hunters – cunning, decisive, fast – and rarely missed their mark.” He confesses that raptors taught him a great deal about patience afield and seizing the moment.
As a hunter, Wayne came of age in the fields and old growth forests of the Delaware Valley and Blue Ridge Mountains, accompanying his father afield several years before he was old enough to obtain a hunting license or carry a gun. Like many aspiring young hunters, his first gun used BBs – with which he terrorized neighborhood tin cans every chance he got – before graduating to a competition air rifle which he used to win Stratford Military Academy’s NRA marksmanship competition and ‘Top Shot’ award … a trophy and medal that still occupies a special place in his heart and home.
Wayne’s first firearm was a single-barrel Mossberg 20ga., until his father allowed him to use the 16ga./.303 British drilling he’d ‘liberated’ from Nazi Germany in WWII – a masterpiece of European craftsmanship, and a marvelous bird and deer gun! His first year hunting big game was the Pennsylvania whitetail deer season when he was 15, shooting another WWII war souvenir, a Mauser k98K that fired 200 gr. bullets and kicked like a howitzer, with ballistics to match. As he fondly recalls, “Those were the days!”
Wayne has hunted big and small game on four continents, and he is a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association and Safari Club International. His favorite rifle, occupying pride of place in his gun cabinet, is a super grade Mauser-action .30-06 stalking rifle designed and crafted by the late master gunsmith, Paul Jaeger of Jenkintown, PA; whom Wayne met when he was a 12-year old boy.
A graduate of Texas A&M University and the Army’s Command & General Staff College, Wayne is a Master Army Aviator, Certified Flight Instructor in airplanes, gliders and helicopters, and an A&P mechanic. Wayne is still flying and considers it a privilege to support the guys at the “tip of the spear” in the War on Terrorism. He makes his home in Alabama.
