Boy Who Flew With Condors - Dick Johnson? Other Comments

On Aug 27, 9:11 am, "
wrote:
* Can a 1-26 really thermal away from an auto tow behind a Model T on
a 200 foot rope? Can you actually stand up-right immediately
following a 5 hour flight in a 1-26? ;-) Ahhh, that's Hollywood for
you.

Thanks, John

I once thermalled away from a 300 ft auto tow in a 1-26

My instructor did his Silver C flight in a Schweitzer 1-19 off a 400'
winch tow.
I think the winch was a Model A -- I've seen it at the National
Soaring Museum.

On Aug 26, 7:06*pm, ContestID67 wrote:
I finally got around to watching this 1967 movie
*Anyway, it was a
pretty good show and I can imagine that watching this as a kid could
easily have gotten you bitten by the soaring bug.

That is where I got my first introduction. It was years before I ever
actually got my first flight, however.

* There is a reference in the movie to a pilot that "set a record of
over 600 miles between Odessa, TX and Nebraska

Al Parker, in a Sisu.

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors?

I know that Chris did much of his own flying (obviously not all of
it), and actually got his license. I think the girl (Margaret?) also
was a pilot, at least for a while.

* The release from tow was shown as the standard tow plane goes left
and glider goes right. *Except, that is, in the case of Chris' first
solo in which the tow plane goes right and the glider goes straight
ahead.

Probably ether Hollywood or someone reversed the negative. Sometimes
Hollywood does things for effect not because it is supposed to be done
one way or the other.

* Chris gets his Silver, Gold and Diamond during the movie (pretty
impressive kid). *They use the older "Silver-C" and "Diamond-C"
nomenclature. *What did the C stand for? *Is this nomenclature still
used outside the US?

I was not flying in those days, but it used to be common for people to
refer to the "Silver C" and "Gold C." In fact, you still occasionally
hear someone say "Silver C." I don't think I have ever heard anyone
talk about a "Diamond C."

* Can a 1-26 really thermal away from an auto tow behind a Model T on
a 200 foot rope? *Can you actually stand up-right immediately
following a 5 hour flight in a 1-26? *;-) *Ahhh, that's Hollywood for
you.

A group of us did a camp-out and auto tow expedition on El Mirage Dry
Lake about 12 years ago. We had a somewhat longer rope, maybe 500
ft. No one could stay up but Taras Kicinik (sp?) got in Wayne Spani's
K-8, took a tow, and we didn't see him for about 2-3 hours. People
were getting pretty worried. But he was fine and had flown all the
way to the mountains and back.

raulb wrote:

I was not flying in those days, but it used to be common for people to
refer to the "Silver C" and "Gold C." In fact, you still occasionally
hear someone say "Silver C."

Yes, in fact, you do: http://www.fai.org/gliding/sc3.2.1

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? *If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

The girl was real and her name was Margaret Birsner. She was the
daughter
of J.W. Birsner, M.D., a well known radiologist from Bakersfield. I
never met Margaret
and don't know where she is now, but I did meet J.W. Birsner when I
worked in the
same hospital for a while, and he was very proud of her
accomplishments.

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

I found this link that mentions some more about Chris Jury. He got
his diamond altitude at the age of 14 on Apr. 5 1964, it says.
Sadly,
it also mentions he lost his life in a power plane crash in the 1970s.

On Aug 27, 4:11*pm, wrote:
* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? *If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

I found this link that mentions some more about Chris Jury. *He got
his diamond altitude at the age of 14 on Apr. 5 1964, *it says.
Sadly,
it also mentions he lost his life in a power plane crash in the 1970s.



That link did not copy correctly, it should have been:


I just received my copy of "The Boy Who Flew With Condors"

I have another piece of "Boy Who Flew With Condors" trivia from the
far
reaches of my remote memory -
Who knows the name of the flag man
in the winch launch scene from the Torrey Pines sequence?

Hint: He is also in this beautiful picture on the cover or "Soaring".
http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/...71Feb_full.jpg

On Sep 4, 9:00*am, wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:11*pm, wrote:

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? *If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

I found this link that mentions some more about Chris Jury. *He got
his diamond altitude at the age of 14 on Apr. 5 1964, *it says.
Sadly,
it also mentions he lost his life in a power plane crash in the 1970s.



That link did not copy correctly, it should have been:


I just received my copy of "The Boy Who Flew With Condors"

I have another piece of "Boy Who Flew With Condors" trivia from the
far
reaches of my remote memory -
Who knows the name of the flag man
in the winch launch scene from the Torrey Pines sequence?

Hint: He is also in this beautiful picture on the cover or "Soaring".http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/...71Feb_full.jpg

This dang thing keeps truncating that link - the truncated
part of the url smpawl... should be "smpawling"

" wrote in message
:

On Sep 4, 9:00 am, wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:11 pm, wrote:

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

I found this link that mentions some more about Chris Jury. He got
his diamond altitude at the age of 14 on Apr. 5 1964, it says.
Sadly,
it also mentions he lost his life in a power plane crash in the 1970s.



That link did not copy correctly, it should have been:


I just received my copy of "The Boy Who Flew With Condors"

I have another piece of "Boy Who Flew With Condors" trivia from the
far
reaches of my remote memory -
Who knows the name of the flag man
in the winch launch scene from the Torrey Pines sequence?

Hint: He is also in this beautiful picture on the cover or "Soaring".http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/...71Feb_full.jpg

This dang thing keeps truncating that link - the truncated
part of the url smpawl... should be "smpawling"

Then use http://tinyurl.com/

Larry

I have another piece of "Boy Who Flew With Condors" trivia from the
far
reaches of my remote memory -
Who knows the name of the flag man
in the winch launch scene from the Torrey Pines sequence?

Hint: He is also in this beautiful picture on the cover or "Soaring".http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/...71Feb_full.jpg

This dang thing keeps truncating that link - the truncated
part of the url smpawl... should be "smpawling"

Then usehttp://tinyurl.com/

Larry

http://tinyurl.com/54rgph

On Sep 4, 9:00*am, wrote:
On Aug 27, 4:11*pm, wrote:

* While I am sure that many of the soaring types shown in the movie
are the real deal, did the two teenagers (Chris Jury and Margaret ???)
exist or were they simply Hollywood actors? *If real, did they do
their own flying (the Torres Pines beach takeoff especially).

I found this link that mentions some more about Chris Jury. *He got
his diamond altitude at the age of 14 on Apr. 5 1964, *it says.
Sadly,
it also mentions he lost his life in a power plane crash in the 1970s.



That link did not copy correctly, it should have been:


I just received my copy of "The Boy Who Flew With Condors"

I have another piece of "Boy Who Flew With Condors" trivia from the
far
reaches of my remote memory -
Who knows the name of the flag man
in the winch launch scene from the Torrey Pines sequence?

Hint: He is also in this beautiful picture on the cover or "Soaring".http://soaringweb.org/Soaring_Index/...71Feb_full.jpg

It's been over a week and nobody has answered, so I'll tell you - His
name
is John Dickson. He was an instructor for the AGCSC club at Torrey
Pines
and Elsinore. Sadly, I understand
he is among the list of those in the movie that are no longer with us.
A cool
guy, he later got more into Skydiving at the Elsinore Paracenter -
probably not
enough adrenaline to satisfy him in Soaring. I was one of his
students. One
day at Elsinore, I drank a grape soda and ate a chocolate ice cream
cone
and then went flying in the front seat of the 2-22 with him in the
back. I got
sick and barfed up the partially digested mixture of the grape soda
and chocolate
cone. We had no sick sack, so I had to open the canopy and let it
go over the side. It made a nice pattern as it flowed down the side of
the 2-22. Quite a mess to clean up later. It spite of that, he
eventually soloed me.