Boy Who Flew With Condors - Dick Johnson? Other Comments

On Thursday, April 30, 2020 at 5:34:22 AM UTC+10, Mike Finegan wrote:
On Tuesday, April 28, 2020 at 2:55:09 AM UTC-5, RossFW wrote:
On Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at 11:36:41 AM UTC+9:30, ContestID67 wrote:
I finally got around to watching this 1967 movie which I bought on
eBay more than a month ago. It was surprisingly well done. Not that
Walt ever put out a bad product, his production values were always top
notch. However, when the popular media shows soaring, I often see
realism and accuracy go right out the cockpit window, maybe especially
via Hollywood and their non-accuracy for the sake of making a movie
that sells (Thomas Crown Affair nonwithstanding). 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.

Some general comments, questions and ramblings. Warning - there are
movie spoilers below (no pun intended);

* There is a reference in the movie to a pilot that "set a record of
over 600 miles between Odessa, TX and Nebraska riding a storm front".
Was that Dick Johnson? Jim Short mentioned Dick's record to me just
last night and said that it stood for over 10 years. He also
mentioned that Dick flew a glider of his own design (don't recall the
name). Damn shame about Dick. Great guy.
* 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 caught tail numbers for the 1-26 and 2-22 flown in the movie.
N2788Z and N8658R respectively. According to the NTSB the 1-26 is
currently owned by Paul Fuller and appears to still be flying in
Powell, OH. The 2-22 is currently owned by Craig Stanford and appears
to also still be flying in Beaverton, WA. I wonder if they know they
own famous gliders?
* 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. Was the release flight path a standard as far back as 1964 or
was it less regimented back then?
* 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?
* Leslie Nielson is the narrator and the only person credited in the
titles. My son only knows Leslie from his movie spoofs and was
surprised that he actually ever had serious roles (reference
"Forbidden Planet")
* 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

That was SO cool! I remember as a kid seeing another Disney show about gliding- probably made later (I think Blaniks featured). It had more dialogue- sort of followed a family who had a gliding business- anyone know that one?

Ross - believe you are referring to Call To Glory, a TV series featuring Craig T. Nelson as an Air Force Colonel and included a young Elisabeth Shue as his daughter, who took flying lessons in a Blanik.

I actually DO remember that series- the X-15 and SR-71 featured, and If I remember, the Blanik was used to demonstrate spinning. Great show!

No, the one I remember would have been earlier, and I was young so only have a few memories. I remember a scene where a young guy is flying a girl on her first flight, and another glider comes along side inverted.