Art Scholl

American acrobatic pilot, aerial cameraman, flight instructor and educator

Art Scholl

Art Scholl in his Super Chipmunk N13Y at a 1984 California airshow

Born|

Arthur Everett Scholl

December 24, 1931

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.

Died| September 16, 1985(1985-09-16) (aged 53)

Pacific Ocean

Cause of death| Plane crash (failed to recover from an intentional spin)
Resting place| Pacific Ocean
Other names| Art Scholl
Occupation| Commercial aerobatic pilot
Years active| 1950–1985
Known for| Aerobatics, stunt flying and air displays
Spouse| Judy Scholl
Children| 2

Arthur Everett Scholl (December 24, 1931 – September 16, 1985) was an American aerobatic pilot, aerial cameraman, flight instructor and educator based in Riverside, Southern California. He died during the filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean.[1]

## Work

[edit]

Art Scholl's Super Chipmunk aircraft at the Reno Air Races 1968.

Scholl came to California from Milwaukee as a young man, entered Mt. San Antonio College and eventually California State University, San Jose, where he earned a degree in aeronautics. After receiving a master's degree at California State University, Los Angeles, he taught aeronautics in San Bernardino.

After 18 years, he decided he was stagnating and quit to become a full-time stunt pilot.[2]

Scholl performed across the United States and internationally from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. In the mid-1960s he was a professor and head of the Department of Aeronautics at San Bernardino Valley College and an experienced pilot of midget air racers.[3] He flew a pair of modified de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft, renamed "Super Chipmunks"[4] (FAA registration numbers N13A, N13Y)[a] and occasionally a third aircraft N1804Q, before an estimated audience of 80 million people over 20 years and appeared in more than 200 motion picture features, documentaries and television commercials. The aircraft were recognizable for their red, white and blue livery and Pennzoil corporate sponsorship.

Scholl held four FAA certificates. He was an Airline Transport Pilot in multi-engine land and sea planes, with commercial privileges in airplane single engine land and airplane single engine sea, helicopters, and gliders. He held certificates as both a flight instructor and ground instructor. In addition, he was also a certificated airframe and power plant mechanic with an inspection authorization. In 1976 Scholl earned a Ph.D. in Aviation Management. He taught aeronautics at San Bernardino Valley College for 18 years, eventually becoming head of the department.

Scholl founded an aerobatics school and maintenance facility at Flabob Airport in Riverside, California. He converted it to a full-service fixed-base operation (FBO) when he moved it to Rialto Municipal Airport, then known as Miro Field, in Rialto, California in 1978.[1][5][b] He produced several highly successful air shows at Miro Field, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators. Miro Field had once been renamed Art Scholl Memorial Field in his memory. Scholl's company, Art Scholl Aviation, relocated back to Flabob Airport shortly before the airport at Rialto closed in 2014.

Scholl's signature aircraft were his two Super Chipmunks; he bought his first one in 1963 and his second one in 1968. His skill as a licensed aircraft mechanic helped Scholl in modifying the aircraft extensively; clipping its wings, adding retractable landing gear, converting them to single-seat, adding an autopilot and a much bigger engine. At the height of his popularity as an air show performer in the 1970s, Scholl flew two Super Chipmunks, basing one on the East Coast and one on the West Coast. His Super Chipmunk was licensed to various model manufacturers for both flying and static models; collectors now actively seek the Cox control line model. Although less widely recognized, Scholl also owned and flew a Pitts S-2A in the same red, white, and blue livery. Another Art Scholl signature was his dog, "Aileron", who occasionally flew in the Super Chipmunk's cockpit with Scholl in his air show performances. Aileron was hugely popular with the crowds.

Scholl's aerial camera work appeared in many Ridgewood school commercials, television shows and films, including The Right Stuff, The Great Waldo Pepper, Blue Thunder, Vega$, The A-Team, CHiPs, Iron Eagle, and Top Gun, his final work in a motion picture. Top Gun in its last line of credit states "This film is dedicated to the memory of Art Scholl."[7]

Scholl was a member of the five-person aerobatic team representing the United States in international competition from 1963 through 1972. He flew competition at Moscow in 1966; Magdeburg, East Germany, 1968; Hullavington, England, 1970, and Salon de Provence, France.[2] In 1974, he won the U.S. National Aerobatic Championship in a Pitts S-2A.

## Personal life

[edit]

Scholl's wife, Judy, helped run his business and manage his performances.[2]

Bob Hoover, the World War II fighter pilot, former test pilot and fellow aerobatic pilot, was a close friend of Scholl. Hoover was often at Scholl's Rialto facility, where he also maintained a hangar for his aircraft.

Scholl died during the filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane failed to recover from a spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. He had entered the spin intentionally in order to capture it on film using on-board cameras. Observers watched the plane continue to spin as it descended past the planned recovery altitude. Scholl's last words over the radio were "I have a problem‚ I have a real problem,” after which the plane impacted the ocean about 5 miles (8.0 km) off the coast, near Carlsbad, California. The exact cause of the crash was never determined.[8] Neither the aircraft nor Scholl's body were ever recovered.[2]

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Role  | Notes

|
|
|

1973  | Jonathon Livingston Seagull  | Pilot; aerobatic aircraft  |
1973 | Never Look Back | UCLA aeronautics professor |
1975 | The Great Waldo Pepper | Red Baron | Uncredited
Also stunts
1980 | Where the Buffalo Roam | Light Plane Pilot #1 |
1980 | Herbie Goes Bananas | Stunt player |
1981 | CHiPs | Bomb Run S5 E1 |
1983 | The Right Stuff | Stunt Pilot |
1983 | To Be or Not to Be | Stunt Pilot |
1984 | Flashpoint | Stunt Pilot |
1984 | Impulse | Pilot |
1985 | Prime Risk | Flight Instructor |
1985 | Explorers | Stunt Pilot |
1985 | The Man with One Red Shoe | Helicopter Pilot |
1986 | Top Gun | Stunt Pilot | Uncredited
1986 | Iron Eagle | Special aerial stunts | Final film

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Art Scholl's Super Chipmunk N13A was sold in April 1972 to J. Reid Garrison, FBO operator at the Oconee Airport in Clemson, South Carolina, and moved to the Anderson Municipal Airport in Anderson, South Carolina, when Garrison relocated his business there in the 1980s. Super Chipmunk N13Y went to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., in 1987.
2. ^ David Carradine names Art Scholl as one of his instructors in his preparation for his role as an aerobatic pilot in Cloud Dancer (1980).[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea

Portal:

* Biography

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Top 10 Tragic Movie Set Deaths". Listverse. December 7, 2007.
2. ^ a b c d "Famed Stunt Pilot Art Scholl Dies as Plane Plunges Into Sea". Los Angeles Times. September 18, 1985.
3. ^ Taylor, John W. R. (1967). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1967–1968. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company. page 344.
4. ^ Air Trails: 47. Winter 1971.`{{cite journal}}`: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
5. ^ "Final fly-in for Art Scholl Aviation at Rialto airport". dailybulletin.com. September 2014.
6. ^ David Carradine (1995). Endless Highway. Journey Editions. pp. 463–464\. ISBN 1-885203-20-9.
7. ^ "Famous Missing - Art Scholl". Check-Six.com. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
8. ^ National Transportation Safety Board Aviation Accident Final Report

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Art Scholl.

* Official website
* de Havilland Chipmunk details at warbirdalley.com
* Article on inverted spins and spin recovery Archived May 27, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
* NASM article on de Havilland-Canada DHC-1A Chipmunk

* v
* t
* e

Aerobatics

Aircraft|

* List of aerobatic aircraft

Competitions|

* European Gliding Championships
* FAI European Aerobatic Championships
* FAI World Aerobatic Championships
* FAI World Grand Prix
* Red Bull Air Race World Championship
* World Gliding Championships

Maneuvers|

* Loop (inside & outside)
* Aileron roll
* Barrel roll
* Cuban eight
* Falling leaf
* Hesitation roll
* Immelmann turn
* Kulbit
* Lomcovak
* Cobra maneuver
* Slip
* Spin
* Split S
* Stall turn/hammerhead
* Tailslide
* Scissors
* Whifferdill turn
* Zurabatic cartwheel

Organizations|

* British Aerobatic Association
* Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (Aresti Catalog)
* International Aerobatic Club
* International Miniature Aerobatic Club

Pilots|

* Cecilia R. Aragon
* Hannes Arch
* Princess Basmah Bani Ahmad
* Lincoln J. Beachey
* Péter Besenyei
* Ladislav Bezák
* Marta Bohn-Meyer
* Cristian Bolton
* Paul Bonhomme
* Pip Borrman
* Mikaël Brageot
* Kirby Chambliss
* Julie Clark
* Marion Cole
* Vicki Cruse
* Mario de Bernardi
* Giovanni De Briganti
* Tommaso Dal Molin
* Glen Dell
* Matthias Dolderer
* Wilhelm Düerkop
* Walter Extra
* Markus Feyerabend
* Gerhard Fieseler
* Jozef Gabris
* Michael Goulian
* Matt Hall
* Wayne Handley
* Ray Hanna
* Charlie Hillard
* Bob Hoover
* Bevo Howard
* Nicolas Ivanoff
* Nader Jahanbani
* Petr Jirmus
* Steve Jones
* Jurgis Kairys
* Svetlana Kapanina
* Sándor Katona
* Petr Kopfstein
* Charlie Kulp
* Anatoly Kvochur
* Nigel Lamb
* Amanda Lee
* Jim LeRoy
* François Le Vot
* Leo Loudenslager
* Nancy Lynn
* Alejandro Maclean
* Pete McLeod
* Jerzy Makula
* Stanisław Makula
* Mikhail Mamistov
* Mike Mangold
* Scott Manning
* Catherine Maunoury
* Yoshihide Muroya
* Pyotr Nesterov
* Alexandr Panfierov
* Ivy May Pearce
* Adolphe Pégoud
* František Peřina
* Tom Poberezny
* Peter Podlunšek
* Maciej Pospieszyński
* Sergey Rakhmanin
* Amelia Reid
* Olaf Schmidt
* Art Scholl
* Klaus Schrodt
* Betty Skelton Erde
* Skip Stewart
* Martin Šonka
* Gene Soucy
* Chris Sperou
* Victor Tchmal
* Reinhold Tiling
* Ferenc Tóth
* Sean D. Tucker
* Nick Turvey
* Ernst Udet
* Gabor Varga
* Juan Velarde
* Frank Versteegh
* Pavel Vlasov
* Patty Wagstaff
* Kermit Weeks
* Neil Williams
* Walter Wolfrum
* Janusz Żurakowski

Other|

* 3D
* Radio control

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template