FINAL FLIGHT

a blog by Peter Stekel

FINAL FLIGHT is the story of four aviators lost in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks on November 18, 1942

FINAL FLIGHT, coming from Wilderness Press in 2010

Read more about FINAL FLIGHT here.

January, 2009
 
January 30
I found myself in Los Angeles today so I made a special trip to Santa Ana to the home of Marilynn Dick - Glenn Munn's girlfriend in California. After his death, Marilynn's mother, Jessie Dick, sent a letter of condolence to Glenn's mother, Mami. On the envelope was a return address - 1305 S. Ross St. To the best of my knowledge, neither Jessie nor Marilynn are alive. I have no idea of whether Marilynn ever married or had children.

The neighborhood is an old one - most of the houses look as if they were built in the 1920s. Many have evidence of several remodels. This part of Santa Ana is quite lovely, with tree-lined streets and concrete roadbeds.

Here is the house where Marilynn Dick lived with her mother, Jessie in 1942. The Spanish tile roof is unchanged as is the curved 1/2 wall behind Marilynn. Just about everything else has been changed by subsequent owners of the house. Please do not bother the current owner.


Marilynn at the beach.


Marilynn somewhere in the San Gabriel Mountains.


I doubt if Marilynn was out riding horses the day this photo was taken. This is outside her friend, Marion's, house.


Marilynn and her friend, Sally, at Saddleback Mountain.

 

January 8

Hip Hap Happy Gnu Year!

As my plant anatomy professor. Dr. Thomas Rost, at the University of California, Davis, loved to say. "Time flies lie an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana."  Welcome to the new year.


 

For those of you interested in the Beech 18 in flight, here are some images and videos from Hollywood movies that show the Beech flying through the air.

The Beech 18 is quite a popular aircraft for movies.

Is it any wonder?

Yes; I know. It's sexy.

These movies show just how sexy it is.

 

From It's a Mad, Mad Mad, Map World with Spencer Tracy.

HERE is a movie of a Beech 18 flying through a  billboard. [414 kb]


From XXX with Vin Diesel.

HERE is a movie of a Beech 18 in the snowy mountains. [3.7 mb]

 

From Octopussy.

HERE is a silly movie excerpt of Roger Moore's stunt double hanging on to a Beech 18 at high elevation and various maneuvers without falling off the exterior of the aircraft. [22 mb]

More interesting is HERE - a short documentary on how the above scene was filmed. Sadly, a Beech 18 was destroyed intentionally during the filming. Can you believe it? [19 mb]


From The Flyboys. Trailer from the movie HERE. [9.5 mb]

The writer/director of the film discusses the movie as well as the scenes featuring the Twin Beech 18 in an article published HERE.

 

   


From Letters From Iwo Jima.

HERE is a movie of the Beech 18 interior.

HERE is a movie of a Beech 18 landing at Iwo Jima.

 

From The Body Guard with Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner.

 

From All the Pretty Horses with Matt Damon.

 

From Along Came Polly with Ben Stiller and Jennipher Aniston.

 


From Insomnia with Al Pacino.

Two very beautiful sequences of a Beech 18 in flight HERE and HERE.


From The Aviator

The next scene shows Howard Hughes [Leonardo DeCaprio] getting off a twin-prop airplane which the movie-makers probably figure is the same as the Beech 18. It's not. I don't think Hughes would fly in anything other than an airplane made by his own company and, as we know, the Beech was made by Beechcraft.

2009

December November October September August July June May April March February January


 
2008

December November October September August July  June May April March February January    


2007

December November October September


 

You are where the latest blog entries are located.

 

   

write to: peter[at]FinalFlightTheBook.com

copyright 2010 Peter Stekel all rights reserved

FINAL FLIGHT, coming from Wilderness Press in 2010

 

 

Final Flight, Mendel, Mendel Glacier, Sierra Nevada, Peter Stekel, Leo Mustonen, Ernest Munn, William Gamber, John Mortenson, Kings Canyon National Park, Beech 18, AT-7, plane crash, mummy, JPAC, Wilderness Press, finalflightthebook, blog, 41-21070, airplane, lenticular cloud, hypoxia, navigation, wilderness