ANGEL'S HORNS
by Tulio R. Soto
Kindly contributed by the Latin American Aviation Historical Society
(LAAHS). See their website for more:
www.laahs.com
There's an old aviation saying: "there are bold pilots and there are
old pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."
You have to have a great degree of daring in order to fly, in the first
place. But also, you must have more than that in order to make it in
Latin America. Flying conditions are primitive in many locations, radio
aids non-existent or barely functional, weather changes suddenly,
equipment is poorly maintained. And this is nowadays! Just imagine what
it was like, during the first half of the 20th Century...
The subject of this document was born on 1 August, 1899 in Cedar Valley,
near Springfield, Missouri and was named James Crawford Angel. He
encompassed the thirst for adventure and unfulfilled dreams of many
during his lifetime. He traveled through places that most people would
not even dream of seeing. But we know about Jimmie Angel and his
exploits, because he is credited with having discovered the world's
highest waterfall, which was named after him: "El Salto Angel" in
Spanish, or Angel Falls and which he accidentally discovered, or so, he
claimed, in the Venezuelan interior in 1933 when he was looking for a
fortune in gold . . . problem is, that there is enough evidence in
Venezuela to indicate that many other explorers before Angel, had
already been in that region, for example, the Venezuelan explorers Jose
Berti, Morón, Lezama, Simon Moreno, General Salas, Cayetano Garcia . . .
who during the time where "balata" (rubber) was being exploited in the
region, worked in the slopes of the Auyantepui.
Capitan Felix Cardona Puig, on a letter dated 13 July 1965 to Guillermo
Jose Schael, a columnist for "El Universal" newspaper in Venezuela,
affirmed: "In 1927, Juan Mundo, his son and myself, explored the slopes
of the Auyantepui for over three months, and attempted to climb it
without success..." Cardona also stated that in 1936, while he was in
the area, Jimmie Angel landed his airplane, accompanied by a Mr.
Mitchmann, who was either the owner of the Flamingo or had paid for most
of it. They were searching for an airplane from the Linea Aeropostal
Venezolana, that had disappeared in the area of the Rio Cuyuni. Angel
was looking for gold, and had interested Mitchmann. Since Cardona was
familiar with the zone, he agreed to go with them to search for Jimmie's
fabled river of gold. Of course, they could not find it.
Cardona claims that it was during one of those flights when he showed
Jimmie the now famous waterfall, and Cardona shoot from the air, the
first pictures of the waterfall ever shot. Mr. Mitchmann became aware of
Angel's fantasies regarding the existence of gold, and suggested for
Cardona to climb to the top of the mountain. When he returned, Cardona
informed Mitchmann that there was no gold up there, and Mitchmann,
upset, returned to Ciudad Bolivar, where he transfered his ownership of
the airplane to an attorney. Eventually, Jimmie Angel found new
partners, among them Gustavo Heny, who agreed to pay for repairs to the
airplane as well as for an expedition to go looking for gold.
* The Region
The area where the Auyantepui is located, the Guayana Shield, is the
oldest geological formation in Venezuela. The Gran Sabana, is dotted
with strange mesas, the largest of which is called the Auyantepui; the
area at the top of this geological formation covers 700 square
kilometers (about 252 square miles). The area, so far removed from the
rest of populated areas, so wild and full of mystery, was the set up for
Arthur Conan Doyle's work of fiction, "The Lost World." It is from this
mesa, where the river that forms Salto Angel, flows. The Salto, or
falls, have been measured at 807 meters of height (2, 648 ft.). Nearby,
the second longest free water drop in the world is also found at the
Matawitepui, also known as the Mount Kukenan, measuring 610 meters
(2,001 ft.) This mesa, the tallest of them all, reaches a height of 2,
810 meters (9, 133 ft.)
The region is still to this day, extremely isolated from the rest of
Venezuela; and the isolation and the height of the mesas (tepuis) has
allowed a very special eco-system to develop and many species of plants
and animals are found there, species that have followed a different
evolutionary path than similar species that can be found just a few
miles away. The extreme heat of the day, gives way to temperatures that
at night often fall below freezing. The village of Canaima, located at
the North West corner of the Canaima National Park, is one of the
jump-off points for visitors to this region, and it can only be reached
by air. Tour operators have established several camps for visitors, who
come for the standard four day visit to the region and the Salto Angel.
Usually, tourists will fly over the falls, which are located about 30
miles (51 km) from Canaima, or stay longer and take an overland trip to
the base of the falls, with the possibility of climbing the mesa, on
foot. Many Venezuelan explorers have visited this region even before the
Falls were "discovered" by Jimmie Angel; commercial explotation of
balata (rubber) was undergoing even before Angel ever set foot in
Venezuela.
* Jimmie
Whether it was because of his father was authoritarian, or because
Jimmie was unruly, fact is he ran away from home when he was 15, his
father hot in his heels, in pursuit. It is not known whether or not, dad
caught up with Jimmie. In 1915, Jimmie crossed into Canada, and joined
the R.F.C. (Royal Flying Corps) and went to England, and later to
France, where afterwards he claimed to have shot down five German
airplanes plus three observation balloons and thus, becoming an ace.
According to researchers specializing in WWI air combat, his victories
numbered more likely as two or possibly three airplanes, and two
balloons. Jimmie would continue, throughout his life, to portray himself
as an ace.
This was not as bad as it sounds, since during the years after WWI, many
pilots who performed stunts and "barnstormed" the USA and other
countries, had to use one sort of gimmick or another, in order to bring
the paying spectators to see them fly; you had to "make" a reputation to
better sell yourself to the paying public.
Whatever the truth behind his aerial victories might be, Jimmie in fact,
served in Europe and flew as a member of the R.F.C. His duties with the
R.F.C. ended when he was discharged from service, while assigned to a
unit in Capetown, South Africa. His friend Joel Ince who was also a
pilot, accompanied Angel on a trip that took them to the then Siam
(Thailand), Cambodia and the French Indochina (Viet-Nam), where they
spent some time and then made it back to England. Once in London, Jimmie
spent all the money he had, on women and booze while having a good time
in the process. When money ran out, and economic reality set in, he
signed a contract to fly in China, with the North China Goverment for
Sun, who was a warlord in the province of Kansu. Sun was just one of
many warlords operating in China, and should not be confused with Sun-Yat-Sen,
an error that has been made in the past.
We find then Angel, not yet 20 years of age, and already commanding his
"own" air force, while based at an airfield called Wei-Wei, straddling
the ancient Marco Polo's silk route. Five World War I surplus airplanes
were the full strength of the air force, but only two of the five, ever
managed to get into the air. Regarding his airfield in Wei-Wei, Angel
would later tell people that "it bordered the ends of the earth in three
directions, and faced hell on the fourth," with the fourth direction
being the Gobi, one of the most desolate regions on earth. While flying
in China, Angel decided to go and look for something that would become a
recurring theme during his life: Gold.
He went to Tibet, where he prospected for gold on the foothills of the
Himalayas during 1920, accompanied by a Russian Jew, who was known just
as "The Jew." Their sojourn looking for gold came to a short end, when
bandits robbed them of all their belongings, forcing their return to
Wei-Wei. Their return to Wei-Wei would prove to be unlucky for, because
in October of 1920, a gang of mounted bandits completely destroyed the
airfield and decapitated the Jew and many others there. Jimmie blamed
himself for the Wei-Wei massacre, and feeling dejected and depressed
over the incident, planned his return to the United States.
A few days before his date of departure, malaria struck him. He was
transferred, by litter and boat, to the Rockefeller Clinic in Shanghai,
where after a lengthy stay, he emerged as little more than skin and
bones, and embittered with his life so far, but also determined to live
life on his own terms.
He would rarely discuss his experiences in China, and when queried about
them, he would only say that he "flew for a warlord" or that he "dropped
home-made bombs on desert bandits." The only thing from his China
experiences that stayed with him for all of his life, was his trip to
Tibet and the search for gold. Searching for gold would be Jimmie
Angel's obsession, and would remain with him until his death in 1956, in
Panama. During his barnstorming years, Angel would make sometimes vague
references to what he called the "Gold of the Lamas." Venezuela would
soon beckon, and always, always, the magic gold.
A semi-fabled personality, identified as John McCracken, an old
prospector who Jimmie claimed, met at the "Bar Central", in Panama City
in 1921 hired Jimmie, to take him to a stream, according to some
versions, or to a river of gold, according to others. This river or
stream of gold, depending on who told the story, was located on a mesa,
in the Gran Sabana area of Venezuela. McCracken purportedly paid Jimmie
$3,000 to take him to this secret location, which McCracken had
supposedly discovered some time before, and at the same time made Jimmie
to pledge never to reveal the location of the site, or to return to it
alone, without McCracken.
McCracken told Jimmie about how he had found this plethora of gold
nuggets in a pool that formed at the bottom of a waterfall that was
shrouded in mist; and wondering how those nuggets had come to lay at the
pool, wanted to explore the river from which the falls were born, the
river located on top of this imposing mesa in the middle of the
Venezuelan Jungle. McCracken had explored the site, and when his Indian
workers abandoned him, had to walk, swim and crawl his way out of the
"Green Hell" that the jungle was, until managed to make it out to
civilization, and eventually to Panama. He wanted to go back to find the
river, the gold, and offered to hire Angel to fly him back to the
wilderness, saving him a long and strenuous walk. He demanded one thing
from Angel: a vow of secrecy, not to reveal to anyone, the location of
the source of the gold that so much occupied his mind.
But McCracken was not relying entirely on Jimmie's vow of secrecy, and
when they flew deep into the Venezuelan jungle, make Jimmie to follow a
circuitous route, evidently with the aim of confusing him as to the
precise location of the river of gold, eventually landing on the top of
a mesa, besides a stream; the mesa was located on an un-mapped area of
the country. Both Jimmy and McCracken failed to notice the water falling
from an underground river, about three hundred feet below the rim of the
plateau, some distance from where they were picking up gold nuggets. At
this location, McCracken is supposed to have gone alone and picked up
about one hundred pounds of gold nuggets according to some versions, and
75 pounds according to others.
Once back in Panama, McCracken supposedly sold the nuggets for about
US$27,000. McCracken allegedly returned to the United States, where he
died four years later. Some versions of events claim that the river of
gold did not exist, but instead, McCracken had smuggled the gold from
Peru, and hidden it in that remote location, for later retrieval.
When he felt the end of his life approaching, McCracken had telegraphed
Jimmie and asked him to come to see him to his house, in Denver,
Colorado. He told Jimmie "The mountain is all yours now," but due to his
illness or other unknown circumstances, was unable to provide Jimmie
with the precise location of the river of gold. This meeting released
Jimmie from his secrecy pledge to McCracken, so he then began looking
for the secret place on his own.
During the late 1920's or early 1930's, Jimmie engaged in a series of
attempted and some successful long distance flight records, and also
supposedly flew a Zenith Albatross on a non-stop flight to Guatemala, as
we will see later. In 1935, Jimmie managed to convince F.I. "Shorty"
Martin, a geologist with the Case Pomeroy Mining Company, to obtain
financial support from the company, so they could go looking for the
river of gold.
During one of his many flights over the expanses of Venezuela's "La Gran
Sabana," they landed on the Kamarata Valley, and on 25 March, 1935 they
discovered a canyon, the Auyantepui Canyon, known nowadays as the "Cañón
del Diablo" (The Devil's Canyon). While flying around a mountain, Jimmie
reportedly saw the mists of a waterfall, which cascaded down the
boulders into the jungle, many, many feet below; Jimmie later said: "I
saw a waterfall that almost made me lose control of the plane. The
cascade came from the Sky! But still, I didn't have any luck in
landing." Flying down to the foot of the cascade, and then up, and using
his altimeter, Jimmie estimated the height of the fall to be more than
3000 feet. He had never seen or heard, of such a magnificent and tall
water fall.
At first, he tried to keep silent about his discovery, since his stories
about all that gold in the river, had only brought him mocking laughter
and looks of disbelief; Jimmie was not going to provide his detractors
with more ammunition to use against him! But, he was unable to keep
telling about his discovery, to his friends Hall and Dennison, who true
to form, laughed his claim off . . . until one day, when both agreed to
go up with him, on the airplane, to look at the fall. Their disbelief
soon gave way to gasps of admiration and the realization that Jimmie had
been telling them the truth all along . . . at least, about the falls.
Jimmie repeated this story so many times, to anyone who proved willing,
too drunk or available, to listen. Of course, with the telling and
retelling, details changed, and when people re-told the story, facts or
their lack thereof, changed constantly. This changed versions and
exaggerations, no matter who told them, were usually attributed to
Jimmie, and he was chastised and ridiculed for the stories. Some people
believed him, and some didn't.
One of the believers was Marie Angel, nee Sanders, Jimmie's first wife.
Another person who believed Jimmie, was Gustavo Cabuya Heny, who
accompanied Jimmie on an expedition in 1937. They went in by land, and
reportedly climbed to the top of the mountain, in search for adequate
landing sites.
* The Gold
According to Jimmie, McCracken had had a partner when he first
discovered the gold river in Venezuela. After their discovery, they
crossed the sabana and made it to Ciudad Bolivar, where his partner
died. McCracken went to Caracas, where he experienced unspecified
problems with the government of dictator Gomez, and was forced to flee
to Panama in 1921, where eventually he would meet Jimmie.
Many people chose to disbelieve Angel's stories. Many people claimed
that McCracken was nothing but an invention of Jimmie's.
It was however a Mr. "Shorty" Martin, who went to Ciudad Bolivar and
found in effect, records pertaining to the death of McCracken's partner,
thus providing proof of the existence of this until then, almost
unbelievable character.
Jimmie and McCracken left Venezuela in late 1921, and returned to
Panama. Angel headed to Mexico, where he flew payroll for two mining
companies (he was issued Mexican Commercial License No. 144, by the
Department of Aerial Communications), working for "Lineas Aereas
Occidentales" and later, for the "Compañía Aeronáutica del Sur" (in
Villa Hermosa); reportedly, on 20 August 1931, Jimmie flew the airplane
"Solar MS-1" (belonging to the Pizá Company) from San Diego, California,
to Villahermosa; this particular airplane would be flown by him while
with the Compañía Aeronáutica del Sur. During this phase of his life, he
came face to face with Monte Michael, who was back then a notorious
bandit. Michael robbed Jimmie, but spared his life. On a different
occasion, Jimmie got rid of a would-be bandit, when he rolled the
airplane and the bandit fell from 5,000 feet, to his death.
Jimmie and a companion crashed the airplane on the Sierra Madre, and
were stranded in the wilderness. Jimmie returned to the United States,
where together with his brothers, began barnstorming. One of the
wing-walkers of his barnstorming act, caught his eye, a beautiful
red-head named Virginia Martin, who would become Jimmie's first wife two
weeks later, in Coffeyville, Kansas. Their barnstorming act would take
them to many places in the United States, during many years to come.
The Angel Burns Flying Circus, doing "all kind of Commercial Flying" was
Jimmie and Virginia's breadwinner, flying a Curtiss Jenny biplane.
Jimmie flew as a stunt pilot on two of the most famous aviation films of
that era, "Hell's Angels" and "Wings," but his claim of having also
flown in "Dawn Patrol" was not true. It is reported that during the
filming of Hell's Angels, Jimmie refused to perform a stunt, and the
pilot who did, died during the performance of the stunt.
So, between 1921 and 1933, Jimmie flew not only in the United States,
but also in other countries of the continent. In 1926, on behalf of the
British government, he undertook a flight to Chile and Peru, to sell
fighter planes to the air arms of those countries. Some reports have him
as having served as a flight instructor for the Peruvian government.
Jimmie's self-claimed aviation accomplishments, included having had as a
pilot student, none other than Chang-Kai-Shek, and also to have flown
for the "air arm" (?) of Augusto Cesar Sandino, in Nicaragua. His
Venezuelan experiences, the lure of the gold, were always in his mind.
He would head back to South America at a time when he and Virginia had
just established a feeder airline into Mexico. All those years of hard
work, of sacrifices, were beginning to show some returns, and financial
success seemed to be within their reach.
As we have already seen, gold had a powerful hold on Jimmie, and he
attempted many times to get the elusive metal, one way or another. In
1927, Jimmie and his friend "Tex" Niltac, went to Mexico supposedly to
look for a "cave full" of loot, that Jimmie Angel had hidden for Pancho
Villa. They of course, did not find it.
Tex Niltac would attempt many years later (1955) to gather data for a
Jimmie Angel's biography; after several days interviewing him in an
hotel room in Los Angeles, Jimmie left the room, saying that he was
going to get a pack of cigarettes, but he never returned to the hotel.
The year of 1928 seems to have been a very busy year for Angel;
following on the famous 1927 trans-Atlantic flight by Charles Lindbergh,
many pilots attempted to establish new distance records; some succeeded,
some did not. According to Russ Plehinger's book on long distance
records (see the credits section for more information on this book),
there was a projected flight (never made) from either California or from
New York City, to Peiping (Peking or Beijing) China, to be undertaken by
Tien Lai Huah, James C. Angel and H.J. "Jack" Lynch.
February of 1928 saw the beginning of the preparations for a projected
Flight record, to cover non-stop, the 1,700 miles distance from Fresno,
California to Mexico City, Mexico. Pilots would have been James C. Angel
and Presho Stephenson (who was an official for the Beacon Airways
Company), and the aircraft to be used would have been a Fokker D-VII,
powered by a 300hp Hall-Scott engine.
The enterprise was to be sponsored by F.W. Hemingway, from Fresno.
During April 17 - 19, 1928, Jimmie attempted a 7,000 mile long flight
from Fresno, California, to Cabo de Hornos (Cape Horn) in Chile; the
trip was sponsored by the Pruden-San Diego Airplane Company; the general
idea behind bringing the photographer was to take as many pictures as
possible and to shoot film, to document the journey, and record all the
landings they made, and convert all this into favorable publicity for
the Pruden-San Diego Airplane Company. The airplane employed was a Bach,
registered 3431 and powered by a Hisso engine of 180hp. The proposed
route included stops in Veracruz, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama,
Colombia, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Chile, and with the local
flying to be conducted at different locations, the estimated length of
the trip would be three months. They would fly South, down the West
Coast of Mexico, Central America and to Panama, where they would cross
the isthmus and then fly down the East Coast of South America, until
reaching their destination; their objective there would be to photograph
and map the Straits of Magellan from the air. The plan for the return
trip was to fly up the West Coast of South America, and when reaching
Panama, would cross the isthmus again, and fly on Central America and
Mexico's East Coast, until reaching Texas where their adventure would
end.
The flight started on April 17th, at 05:37 AM. Passengers were Presho
Stephenson and William C. Benson, for the first leg of the trip, from
Fresno California to Guaymas, Mexico. In Guaymas, they would pick up
William Beery, the photographer. The plan was to fly around the Guaymas
area, to do some aerial prospecting for the Copelitas Mining Company.
Not soon after their departure, they encountered problems with a broken
oil line, which forced a landing near the town of Altar, in Sonora,
Mexico. After repairs had been effected, shortly after take off, they
discovered that the gasoline pump on the engine was defective, and they
were using more gasoline than expected, so Angel had to ride in an ox
cart all night long, until he reached a gold mine, where he could obtain
more gasoline. Eventually they made it to Empalme (Guaymas), Sonora and
met with William Bert, the expedition photographer.
Their adventure encountered many problems, Mexican customs officials
detained the airplane twice (probably looking for the infamous "mordida"
or kickback), while the photographic equipment was seized for"non-payment
of customs duties." Reports of Jimmie being hospitalized with malaria,
discouraged by mounting expenses and many delays, the financial backers
of this venture, sent a message via cable to Jimmie, who was already in
Panama, canceling their financial support and instructing him to return
to the USA.
Back to our story: Jimmie met D.H. Curry, who was a mining engineer
conducting prospecting work in Mexico, for the Santa Ana Mining Company
of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jimmie's fast talk and insistence, persuaded Curry
to seek money from his employer, so the two of them could go to
Venezuela and look for . . . gold. The Santa Ana Mining Company ended up
investing around $25,000 into the Angel-Curry gold venture. Jimmie had
promised that it would yield "nuggets of gold . . . as big as my fists."
During the year 1930, Jimmie was also involved in 5 endurance flights: -
September 21, 1930 - September 25-26, 1930 - October 1-3, 1930 - October
5-6, 1930 - December 15, 1930 The unsuccessful endurance flights of
September and October 1930 were attempted using the single-engine
Albatross Z-5 "Pride of Hollywood" airplane, NR-331E, with Jimmy Angel
as part of the two-man refueling crew. For the 15 December 1930, Jimmie
was the pilot, and this time he flew a three-engine airplane called then
the "Schofield Albatross," registered as NX-3622. The flight was not
successful; the New York Sun Newspaper, in its Monday, December 15, 1930
edition, reported that a 20 year old girl, by the name of Betty Brown,
hid herself in the back of the airplane, forcing the suspension of the
endurance flight, after only 25 minutes in the air. The report indicates
that the airplane took off with a crew of five, but had difficulty
remaining "on an even keel" (read, straight and level flight). A search
of the airplane revealed a stowaway, Miss Brown.
Another attempt at the record was to be undertaken the next day; nothing
else was heard regarding Miss Brown.
The decade of the 1930s saw Jimmie returning three times to the
Venezuelan back country. The first one was the Angel-Curry attempt, and
then two subsequent trips in 1935 and in 1937. The Washington Herald
Newspaper, published a picture of Angel, on its Saturday, December 3,
1931 edition. The photo shows Angel standing next to an airplane,
surrounded by artifacts; the photo caption reads: "Ancient - Jimmie
Angel looks over some old relics he gathered on a 3,000 mile aerial
exploration trip in the remote sections of Mexico. He is shown at Los
Angeles Airport with his stuff, which includes armor which some
Conquistador may have worn . . ."
A short news item published Saturday, January 30, 1932 in the Newark
Ledger, of Newark, New Jersey, dateline Mexico City Jan. 29: U.S. Plane
Feared Down on Ocean. The report indicates that dispatches from Salina
Cruz led to believe that an airplane piloted by Jimmie Angel or by
Joseph Glass, might be down at sea, off Morro Ayuta. The report
continues, indicating that an aviator had landed at Salina Cruz, and
asked for assistance for another airplane, which had alighted in the
sea. The report states that Angel and Glass, together with their wives
and other passengers had left Mexico City earlier in the week, flying
two airplanes and bound for VillaHermosa; their plans were to go to
Chiapas to transport coffee by air, from the interior regions.
It was during the first trip, in 1933 when Angel and Curry sighted a
waterfall, that was "at least a mile high" as noted in Jimmie's log
book. Later on, when Jimmie met with Virginia in Mexico City, and
mentioned in passing, the "mile high" waterfall, but by all accounts,
considered his trip, a failure. The discovery of what later would be
named "Salto Angel" or Angel Falls (also called Churun-Meru and
Parekupai-Meru in the local indian language), happened in fact, in 1933.
This is in contradiction to published accounts elsewhere, claiming the
discovery as having taken place in 1935 or 1937. The exact date is
provided by Jimmie Angel's log books, part of Captain Marvin Gigsby's
collection.
By 1935, Jimmie had a new wife. A red head; Marbi Marie Angel (nee
Sanders) was her name. Together, they made the second of the three trips
of the 1930s. Again, he went looking for the mesa on the sabana, the one
that did not appear in any maps, and thus, according to many people, if
it did not appear in the maps, it "did not exist."
Jimmie was by now, well known in Caracas; he was a picturesque caracter,
but his mile high waterfall was considered to be just another tall tale.
* Auyantepui
In 1937, Jimmie and his wife Marie, and Gustavo Heny and Capitan Felix
Cardona Puig (Capitan Cardona was a man with vast experience in the
region, having lived in and explored the Sabana area since the 1920s)
together with Heny's servant, Miguel Delgado, (a mason hired by Heny
from construction work in Caracas) came up with an audacious plan to
land an airplane, the All Metal Flamingo "El Rio Caroni" (NC-9487) on
top of the mesa, next to the "river of gold".
The Rio Caroni was an eight seat aircraft, powered by a 450 hp engine.
Capitan Cardona, according to his widow, had first reached the summit of
Auyantepui on 12 May 1937. Three months later, he had shown Gustavo Heny,
the way to the top. She also asserted that Capitan Cardona had first
been at the Churun-Meru in 1927 - 1928 during his first expedition to
the Guayana, when he reached this mountain. Lack of supplies impeded his
ascent to the summit, so he camped at the base of the mountain, a
massive formation erupting from the plains of the sabana, and covering
an area of about 70 square miles.
Previous reports by Ernesto Sanchez La Cruz to "Casa Blohm," in 1910
state that he had seen a really tall waterfall on the Churun river, and
the news were communicated to the Venezuelan Government. The mesa's name
in the local Indian dialect, was "Auyantepui" meaning: Devil's Mountain;
its surface was crisscrossed by crevasses, there were swampy areas,
there were cliffs and the vegetation was wild and tangled up.
This has made critics denounce Jimmie's plan, as being "ill-conceived"
and "slipshod." Jimmie's obsession with gold, made him somewhat careless
about the dangers involved. His wife Marie, also obsessed with gold, was
worried about her husband's well being, and thought that nothing would
happen to Jimmie, if she participated in this attempt. In contrast to
Jimmie's devil-may-care attitude, Marie was the planner, the dogmatic,
the keen-eyed woman, who would make sure that all contingencies would be
considered, that nothing would be left to chance. That was fine with
Jimmie, who eschewed planning and logistics, finding them boring; he was
a man of action, not a planner. He had however, great respect for his
wife's ideas, opinions, and her patience, and could sometimes put up a
facade of grumbling, of protest to his wife's doings, but it was all for
show, since those nearby could see him contentedly wink in silent
approval, of her actions.
Jimmie, Marie, Gustavo Heny and Miguel Delgado, had set up camp at
Guayaraca, at the South side of the base of the Auyantepui. Jimmie was
convinced that this was the mountain where he had seen the river of gold
many years ago. It would be from this camp, where he would take off and
expected to land again after finding the elusive river that so much
occupied his mind. Many times, Jimmie had already flown over the
Auyantepui, looking for a suitable landing site. Heny meanwhile, had
told Jimmie that the search they had performed on the pool that formed
at the foot of the Auyantepui's falls, was not the place Jimmie was
looking for, and their search had turned up only a few small gold
nuggets. Gustavo was just coming back from an exploration of the
Auyantepui that took him 15 days to complete, when he found that Jimmie,
returning from a flight to Ciudad Bolivar, his airplane loaded with
equipment and supplies, had flown to the mesa, and had done a "touch and
go" on the surface, and deemed this experience, sufficient to assure
himself that he could land without a problem.
What he failed to see was that the apparent firm surface, was not so;
there had been already some indications to this because when Gustavo
Heny had visited the mesa in two previous occasions, on foot, he
discovered that although he had not made it to the precise location that
Jimmie remembered as the one for the river of gold, the general
conditions were the same, and the ground was extremely soft, covered
with layers of plant matter, among which shrubs grew, and when walking
on this surface, they had to step carefully on these patches of plants,
or otherwise they would sink to their knees in the deep mud.
Gustavo asked Jimmie for more time, so he could go and climb again on
foot the Auyantepui and look for a safe and mark a suitable landing
place, but the 12 days he asked Jimmie to wait, were too much for Angel;
he had spent already three years on this search, his money was running
out, and probably haste had something to do with the decision that Angel
would take, because his wife was intent on spending Christmas in the
United States; besides, he told Gustavo, when it came to landing sites,
he knew more about them than Gustavo . . .
Jimmie decided that the attempt would be done the next day, so they
unloaded from the airplane everything deemed unnecessary, including the
extra fuel, leaving enough gasoline on the tanks, to make a round trip
to the mesa, each leg of the flight would not take more than fifteen
minutes, according to Jimmie. Enough food for 15 days, a length of rope
and a small tent completed their load.
On October 9, 1937 at 11:20 A.M. "El Rio Caroni" took off from the
Guayaraca base camp and about 15:00 minutes later, reached the meseta.
According to Jimmie's instructions, they had loaded the Rio Caroni with
the heaviest person at the back of the airplane, this being Gustavo Heny
on the last seat, then Miguel, Maria, and Jimmie. They overflew it for a
few minutes, and then Jimmie aligned the airplane for a landing. Once
sure of his intended landing site, and according to Heny's diary, Jimmie
cut the engine off, magnetos and turned all the switches to the off
position . . . they made a three-point landing, and the tires were
already making ruts on the soft ground.
When the weight of the airplane transferred from the wings to the
wheels, the airplane began to sink. Everyone was silent, with the
exception of Heny, who from the back of the cabin yelled to Jimmie:
"Jimmie . . . pull out!"
The airplane jumped and this made it nose over, getting stuck to the mud
nose first . . . 11:45 AM . . . Heny's seat belt breaks . . . he falls
down the cabin, landing on top of Jimmie.
Hundreds of miles away in Caracas, Lotti Johnson de Cardona, Capitan
Cardona's wife, listens to a brief a radio transmission from the Rio
Caroni; strangely, the airplane's radio does not reach the radio located
at the base camp, just a couple of miles down the meseta. Unable to
understand the meaning of the message, she worries still, because she
has not heard from her husband.
Some time later, an airplane from the Linea Aeropostal Venezolana, flown
by Comandante Lopez Enriquez flies to the Auyantepui area, but due to
the weather in the region, the rescuers are unable to locate either the
Rio Caroni or its occupants.
Experts on the region have expressed that it would be impossible to land
an airplane on top of the Auyantepui, due to the lack of a suitable
landing place, the characteristics of the ground, deep routs, mud, etc.,
casting serious doubts as to whether the first landing that Jimmie says
he made, with McCracken, really took place.
After repeatedly trying to extricate the airplane from the grip of the
mud, it became evident that they would not be able to free it; attempts
to make contact via radio with Capitan Cardona, at their base camp at
the foot of the mesa, were not successful. The "Flying Hobo" article,
states that as soon as the airplane stopped, Jimmie attempted to fix
whatever was wrong with the engine, but discovering that an oil line was
broken, and there was no way they could repair it, then jumped into the
river, and found out to his utter disappointment, that the bottom was
not covered with gold, but with about a foot of silt. Despite the cold
water, he spent a very long time, accompanied by his wife, searching for
the elusive gold.
It would not be until three days later, when after repeated pleadings
from Heny, that Jimmie finally allowed himself to be convinced that they
should better start heading out of that place, while they still were in
good health and capable of moving, and began the long walk back to their
base camp; they were led by Gustavo Heny, who was an expert woodsman.
And is precisely at this point, where Marie's planning, her foresight,
helped save the group. She had made sure that they had in the airplane,
what they would need to survive in case of need. She had even included
Jimmie's favorite cigarettes, the "Lucky Strike" brand.
The Rio Caroni was left there, where it remained until many years later,
it was rescued by the Fuerza Aerea Venezolana. Capitan Cardona had spent
five days attempting to contact the party through the radio, and when he
had not managed to do so, broadcasted emergency radio signals requesting
help.
News carried fast, and newspapers picked up the story, and it became a
hot topic of conversation, and soon enough, it became evident to all: if
the so much touted mesa existed . . . Then the story about the "mile
high" waterfall could also be true . . .
Fourteen days later, muddy, exhausted, with their bodies full of
scratches and bruises, their shoes destroyed and their feet bloody and
swollen, and with their bodies showing the bites of "garrapatas"
(ticks), but otherwise very much alive and in general good health, the
survivors made it back to base camp, surprising Cardona, who thought
they were all dead.
They had been to the top of the Auyantepui. They also, had failed to
find any gold in the river up the mesa. Subsequent expeditions in years
to come, by other explorers, claimed that they failed to find any
significant amounts of the yellow metal there, while other reports say
that gold and diamonds were in fact, found in areas that Jimmie had
claimed for himself for prospecting work. The trip in the end did not
produce Jimmie's desired results, but a magazine of the times had to
embellish it somehow, probably helped by Jimmie's penchant for the
dramatic. It described an emergency apendectomy performed by Jimmie, on
Gustavo Heny; a life-or-death situation, a drama happening high on the
mesa, under torrential rains, while Miguel Delgado held high a lantern,
and Jimmie operated on Gustavo. Years later, Gustavo denied that this
story was true, and clearly stated that all he had was a case of "bad
side pains."
* The Airplane
Built by the All Metal Aircraft Corporation, the Flamingo was a model
G-2-W (c/n 11) and registered NC-94873; sold 08/03/36 to James Crawford
Angel and partners; later it was registered by a Joel Eli Meachan, of
Phoenix Arizona on 01/06/37.
As we have mentioned earlier, the Flamingo was an eight place airplane,
powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp engine of 450hp. This particular
Flamingo, was named "El Rio Caroni." At least 21 examples of this model
were built, but the Rio Caroni is the sole survivor. The All Metal
Aircraft Company ceased to exist many years ago.
As we have already stated, after their eventful landing, the Rio Caroni
was abandoned on top of the Auyantepui, to remain there until the early
months of 1970. Jimmie's youngest son, Roland, went to Angel Falls in
1965 accompanied by the writer Carl Mydans and found the Flamingo
airplane, the "El Rio Caroni" still on the same location where his
parents had abandoned 28 years before; many years of exposure to harsh
tropical sun and rain bleached airplane, although the structure in
general was reported to be in good condition it so many years back.
In 1970, as part of the activities related to their 50th anniversary,
the Fuerza Aerea Venezolana (FAV) mounted an operation to rescue the
airplane. The FAV personnel under the Command of Coronel Edgar Suarez
Mier y Teran and of Gustavo Fernandez, acting as the chief of the base
for the "Operacion Auyantepui" disassembled it, and using a Bell UH-1H
helicopter to transport the airplane, first to Canaima, on 6 February,
1970 and later on a Fairchild C-123 was used to transport the airplane
from Canaima to Caracas, where it was restored.
As a testament to the rugged construction of the airplane, when it was
taken apart for transportation to Canaima, structurally the airframe was
in very good shape; the battery still had a charge! Controversy has
allso followed the Rio Caroni; there was a dispute of ownership between
the Venezuelan Air Force, who at first had assumed ownership of the
airplane and the residents of Ciudad Bolivar until 1971, when the FAV
informed the newspaper El Universal that they would return the airplane
to Ciudad Bolivar. After its restoration, it was first displayed on a
park in Canaima (Parque Ruiz Pineda), not far from the Ciudad Bolivar
airport's terminal. Then, it was moved to the Museo Aeronautico de
Maracay, until 1980 when it was moved back to Ciudad Bolivar.
It was displayed on a traffic circle in front of the airport, where it
was hit by a car. Vandalism has taken its toll, and there are many parts
missing from the airplane. There have been many plans formulated to
build a metallic structure over this historic airplane, to preserve it
from the harsh elements prevalent in this region of South America, but
nothing has been done.
There is also a movement in Venezuela, to have the Rio Caroni returned
to the top of the Auyantepui, where they say, it belongs. The Venezuelan
Government has declared the Rio Caroni a National Monument.
* The Scientific Windfall
Besides the significance of having discovered the world's tallest
waterfall, first estimated by Jimmie to be five thousand feet, based on
the airplane's altimeter readings, this discovery also awoke the
interest of scientists, since here you had an area which had been
isolated from "civilization" for thousands of years, and given the
isolation of the high mesa, allowed plants and other life forms, to
develop on a different pattern than those same species, found a few
thousand feet below.
Thus, in 1938 the New York American Museum of Natural History sponsored
a scientific expedition to the top of the Auyantepui, and returned with
many plant and animal species that could not be found anywhere else in
the world. In 1949, an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic
Society, the first ever to reach the falls on foot, measured its height
at 3,212 feet (979 mts.)
* The Lost Cities
Before Angel and his party could attempt to land on top of the
Auyantepui, Jimmie conducted a series of reconnaissance flights over the
area, totalling 24 ½ hours of flight time, complemented by Felix Cardona
and Gustavo Heny's land recon. If McCracken's story is discarded because
of inverosimilitudes in its delivery, then this made Cardona and Heny,
the first modern day explorers, to climb the Auyantepui.
Gustavo Heny explained years later, that on October 04, 1937 (10-4-37)
"we flew South" looking for the lost city, that Jimmie had seen earlier,
either in 1933 or in 1935. This lost city was located South of the
Auyantepui, in an area limited by the Rio Caroni and west, to the
Paragua. Where the Caroni joins the Icabaru river, there is a falls on
the Caroni. Some distance to the southwest of the confluence of the
rivers, Jimmie had seen from the air, the ruins of a town, which given
the dense vegetation of the surrounding area, remained lost to
explorers.
Anyway, bad weather hampered their search for this town, so Jimmie and
Gustavo returned to their base camp after only two hours in the air.
Gustavo, however, believed in the existence of this town.
Lost cities seemed to occupy Jimmie's fancy, since he also talked at
length about two other such places, one located in Brazil and the other,
in Ecuador. The Ecuadorean city was eventually discovered, and
archeologists excavated the buildings.
Researcher Paul R. Eversole, would meet and interview Virginia Angel, in
1974. After becoming friends, and during one of their interviews, she
mentioned to Eversole, the lost city in Brazil. Eversole made many trips
to South America, and in particular to the Angel Falls region; and spent
many years researching the life of Jimmie Angel.
Remembering what Jimmie had told her, she said she recalled that the
lost city had been mentioned twice, once while in Miami, Florida and the
other time, in Hawthorne, California. Virginia stated that only Jimmie,
Marie (Jimmie's first wife) and herself were present. She said she
remembered Jimmie describing to them how the buildings looked like,
including that some of the buildings had two levels. Jimmie mentioned
variations of the same story to many people over the years, but the only
constant in his deliveries, was the lack of an exact location for the
lost city. Jimmie never went looking again for those cities; although
they striked his fancy, they came a distant second to his primary
interest, gold, as we know. And for some very personal reason, he did
not think that he was going to find gold in the ruined cities. This
reason alone, seems enough to explain why neither Jimmie nor any of his
closest friends, ever went looking for the lost cities. There was,
however, a map . . .
Virginia had mentioned to Eversole, during one of their interviews, that
there was a map of the city in Brazil. They both searched through all
possible places in Virginia's house, but failed to find the map. Three
years later, during the month of September of 1977, Eversole says that
he received from Virginia, a mail package, containing the map: in it,
circled in pencil,
the location of the city. Interesting fact was, the city was located in
a region of Brazil where no other towns or inhabited places have been
found, although researchers say that civilizations have existed in the
area in the past. Eversole stated, quoting Virginia Angel that "no
matter how wild or exagerated, there was always a thread of truth in
Jimmie's stories."
A woman by the name of Ruth Robertson, states that in one of Jimmie's
flights over the Gran Sabana, before the Venezuelan Government forbade
him to fly, he was accompanied by his wife Marie, and in the midst of a
storm, he saw, or thought he saw, the lost city of El Dorado, on an
island in the middle of a lake. Ruth believes that Jimmie was confused
in his memories, because there is a similar city in a lake in Nicaragua,
city that can be seen under the right circumstances, and Jimmie had also
flown in Nicaragua . . .
* Before and after the falls
The accident on top of the Auyantepui did not impede Jimmie to continue
working in Venezuela, until 1942. After losing the Rio Caroni, he
purchased a Hamilton. Later on, a Cessna is bought in partnership with
Marie, his wife. Using the Hamilton, Jimmie continues to provide his
services to North American oil and mining companies prospecting in the
Venezuelan interior. He also provides his services to the Venezuelan
Government, where he had friends as well as enemies.
His qualities as a pilot cannot be denied: brave, adventurous, willing
to go to places where other pilots won't. In 1939 Jimmie and his
airplane are under contract with the Government of Venezuela, to survey
and map the Gran Sabana and to establish reference points in the borders
of Venezuela with Brazil and with the British Guyana. He has friends all
over, in Ciudad Bolivar, in Venezuela, in Panama and Trinidad. His good
heart is an asset: Conchita de Gomez Machado, a lady from Ciudad Bolivar
consigned to her diary the story that follows:
"On his way to the Gran Sabana, pilot-prospector Jimmie, stops
frequently in Ciudad Bolivar, flying the All-Metal Flamingo registered
NC-9487, a single engine airplane 'built to his specifications.' When it
is known that he has landed, the children who sell candy and trinkets,
headed for the place known at that time as the aviation field, which was
nothing more than an open and flat area - still the exclusive domain of
hawks, chasing mice and lizzards - to see this airplane and its pilot,
busy on the tasks of making it ready to fly. Between this and that, also
to try to see what they can sell to the pilot. "
Dona Conchita wrote that Jimmie had a "child's soul" and ended up buying
all the merchandise from the children, then proceeded to give it back to
them as a gift, so they could sell it all over again.
On another ocassion, he asked Dona Conchita, to serve at her boarding
house, a snack for thirty of his "little friends." Nicomedes Farfan, a
character well known in the Ciudad Bolivar airport, describes Jimmie as
"a North American adventurer who cheated the indians with candles and
liquor, to take from them gold and other things of value . . ."
Marcos Sanoja, from Ciudad Bolivar during an interview by Livia Chirinos,
a reporter, remembered Jimmie's participation on Venezuela's first
Search and Rescue (SAR) mission, on the Alto Cuyuni region after the
disappearance of a Fairchild airplane operated by the Linea Aeropostal
Venezolana; the pilot of the crashed Fairchild was Capitan Jorge Marcano,
the Co-pilot was Jose Antonio Mendoza and their radio-telegraph operator
was Jose Antonio Fuenmayor , while the passengers were Armstrong Perry
and Frederick Grab, Alonzo Duque, Serveleon Salazar LIna Valles and the
misionary Friar Baltazar Matallana. They managed to survive the
accident, suffering more from the jungle than from their airplane crash.
The Venezuelan Government had purchased a Fokker Model VIII (YV-AFO) in
Curazao in 1936, to reinforce and to support missions on the South of
Venezuela. In April 1939, this airplane flew to the Gran Sabana, with
the purpose of rescuing Capitan Cardona Puig who was being accosted by
the Pemones indians in the area of Kamarata. In Maracay, Mayor Alcides
Quintero orders the crew of YV-AFO, composed by Maldonado, Plata,
Fuenmayor and Antonio Dugarte, to go looking for Cardona Puig. When
landing at Kamarata with a tail wind, Maldonado was unable to make the
airplane stop in the length of the landing field, because the brakes
were ineffective, and running out of runway, fell into a ditch. The
forward cargo compartment was full of gasoline cans; the left engine
caught fire; they were able to put the fire out but were in effect,
stranded.
Before nightfall, Jimmie Angel showed up, after hearing their radio
calls for help. A group of the survivors began their return on foot,
while the rest waited for the rescue mission being organized by Jimmie
Angel. The remains of the Fokker YV-AFO, were rescued during the first
semester of 2001, in a joint operation by the Venezuelan Air Force,
under sponsorship of the Dutch Aviation Museum and several private
businesses in the Netherlands. The remains were inventoried, crated and
transported by sea to Rotterdam, where a ten year long project is
already underway, to rebuild this airplane, the only Fokker VIII
surviving.
Jimmie flew another Flamingo for its owner, a Mr. Kundhard who worked
for the Consolidada de Petroleo, a subsidiary of Sinclair Oil. Both
Kundhard and Jimmie, flew many times, searching for gold . . .
Controversy was never too far from Jimmie's life; he continued his
search for the mountain of gold, but in 1942, he became lost in the
jungles of the Guyana region of Venezuela. As in previous ocassions, he
eventually found his way back to civilization, but this time, the
Venezuelan government had sent airplanes looking for him, and some of
those airplanes were lost. The government blamed Jimmie for this, and
found him liable for their cost and the consecuent crimnal penalties; he
was declared "persona non-grata" and was oficially expelled from
Venezuela; this never stopped him from coming back. Comandante Guillermo
Pacanins, who was at that time the Chief of the Aviation in Venezuela,
obtained consensus from the authorities, to prohibit Jimmie to stay or
fly in Venezuela: "He always carried a beer on top of the instrument
panel, and I believe that we should attribute to him, the invention of
the artificial horizon . . ." Gibson.
Those who knew him tell us that Jimmie was a bad navigator and was not
trained to fly on instruments; official records seem to support this
belief.
The Aviation authorities in the United States also were pursuing cases
against Jimmie; there was also a Mr. Anderson, a Seattle based attorney
who kept requesting from the U.S. State Department information regarding
Angel's whereabouts, or how to locate him; there were creditors and
other people looking for Jimmie.
Jimmie and his wife Marie, continued leading a very interesting life,
with most of what they did, tied to flying over diverse parts of Latin
America. Sometimes accompanied by Marie, Jimmie flew photo surveys,
supply flights, transported equipment and engineers, surveyors and
explorers, to different regions.
During the 1940s, and using Nicaraguan Pilot's license No. 122, Jimmie
operated an airline, "SIDA" (Servicios Interamericanos de Aviacion) in
Nicaragua. Jimmie sold his interest in this airline, in May or June of
1945, to Jack Baker and Neal Hampten. This airline had the backing of
the U.S. government, since during the World War II years, the U.S. was
interested in promoting the production of natural rubber, a strategic
material that was in high demand for the war effort, and so,
Angel also produced several films documenting the production of rubber
(balata, hevea) in Nicaragua. Angel purchased a Hamilton Airplane, (c/n
62), NC-854E. The transaction was registered to James Crawford Angel of
Coral Gables, Florida and Caracas, Venezuela. This airplane suffered an
accident in Honduras, on 20 September 1943. It was then transferred to
TACA in Tegucigalpa. The remains of the aircraft were sold then to
Servicio Interamericano de Aviacion (SIDA) in Managua, Nicaragua, to be
used as spares source for their Hamilton which in turn, had also been
acquired from TACA.
From October of 1945 through January of 1946 Jimmy Angel had a working
contract with United States based Compañía Hulera (Rubber Company). Then
he gained an interest in the Tropical Air Transport company, which began
operating on 1 February, 1946. Angel and Baker flew there the Vultee
V1-AD, AN-ABI; The V1-A "Special" (s/n 25) was built in 1936, and was
powered by a Wright R-1820-66 engine; this particular airplane was
originally registered in the United States as NC-16099, and was later on
registered in Panama, before the beginning of World War II, as RX-19;
then Angel and Baker flew it in Nicaragua, as we have seen above. The
airplane went back to Panama, and was registered as RX-158, and when the
Panamanian registration system changed, it was re-registered as HP-158.
It was saved from oblivion, and returned to Pueblo, Colorado USA, and
then as NC-16099 now survives in the Virginia Aviation Museum located in
Richmond, Virginia; it has been painted to represent the "Lady Peace," a
Vultee Special flown round trip across the Atlantic Ocean in 1936, by
Dick Merrill and Harry Richman. It is the only example of the V1-AD
surviving anywhere in the world.
Angel also flew a Lockheed Vega (c/n 66) AN-ABL, from 1944 until it
crashed at Boaco, Nicaragua, on 19 February 1945. My good friend, Dr.
Buitrago said, during an interview conducted in McAllen, Texas on 23
August, 2000:
"Long after Jimmie Angel discovered the now called Angel Falls, in
Venezuela, I met him. I was about six years old, so it must have been
around 1943. He came to pick up my dad and me, to our house in Managua,
very early in the morning. He was driving a small truck, so I rode in
the truck's bed, while my dad rode in front with him."
"We went to Managua's Xolotlan airport, which was back then a grass
covered landing strip, and flew to Esteli, where my dad had been a
physician, and we went there for a day visit. We flew on a Ford
Tri-motor, and Jimmie Angel was our pilot."
"As I remember him, he was short of stature and skinny, his hair was
almost white, and I remember that on the back of his neck, his skin was
very wrinkled. I remember that the airplane had passenger-like seating,
but with one seat only on each side of the aisle; there was no door
between the passenger area and the cockpit, so I could see Jimmie Angel,
flying the airplane. I also remember peering out and down one of the
windows, and seeing the main landing gear wheel, spinning in the
airstream, while we were already airborne . . ." Buitrago.
While in Nicaragua, Angel and his wife had a son, and they named him
Jimmy. Twin sons were born in Costa Rica, in 1948, but only one, Rolan,
survived. Some time during his flying life, Jimmie suffered one of so
many aviation accidents, but this one was different, since fire broke
out in the cockpit upon crashing, and althouhg he managed to walk alive
from the wreck, his face would be forever marked with the scars from
that fire.
With the family growing, the children needing a stable place to live,
dictated that Jimmie and his family returned to the United States,
during 1954. They settled in Santa Barbara, California, and lived there
for two years. Ralph Lopez, a Spaniard from Bilbao, who worked
throughout Central and South America as an inspector for OACI/ICAO, and
was chief of Maintenance for AVIANCA in the 1950s, wrote about Jimmie
Angel:
"Now comes to mind my old buddy Jimmie Angel; that s.o.b. nailed me for
a couple of grand in a venture seeking gold in C.R. (Costa Rica) and the
goddammed equipment sunk in some river or another. The bastard also
nailed me along with a bunch of other guys from LAV-Venezuela, in a
Kaolin mine in Venezuela (terribly expensive stuff to make high class
plates and cups). Could do nothing about the whole deal as the &^%#@
killed himself in a Push-Pull Cessna 337 in Panama . . . I guess we were
all crazy bastards in those days and would spend almost complete nights
boozin' in a cat house talking and arguing about airplanes . . . "
Apparently having settled in life, the lure of gold came calling again,
and in 1956, when he was almost 60 years of age, Jimmie headed South, to
look for the gold-ladden stream. While in Panama, and when taxiing the
Cessna 180 that he was flying, he was caught by a freak occurrence of a
cross-wind, which managed to overturn the small airplane.
As a result, Jimmie suffered a cerebral hemorrhage; he was transported
to the Gorgas Hospital, in Ancon, the U.S. Canal Zone, in Panama, where
he lay in a coma for five months, where as a consequence of the
seriousness of his injuries, he died on 8 December, 1956. His death
certificate lists his occupation as Explorer. In following his will, his
body was cremated (December 11, 1956) at the Gorgas Crematory, and his
ashes were to be strewn over the Gran Sabana.
As some rumors would have it, when the urn containing his ashes arrived
in Venezuela, a customs official unaware of the contents of the urn,
misplaced it. Once it was discovered that the ashes were missing, a
great deal of activity took place to remedy this unexpected problem.
Other ashes, not from human remains, filled the urn again. Then,
according to the plans, on 3 July 1960, Jimmie's widow emptied the
contents of the urn, while flying on an airplane belonging to the Creole
company. The pilot was Captain Marvin G. Grigsby, a friend of the
family.
As we have seen, Jimmie's life was full of
adventure, risk and thrills. It was also plagued by bad bussiness deals,
made up adventures, prosecution by governments and individuals, but we
have also seen that there was a humane, kind side to this adventurer.
While he might have not been the first person to actually "discover" the
falls that now bear his name, he was instrumental in communicating their
existence to the world. His name is forever linked to this region of
Venezuela, and although not many people can explain while the falls are
named so, his memory will remain in the history of the region, the
aviation lore of Venezuela, and in the magnificent water falls that he
"accidentally discovered, while searching for gold."
His life, that seemed to move between the heroic to the credible to the
unbelievable, was also immortalized in "Icaro," a novel written by
Alberto Vasquez Figueroa.
* Sources and Credits This article began as an afterthought; I was
discussing my favorite theme, aviation history, with a good friend, Dr.
Roberto Buitrago, one night in the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Dr.
Buitrago is a man of vast knowledge, wisdom and blessed with a great
sense of humor. He can discuss Mozart and then jump and talk with you
about the economy and then without missing a beat, will play a practical
joke on you.
When he mentioned that he had met a famous aviatior named Jimmy Angel,
my attention was immediately drawn to his statement, since as a
coincidence, I had been collecting some material to write some day,
about the person I thought had discovered the world's tallest water
fall. Little by little I began to collect more material, so I will thank
Dr. Buitrago first, not only for providing me with his first person
experiences regarding Jimmie Angel, but also for having been such a good
friend. Gracias, Roberto! Vos sos la pura vida!!!!
Then, as is usually the case, I sent an e-mail to my mentor, friend and
example to follow, Dr. Gary Kuhn. I had already copied some material
from his personal aviation archives, and I had enough to write an
article for LAAHS. Dr. Kuhn came through, as always, with not only
additional information, but also with a good picture of the restored Rio
Caroni.
And then, to clinch the support, he provided me with the information and
means to contact, Mr. Alfredo Schael, from Venezuela. Mr. Schael is a
newspaper columnist. He has been working for a long time, on a book on
Jimmie Angel. He has accumulated many pages of data, evidentiary support
of so many things related to the life of Jimmie. The best part is, that
I only had to write an e-mail to him, and shortly thereafter, Mr. Schael
had generously provided me with close to 90 pages of his documents. This
kind of generosity is typical of those great men, like him and Gary
Kuhn, who are interested in furthering the knowledge of Latin American
Aviation. To you, Mr. Schael, and to you Gary, my most sincere thanks.
Through the good offices of Gary Kuhn, I was able to obtain a good deal
of information from Russ Plehinger. Russ is the moving force behind "AeroStatz,"
an aviation research service, specializing in air racing, and air
records for the period of 1920 - 1939. He presents in great detail,
information regarding long distance and endurance flights, which were a
very important part of aviation during the 1920s and 1930s.
Characteristically unselfish, he shared his wealth of data with me.
Russ, I owe you one.
As in any research work, there are many sources consulted and many bits
of data that the writer chooses to include or not on his work. After
considering different approaches, I chose to use the one you have just
finished reading, in order to try to present to our readers, a more
human look at the life of a man that albeit controversial, was
nonetheless one of the great pilots, explorers and human beings, warts
and all, that have graced the skies of Latin America.
* Documentary Sources - News Services Articles: Angel Takes Off on
25,000 Mile Hop: Associated Press, April 17, 1928 Pilot to Continue
25,000 Mile Flight: Associated Press, April 23, 1928 Aviator, Cape Horn
Bound, is in Guaymas: April 25, 1928 "A Pioneer of one of the few air
routes yet unexplored: Jimmie Angel and two companions from San Diego,
Cal., on the first lap of their flight down through Central and Southern
America to Cape Horn." Photo Caption from Times Wide World Photos, dated
April 29, 1928 "Girl Stowaway in Plane Ends Endurance Flight." New York
Sun, Monday, December 15, 1930 "Ancient: Jimmie Angel looks over some
old relics he gathered on a 3,000-mile aerial exploration trip in the
remote sections of Mexico. He is shown at Los Angeles airport with his
stuff, which includes armor which some Conquistador may have worn."
Photo caption from International Newsreel Photo, as appeared in the
Washington Herald, Saturday, December 5, 1931. "U.S. Plane Feared Down
on Ocean." Newark Ledger, Saturday, January 30, 1932. "U.S. Mercy Flier
Lost in Venezuela" "Angel was taking a woman to Hospital from Remote
Region." Special Cable to The New York Times February 6, 1942. "Jimmy
Angel Reported Safe on Venezuela Flight." "Missing pilot and party of
six Land at Ciudad Bolivar." UP wire service, February 7, 1942 . "Jungle
Flyer." The Sun February 7, 1942
Dr. Roberto Buitrago's recollections of Jimmy Angel. McAllen, Texas,
2000
The Bush Pilots. The Epic of Flight Series. Time Life Books ISBN
0-8094-3309-5
The Flying Hobo and the Eight Wonder of the World. Cavalier Magazine
article, by George Scullin published August 6, 195?
From newspaper articles, by Bert Williams: Jimmy Angel Loved Teo Kop's
Big Airplane. They Don't make adventurers like they did. The Tico Times
San Jose, Costa Rica 19 December, 1986
"Angel on Silver Wings" By John R. Holl The Americas Magazine August,
1980
"Angel's Secret" By Paul R. Eversole Nr. 11, South American Explorer
August, 1984
Jimmy Angel Insight Guides: Venezuela 2nd Edition, 1996
Letter dated St. Pat's Day, 2001 from Mr. John Underwood to Dr. Gary
Kuhn.
Letter from Ralph Lopez, a Spaniard to Dr. Gary Kuhn dated April 25 (no
year).
1946 Memoria de (la Secretaria de) Guerra, Marina y Aviacion. Nicaragua.
Quauhtli, an Aviation Magazine published in Mexico. Issue #3, 2001
Article written by Manuel Ruiz Romero.