Art Scholl
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Art Scholl (24 December 1931 - 16 September 1985) was a renowned American aerobatic pilot, aerial cameraman, flight instructor and educator based in Southern California. He died during filming of Top Gun when his Pitts S-2 camera plane never recovered from an inverted flat spin and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. Scholl's last words were "I have a problem -- I have a real problem." The exact cause of the fatal crash remains unknown, as neither the plane, nor Scholl's body, was ever recovered.
Scholl performed across the United States and internationally from late 1950s to the mid-1980s. He flew a pair of modified de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft, renamed "Super Chipmunks" (FAA registration numbers N13A and N13Y),1 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 FAA certificates as an instructor and airline transport-rated pilot in land planes, seaplanes, gliders, multi-engine planes and both piston and turbine-powered helicopters. He was also a certificated airframe and power plant mechanic. 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 Airport, then known as Miro Field, in Rialto, California in the late 1970s. He produced several highly successful air shows at Miro Field, attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators. Miro Field has since been renamed Art Scholl Memorial Field in his honor. Scholl's company, Art Scholl Aviation, continues to operate there and offers flight instruction, fuel, aircraft maintenance services, and aircraft mock-ups.
Scholl's signature aircraft were his two Super Chipmunks; he bought his first 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. Though 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.
A close friend of Scholl's was Bob Hoover, the World War II fighter pilot, former test pilot, and fellow aerobatic pilot. Hoover was often at Scholl's Rialto facility, where he also maintained a hangar for his aircraft. In March 2003 Bob Hoover was named the third-greatest aviator in history in the Centennial Edition of Air & Space Smithsonian.
Scholl's aerial camera work appeared in many commercials, television shows and films, including The Right Stuff, The Great Waldo Pepper, Blue Thunder, The A-Team, CHiPS and Top Gun, his final work in a motion picture. Top Gun is dedicated to the memory of Art Scholl.
Scholl was a member of the five-person team representing the United States in international competition from 1963 through 1972. In 1974, he won the U.S. National Aerobatic Championship in a Pitts S-2A. Art Scholl's exacting, exciting and always entertaining performances were a reflection of the best in the air show industry. He was a dedicated professional who practiced tirelessly to get the most from himself and his airplane. His unique blend of piloting skills and showmanship always left audiences wanting more. Scholl set a performance standard, by which air show performers are still being measured.
[edit] Notes
Note 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.
Art Scholl Mem. Field is currently scheduled for closing by the City of Rialto, to make way for real estate development. (Jan. 06)
