Axel Ohlssohn's Jenny

[Lyle]

Hi Guys,

I remember seeing a small tidbit of an interview with Frank Tallman about the time Waldo Pepper was released, where he stated that roller skate wheels were installed on the Jenny that Waldo sabotaged in the film...I don't remember the outcome of when Tallman tried to land the Jenny,but those wheels must have been spinning faster than the prop.

Also in talking with Tom Polapink, he mentioned a documentary on the making of Waldo Pepper...anyone remember this show?

Lyle

[timjnf]

In the movie, the Jenny sabotaged by Waldo is ditched in a pond.

[Lyle]

A clever substitution of a DeHavilland Tiger Moth painted up exactly like the Jenny was made for the pond landing scene, thus saving the Jenny from the ignominious fate of possibly sinking to the bottom. I believe it was a wise decision, considering the scarcity of Jennies in 1974 (when the film was made) as opposed to Tiger Moths, of which there are quite a few still flying even today.
Watch the film, you'll even see the top wing fuel tank that Axel is hitting with his fist as he yells at Waldo.
They also used a Moth for the carnival sequence.

[timjnf]

Yeah, sorry, I meant to type: In the movie, the "Jenny" sabotaged by Waldo is ditched in a pond.

[Lucky Dog]

I thought that they were Standard J1s in Waldo Pepper? I can't tell the two apart.

[timjnf]

I believe you are correct Lucky Dog.

Incidentally, the actual aircraft used in the movie, the one used by Waldo, whatever type it was, is now owned by Kermit Weeks. When I was at Fantasy of Flight in April it was hanging, without covering, in one of his hangars. Or so the tour guide said.

Kermit Weeks also owns the Ford Trimotor used in the 2nd Indiana Jones movie; the one they escape from in a dinghy just before it crashes into the side of a mountain.

[gipsymoth236k]

WALDO PEPPER-BEHIND THE SCENES:

I was a friend of a mechanic (Len Hebert) who worked on the film and he took me behind the scenes at Orange County Airport where they were preparing the planes for the film. That day, I helped in ground handling the newly-finished replica Sopwith Camel for Frank Tallman's first test flight of it. He experienced a 'small' groundloop on his first landing with it (his wooden leg didn't help-no damage however). I ran up to the Camel and his first comment was "Yep, it groundloops just like a REAL Camel!!!!!"

The water-crashed "Jenny" was an old Tiger Moth that was disguised to resemble the "roller skating" Jenny. The Moth cockpit was stuffed FULL with styrofoam blocks to keep it floating after the water-crash landing.

In the scene where Frank crashes another disguised Tiger Moth at the "Air Fair" scene, he overshot the planned camera crash point, hit a pole and was injured. He was also injured in an earlier part of the film due again to his wooden leg. He was flying a replica Nieuport 28 over the Newhall-Saugas area here in Southern California (cut from the movie) when he apparently applied too much rudder-bar pressure from his wooden leg. This caused the rudder bar to fail, whereupon he briefly spun into a pole, then hit the ground hard. This injury laid back some of his skull skin.

By the way, Frank didn't get his wood leg from an airplane crash. It was a result of an untreated knee injury received while playing with his son Gifford on his son's go-cart.

After all the planned (and unplanned) crashes Frank performed, he was finally accidently killed while "scud-running" his light twin around the Laguna Hills area in California, while returning to Santa Ana Airport (now John Wayne Airport).

A J1 Standard has much taller top wing than a Jenny and the wings are also swept back a little. BOTH the J1 Standard and Jenny were used in the film. The Jenny airplanes used 200hp Ranger engines, instead of the original OX-5.

Regards, Gary

[RDosier]

Thanks Gary for that behind the scenes info. That is the kind of info you never find anywhere else and is cool to hear of. I finally got a DVD of this film so I can watch the final 5 minutes anytime I feel the need. Absolutely a favorite. Thanks again,

Randy

[baldeagle]

I worked for Kermit Weeks for a few years before Hurricane Andrew, he had bought out what was left of the Tallmantz collection in the late '80s, and in one of the warehouses at the old Miami location was the axle with roller skate wheels on it from Axel Olsen's Jenny. I presume it's around somewhere in Polk City now. There was also a burned and twisted fuselage, I think it was an old Swallow, that had been used in the Stiles Skystreak crash as part of the mockup that burned. Kermit had had the Camel and Triplane, I think the Camel went to Tony Bianchi, and word was that the Triplane had been so hurriedly built that they decided not to fly it anymore, don't know what happened to it.
One of the really cool things that came with the Tallmantz stuff was Paul Mantz' telephone directory, you dialed a letter on a rotary phone dial on the front and it opened to that letter in the directory. There were phone numbers for Howard Hughes, Howard Hawks, and other famous Hollywood types, actors and actresses and others, from the '30s. I'm afraid that that item was probably in Kermit's office during the hurricane and may have been ruined.
There were two Standard J-1s and two Jennys in the movie, one Standard is at Kermit's Fantasy of Flight Museum, and the other is now at the Historic Aircraft Restoration Museum in St. Louis ( www.historicaircraftrestorationmuseum.org ). The Standards are mostly original, the Jennys I think used original wings and tails on steel tube fuselages. One Jenny ended up in England, it was being restored some years ago but was never finished that I know of. Don't know what happened to the other Jenny.