Art Scholl

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.

Work 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.

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. He flew a pair of modified de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk aircraft, renamed "Super Chipmunks" (FAA registration numbers N13A, N13Y) 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. 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 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."

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. Neither the aircraft nor Scholl's body were ever recovered.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1973 Jonathan Livingston Seagull Pilot; aerobatic aircraft 1973 Never Look Back UCLA aeronautics professor 1975 The Great Waldo Pepper Red Baron UncreditedAlso stunts 1976 To Fly! Stunt Pilot IMAX film 1980 Where the Buffalo Roam Light Plane Pilot #1 1980 Herbie Goes Bananas Stunt player 1981 CHiPs Bomb Run S5 E1 1982 Flyers Stunt Pilot IMAX film 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* film dedicated to him 1986 Iron Eagle Special aerial stunts Final film