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Flying Tales of Flamingos and Waterfalls

Looking back at a forgotten monoplane and a quest for a 'river of gold.'

One of the airplanes flown by pioneering aviator Jimmie Angel. [Courtesy of Jimmie Angel Historical Project Archive]
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • The article recounts the history of the "Flamingo" airplane, an all-metal monoplane built in Ohio in the late 1920s and early '30s, with only 21 manufactured before the company ceased operations during the Great Depression.
  • It details the adventurous life of pilot Jimmie Angel, who purchased a Flamingo for his expeditions in Central and South America, driven by a quest to find a fabled "river of gold."
  • While searching for gold, Angel brought global attention to the world's highest waterfall in Venezuela in 1933, which was subsequently named Angel Falls in his honor.
  • In 1937, Angel famously crashed his Flamingo, named *El Rio Caroni*, atop the Auyan-tepui during an attempted landing, resulting in an 11-day trek through the jungle for his crew and passengers.
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Searching for information about Flamingos, I uncovered details about the beautiful pink bird and a hotel in Las Vegas, bearing the same name—the latter allegedly haunted by the ghost of mobster Bugsy Siegel. I should have been more specific in my query.

I was actually searching for details about the extinct and largely forgotten metal airplane built at Ohio’s Lunken Airport (KLUK) in the late 1920s and early ’30s, and, specifically, about the guy who flew it in the ’30s, searching for a “river of gold” in Central and South America. The airplane was similar to other high-wing, strut-braced cabin monoplanes of the era but all metal and larger.

Martha Lunken

Martha Lunken is a lifelong pilot, former FAA inspector and defrocked pilot examiner. She flies a Cessna 180 and anything with a tailwheel, from Cubs to DC-3s.

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