James Mattern, noted aviator, 1934
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Contributor:
Archive Farms Inc / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
CWFH72File size:
50.8 MB (1.7 MB Compressed download)Releases:
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3739 x 4752 px | 31.7 x 40.2 cm | 12.5 x 15.8 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
1934Photographer:
Bert Morgan ArchiveMore information:
This image could have imperfections as it’s either historical or reportage.
James Joseph "Jimmie" Mattern (March 8, 1905 – December 17, 1988) was an American aviator. Mattern undertook a number of aviation world records, including twice attempting to break the world record for aerial circumnavigation set by Wiley Post and Harold Gatty. Both attempts failed, the second in 1933 resulted in a crash landing and subsequent rescue by Eskimos and Sigizmund Levanevsky in Siberia. Starting in 1938, Mattern was a Lockheed test pilot on the P-38 Lightning and developed a technique that significantly reduced training accidents. In 1946 he was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic with a ruptured blood vessel in his brain and was unable to fly again because of the condition. After losing his ability to fly, Mattern and his wife became real estate brokers and then operated a travel agency. He also supported the space program, attended three Apollo launches and had his pilot's license carried to the moon aboard Apollo 11. He also marketed aviation calculators known as the Mattern computer, a course and mileage slide rule, in the late 1940s.