James "Jimmie" Crawford Angel (August 1, 1899December 8, 1956) was an American

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

after whom

Angel Falls Angel Falls ( es, Salto Ángel; Pemon language: ''Kerepakupai Merú'' meaning "waterfall of the deepest place", or ''Parakupá Vená'', meaning "the fall from the highest point") is a waterfall in Venezuela. It is the List of waterfalls by hei ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, the tallest

waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

in the world, is named.

Early life

James Crawford Angel was born August 1, 1899, near

Cedar Valley, Missouri Cedar Valley is an extinct town in Taney County, in the U.S. state of Missouri. The townsite was on Long Creek and Big Cedar Hollow just north of the current Missouri Route 86 bridge. The location is currently submerged under the waters of Table ...

, the son of Glenn Davis Angel and Margaret Belle (Marshall) Angel. Because his grandfather, James Edward Angel, was living, he was called ''Crawford'' to avoid confusion in the Angel family during his younger years. He is alleged to have been in World War I, but the only certainty is that he registered for the draft on September 12, 1918. In his twenties he adopted the nickname "Jimmie" by which he was known for the rest of his life.

Angel Falls

The falls, which cascade from the top of Auyantepui in the remote

Gran Sabana La Gran Sabana (, en, The Great Savanna) is a region in southeastern Venezuela, part of the Guianan savanna ecoregion. The savanna spreads into the regions of the Guiana Highlands and south-east into Bolívar State, extending further to the bo ...

region of

, were not known to the outside world until Jimmie Angel flew over them on November 16, 1933 while searching for a valuable ore bed. On October 9, 1937, he returned to the falls with the intention of landing. On board his

Flamingo Flamingos or flamingoes are a type of Wader, wading bird in the Family (biology), family Phoenicopteridae, which is the only extant family in the order Phoenicopteriformes. There are four flamingo species distributed throughout the Americas ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

were his second wife Marie, Gustavo Heny, and Miguel Delgado, Heny's gardener. He attempted a landing, but despite a successful touchdown, his aircraft ''El Rio Caroní'' nose-dived when it hit soft ground at the end of its landing run. The wheels sank in the mud, making take-off impossible. The passengers were unharmed but had to trek across difficult terrain and with low food supplies for 11 days to make their way off the

tepui A tepui , or tepuy (), is a table-top mountain or mesa found in South America, especially in Venezuela and western Guyana. The word tepui means "house of the gods" in the native tongue of the Pemon, the indigenous people who inhabit the Gran S ...

and down to the nearest settlement at Kamarata. When word of their exploits got out, international interest in the Gran Sabana region increased dramatically, leading to in-depth scientific exploration in the following years. His aircraft remained atop Auyantepui until 1970, when it was disassembled and brought down by Venezuelan military helicopters. Today, an ''El Rio Caroní'' can be seen outside the airport terminal at

Ciudad Bolívar Ciudad Bolívar (; Spanish for "Bolivar City"), formerly known as Angostura and St. Thomas de Guyana, is the capital of Venezuela's southeastern Bolívar, Venezuela, Bolívar State. It lies at the spot where the Orinoco River narrows to about ...

. The airplane was re-assembled in the city of Maracay's aviation museum. JimmieAngelPlane

Jimmy Angels aeroplane Bolivar City Venezuela

Death

On April 17, 1956, Angel suffered a

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

while landing his plane at

David, Chiriquí David (), known as David City in colonial times, is a city and corregimiento in the west of Panama. It is the capital of the province of Chiriquí and has an estimated population of 82,907 inhabitants as confirmed in 2013. It is a relatively afflue ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. Soon afterward, he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

and then suffered from various ailments for eight months, until he came down with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and went to

Gorgas Hospital Gorgas Hospital was a U.S. Army hospital in Panama City, Panama, named for Army Surgeon General William C. Gorgas (1854–1920). Built on the site of an earlier (1882) French hospital called L'Hospital Notre Dame de Canal, it was originally (190 ...

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

, where he died on December 8, 1956. His cremated remains were first interred at the

Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation is in Los Angeles, California. The shrine is a structure of marble, mosaic, and sculpted figures and is the burial site for fifteen pioneers of aviation. Designed by Kenneth A. MacDonald Jr. an ...

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, but in keeping with his wishes, his wife, his two sons and two of his friends scattered his ashes over Angel Falls on July 2, 1960.

Books

Spanish writer Alberto Vázquez-Figueroa covered Jimmie Angel's adventures in his 1998 novel ''Ícaro''— , later translated into several foreign languages. There is also another book that details how Angel Falls got its name: "Truth or Dare: The Jimmie Angel Story" written by Jan-Willem de Vries . In 2019, Angel's niece, Karen Angel, president of the California based nonprofit organization the Jimmie Angel Historical Project AHP published "Angel's Flight - The Life of Jimmie Angel - American Aviator-Explorer - Discoverer of Angel Falls" SBN 978-1-4834-8948-3 With over two-hundred photographs, the book is the result of twenty-three years of research by her and others. Research continues by the JAHP to verify the facts of his life.

Popular Culture

Angel Falls is portrayed as "Paradise Falls" (a significant location) in the 2009 Pixar film Up.

External links

*
Clover Air Field, Santa Monica, CA biography of Jimmy Angel

Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register biography of Jimmy Angel

Flight to the Lost World of Venezuela
Video by Jake Howland describing visiting Angel Falls in the 1950s, including images of Angel's abandoned airplane.

the Jimmie Angel Historical Project.

References

Angel's Flight - The Life of Jimmie Angel - American Aviator-Explorer - Discoverer of Angel Falls, 2019, by Karen Angel. {{DEFAULTSORT:Angel, Jimmy 1899 births 1956 deaths Aviators from Missouri American explorers Barnstormers Explorers of South America People from Springfield, Missouri