Jimmie Mattern
{{Short description|American aviator}}
{{Infobox aviator
|name=Jimmie Mattern
|image=Bundesarchiv Bild 102-13655, James Mattern crop.jpg
|caption=James Mattern in Berlin following an aborted attempt to fly around the world in 1932.
|full_name=James Joseph Mattern[https://archive.today/20120914002428/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753407,00.htm Aeronautics: Flights & Flyers, Jul. 18, 1932]. Time.
|birth_date={{birth date|1905|3|8}}
|birth_place=Freeport, Illinois, USA
|death_date={{death date and age|1988|12|17|1905|3|8}}
|death_place=Last Residence, Palm Desert, Riverside, California[http://www.footnote.com/page/16397749_james_j_mattern/ Social Security Death Index] via footnote.comCalifornia Death Index
|spouse=Della, 1927-1937
Dorothy Harvey, married May 18, 1937 - 1988
|known_for=Two failed around the world aviation record attempts
|first_flight_aircraft=JN-4 Jenny
}}
James Joseph 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 Chukotka. In a twist of fate, Mattern would join the search for Levanevsky after he went missing in 1937. Levanevsky was never found.
In 1928, Mattern sold an air plane to an oil company in Texas owned by Michael Benedum.{{cite news|last1=Randolph|first1=Jennings|title=Friend To Aviation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gkk2bp1kw98C&dq=jimmy+mattern+benedum&pg=PA51|accessdate=3 March 2018|publisher=Popular Aviation|date=1939}} Benedum would later become a frequent financial backer of Mattern's flying activities. In 1937, Mattern was hired as the aeronautical director for the Benedum and Tree's oil company.{{cite web|last1=Allen|first1=Thomas|title=Guide to the James J. "Jimmie" Mattern Collection|url=https://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf|accessdate=3 March 2018|archive-date=3 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174635/http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Starting in 1938, Mattern was a Lockheed test pilot on the P-38 Lightning and during the war helped develop the 'Piggyback' two-seat version that significantly reduced training accidents. In 1946 he was diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic with a ruptured blood vessel in his brain (perhaps due to repeated excessive G-forces experienced while demonstrating P-38s) 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.UT Dallas. [http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf Guide to the James J. “Jimmie” Mattern Collection] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908224739/http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf |date=2014-09-08 }}. Biographical Sketch, page 3. He also marketed aviation calculators known as the Mattern computer, a course and mileage slide rule, in the late 1940s.
Personal life
James Mattern was born March 8, 1905, in Freeport, Illinois, to Phillip and Caroline (née Kennedy) Mattern. He also had two older brothers and an older sister. Mattern married Della M. in Los Angeles in 1927. He requested a divorce in Chicago, Illinois, in 1937, stating that Della had left him in 1932 and was living in Washington. On May 18, 1937, the day after his divorce was finalized, Mattern was married to Dorothy J. Harvey, a showgirl, at Berwyn Methodist Church."Jimmie Mattern Marries Showgirl". Wisconsin State Journal. Madison, Wisconsin. Wednesday, May 19, 1937. Page 2. He remained married to Dorothy until his death in 1988. Dorothy died in January 2002.Social Security Death Index
Honors
- 1973 National Aeronautic Association Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Award[http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=167 Wesley L. McDonald Elder Statesman Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630212056/http://www.naa.aero/html/awards/index.cfm?cmsid=167 |date=2007-06-30 }}. National Aeronautic Association.
- 1981, Oklahoma Air and Space Hall of Fame
- Honorary fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots[http://www.aircrash.org/burnelli/setp.htm Society of Experimental Test Pilots] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721010108/http://www.aircrash.org/burnelli/setp.htm |date=2011-07-21 }}. Honorary Fellows / list as of 1997.
Bibliography
- [http://lccn.loc.gov/36018240 Cloud country] Mattern, Jimmie. The Pure oil company. Chicago. 1936. (OCoLC)1369439. ASIN: B001PM7GYU.
- {{cite web|last=Allen|first=Thomas|title=Guide to the James J. "Jimmie" Mattern Collection|url=http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf|work=The James J. “Jimmie” Mattern Collection, History of Aviation Collection, McDermott Library|publisher=University of Texas at Dallas|accessdate=25 September 2012|archive-date=8 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140908224739/http://www.utdallas.edu/library/specialcollections/hac/general/Mattern.pdf|url-status=dead}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
{{commons category|James Mattern}}
- [http://earlyaviators.com/emattern.htm The Early Birds of Aviation, Inc.] - Mattern
- [https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/aviators-mattern-griffin-lockheed-293429116 Lockheed Vega "Century of Progress", after landing in Russia 1932](archived)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mattern, Jimmie}}
Category:Aviators from Illinois