Defender Part II

Enemy Ace · **Posted:** Mon Jun 15, 2009 6:35 pm

After sadly parting ways with Diemert, Chris Ball went on to make billions in the .com era with his online star trek webstore and virtual community. He then lost it all in a poor investment in nuclear powered pogo sticks that were presented as a direct competitor to the US Army's Patriot missile program.
Falling on hard times, Chris became an automotive design engineer being responsible for the Pontiac Aztek minivan.
Things began to look up when Chris began to compete for the X prize. Being narrowly beaten by the Rutan scaled composites team, the Ball aerospace entry, which looked suspiciously like an AMC Pacer with 6 tons of bottle rockets strapped to the back, was able to recoup the owners investment when sold to the Burning Man festival.
Retired, Mr. Ball lives in Yorba Linda, Ca. and composes poetry that has been licensed by the US military as an effective interrogation aid in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

............Fade to black...........

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Mon Jun 15, 2009 11:01 pm

After having just watched that video again for the first time in probably ten years, I'm... speechless. Thanks for posting the link, mustangdriver.

DarenC1 · **Joined:** Sun May 07, 2006 8:10 am **Posts:** 235

Man....

TAdan · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:22 am

Enemy Ace wrote:

After sadly parting ways with Diemert, Chris Ball went on to make billions in the .com era with his online star trek webstore and virtual community. He then lost it all in a poor investment in nuclear powered pogo sticks that were presented as a direct competitor to the US Army's Patriot missile program.
Falling on hard times, Chris became an automotive design engineer being responsible for the Pontiac Aztek minivan.
Things began to look up when Chris began to compete for the X prize. Being narrowly beaten by the Rutan scaled composites team, the Ball aerospace entry, which looked suspiciously like an AMC Pacer with 6 tons of bottle rockets strapped to the back, was able to recoup the owners investment when sold to the Burning Man festival.
Retired, Mr. Ball lives in Yorba Linda, Ca. and composes poetry that has been licensed by the US military as an effective interrogation aid in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

............Fade to black...........

Based on what I saw in that video this is entirely believeable. :lol:

I absolutely love when Diemert is explaining why he wont need to wear a parachute...

sgt hawk · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 2:51 pm

That's right Chris Ball is his name and I just knew big things were in store for that dude, and he acomplished this, all in the last 10 years. Wow!
If they hadn't used the "old deffender" fuselage for a septic tank you could probably go get it, I'm sure the'yd sell it to you!

James D · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:04 pm

Wow!

Never seen that before, and I´m kind of in awe!

And say what you may about Mr Diemert, he did get off his butt and recover a bunch of aircraft from the Pacific and fly his own Hurricane in the BoB movie.
Definitely a doer.

I did wonder why I couldn´t see any panels on the Zero anywhere however!

retroaviation · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:14 pm

James D wrote:

..... and fly his own Hurricane in the BoB movie.

Well, according to Connie Edwards, who definitely flew many hours in the BoB movie...Deimert didn't fly a single airplane the whole time. Instead, he bought a little British motorcycle the moment the Hurricane was unloaded and traversed all over the countryside, looking at the scenery and hunting down old wrecks. Connie, and others, were actually the ones who flew the Hurricane during the filming.

There are plenty of other stories about the BoB movie, especially with the Deimert Hurricane, but there is no way I could tell them as well as Connie could. If you ever get a chance to meet him in person, I'd suggest asking him to tell you a story or two about the filming. He'll have you laughing for hours. ;-)

Gary

James D · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:20 pm

Oh! Okay - thats interesting!

mustanglover · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:43 pm

retroaviation wrote:

James D wrote:

..... and fly his own Hurricane in the BoB movie.

Well, according to Connie Edwards, who definitely flew many hours in the BoB movie...Deimert didn't fly a single airplane the whole time. Instead, he bought a little British motorcycle the moment the Hurricane was unloaded and traversed all over the countryside, looking at the scenery and hunting down old wrecks. Connie, and others, were actually the ones who flew the Hurricane during the filming.

There are plenty of other stories about the BoB movie, especially with the Deimert Hurricane, but there is no way I could tell them as well as Connie could. If you ever get a chance to meet him in person, I'd suggest asking him to tell you a story or two about the filming. He'll have you laughing for hours. ;-)

Gary

And drink a couple Buds too!

mustanglover · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:45 pm

I pulled out my copy of "The Defender" and we had a viewing here Saturday night at the BBQ.

Introduced a ton of warbird people who had heard of the cult classic but had never seen it. I think it pretty much was the highlite of the weekend.

Funny stuff!

mustangdriver · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 7:11 pm

I think maybe we should have an outdoor viewing of the Defender at Oshkosh this year!!

Steve Nelson · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 8:46 pm

Wow.....just, wow. :shock:

Thanks for posting that link, Chris. I've been hearing tales of Mr. Deimert and "The Defender" documentary ever since joining WIX. Now I know what you all have been talking about. The film was so "serious" in tone, I'm still trying to figure out if it was deliberately tounge-in-cheek or not. I'm gonna have to show it to my brother..he's a shadetree mechanic who would love Deimert's ingenious..er.."engineering." Am I the only one who thinks Chris Ball bears a striking resemblance to Red's nephew Harold?

I love how the film narrator mention's Deimert restoring wrecked Japanese aircraft back to "perfect flying condition." I remember when I first saw a pic of the Deimert Val in a magazine back in the late '70s. Even to a teenage model builder like myself with no real knowledge of aircraft construction, it looked like a kludged-together mess (with an obviously poorly-grafted on Harvard tail.) I've seen the NMNA Zero up close, and to think that it actually flew is scary. The wing is obviously built up around a BT-13 wing, with pop-riveted sheet metal to give it a Zero-ish shape (when I saw it, there was a BT-13/SNV hanging nearby, and the pattern of inspection panels and wing structure on the underside were identical.) There are large bulges above the forward wing root..someone here said they were fairings for the landing gear retraction ropes, and I'm not entirely sure they were kidding!

During his lecture to the High School class, Diemert mentions how the Zero was cut apart with axes when recovered. Back in the early '80s, there was a Zero aft fuselage on display at the NMUSAF that had obviously been hacked apart and crudely spliced back together. Could this have been one of the Deimert recoveries?

SN

Dan Jones · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:12 pm

Steve Nelson wrote:

Wow.....just, wow. :shock:

Thanks for posting that link, Chris. I've been hearing tales of Mr. Deimert and "The Defender" documentary ever since joining WIX. Now I know what you all have been talking about. The film was so "serious" in tone, I'm still trying to figure out if it was deliberately tounge-in-cheek or not. I'm gonna have to show it to my brother..he's a shadetree mechanic who would love Deimert's ingenious..er.."engineering." Am I the only one who thinks Chris Ball bears a striking resemblance to Red's nephew Harold?

I love how the film narrator mention's Deimert restoring wrecked Japanese aircraft back to "perfect flying condition." I remember when I first saw a pic of the Deimert Val in a magazine back in the late '70s. Even to a teenage model builder like myself with no real knowledge of aircraft construction, it looked like a kludged-together mess (with an obviously poorly-grafted on Harvard tail.) I've seen the NMNA Zero up close, and to think that it actually flew is scary. The wing is obviously built up around a BT-13 wing, with pop-riveted sheet metal to give it a Zero-ish shape (when I saw it, there was a BT-13/SNV hanging nearby, and the pattern of inspection panels and wing structure on the underside were identical.) There are large bulges above the forward wing root..someone here said they were fairings for the landing gear retraction ropes, and I'm not entirely sure they were kidding!

During his lecture to the High School class, Diemert mentions how the Zero was cut apart with axes when recovered. Back in the early '80s, there was a Zero aft fuselage on display at the NMUSAF that had obviously been hacked apart and crudely spliced back together. Could this have been one of the Deimert recoveries?

SN

What a horrible thing to do to a BT-13 wing! :cry:

Tulio · **Joined:** Mon May 03, 2004 1:05 am **Posts:** 3236

sgt hawk wrote:

If they hadn't used the "old deffender" fuselage for a septic tank you could probably go get it, I'm sure the'yd sell it to you!

Well, y'all could always go, dig the fuselage, and rename it "The Offender" from now on. :lol:

Saludos,

Tulio

airnutz · **Posted:** Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:33 pm

Steve Nelson wrote:

Am I the only one who thinks Chris Ball bears a striking resemblance to Red's nephew Harold?

It has been suggested before that "The Defender" may have been a protoype for the Red Green Show.

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Defender Part II

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