If ever there was a story that needed to be made into a feature film, it’s the story of Rick Rojatt – The Human Fly. His
most famous stunt was almost certainly the one you see pictured above,
he mounted himself atop a Douglas DC-8 wearing a thin cotton suit, gave
the thumbs up and was then flown at speeds in excess of 280 mph at
5000ft. The plane encountered a light rain shower during the flight and
pain of being hit by water droplets at almost 300mph was so excruciating
that Rick passed out, then needed 6 weeks of hospitalisation to
recover.
The comic book company Marvel created a character based around The Human
Fly with the catchphrase “The wildest superhero ever, because he’s
real!” and Rick Rojatt would travel around the country, always in
costume, to attend charity events. These events were elaborately staged
and there’d invariably be a comic book villain waiting at each event to
steal the money that had been raised. The Human Fly would triumph over
him in the end and the children in attendance would almost lose their
minds with glee.
The last recorded stunt performed by The Human Fly took place at the
Montreal Olympic Stadium in 1977, he was to ride a specially built
rocket-powered Harley-Davidson over 27 busses with a view to beating
Evel Knievel’s world record of 13.
Photo Credits :
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