BajaNomad

Francisco Mu?oz - RIP

Elena La Loca - 4-1-2006 at 09:36 AM

Ah, the tales that could be told.... Another Baja Legend has passed on.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060401/news_1m1mun...

more on the Kissing Captain (by Jimmy Smith) http://www.bajadreams.com/cptjose/cptmunozstory.htm

May he rest in peace.
_________________

Munoz was one of the primary parts of Baja's

Barry A. - 4-1-2006 at 10:09 AM

-----history. I worked for Jim Bracamonte ("JimsAir") as a pilot and flightline boss at Lindberg Field in San Diego in the early 60's, and was priviledged to meet Francisco several times, tho I never flew with him. A truly great guy.

He has earned his place in heaven.

woody with a view - 4-1-2006 at 10:23 AM

i read the piece in the SD Onion this morning. sad day indeed, but it sounds like the guy lived a full life.

i hope they say the same about all of us one day...

Pompano - 4-1-2006 at 10:44 AM

Mosca con las ?guilas, viejo piloto..... Fly with the eagles, old pilot. I had an old Baja friend who spoke often and highly of Sr. Munoz. No history of Baja aviation would be complete without his mention.

[Edited on 4-1-2006 by Pompano]

Pompano - 4-1-2006 at 12:05 PM

I believe the error has been corrected. ..or do I get a ticket from the translation police?

Pompano - 4-1-2006 at 01:59 PM

Thanks, Larry. Decided to change it back to my original wording...from what Blackjack told me of Sr. Munoz, I think he would have liked the joke.

Mosca=fly...hah! Dictionaries!! Convinces me that no mind is thoroughly well-organized that is lacking a sense of humor.

[Edited on 4-1-2006 by Pompano]

David K - 4-1-2006 at 03:18 PM

Sad day indeed... Saw him at Bahia de los Angeles in 1967 with his Baja Air Service twin prop dropping off customers for Papa Diaz... My dad flew to Mulege and Puerto Vallarta with him that year and got to ride in the co-pilot's seat.

Larry Hahn ( http://www.bajadreams.com ) sent me some photos of Serenidad's 40th birthday party... Capt. Mu?oz was there and posed with Don Johnson and Larry Hahn for the photo shown: http://community-2.webtv.net/boojum1/serenidad/

A few photos include Mu?oz at http://choralpepper.com as he was often the pilot for Erle Stanley Gardner in the 60's... Here's one showing one of his famous facial expressions with Mexico's archeologist, Dr. Carlos Margain >>>


Paula - 4-1-2006 at 08:15 PM

David k

Thank you for the link to Choral Peper's photos! I hadn't heard of her before, but such good pictures! She seems to be a very interesting person-- how is the publication of her manuscript coming along?

I also didn't know of Francisco Munoz, but have enjoyed learning about him from all who have posted on this thread. Thanks to all of you...

Paula

capt. mike - 4-2-2006 at 07:52 AM

Flying multiple eco adventure trips to the whale lagoon this season i was blessed to have made a new friend, Capt. Chavez, who is a current line pilot flying Cessna 208s (grande Caravans) for Aero Servicios GN out of Guerro Negro.

They do all the "whisltle stops" up and down the peninsula now which Munoz started back in the 60s. And they also hop the SOC to Guaymas et al too on an as needed basis. Well, old Chavy was the 1st guy Munoz hired back when he was building his line, Chavy used to fly DC3s and Convairs etc for Francisco as well as the twin Beeches. The fun part is he was also a friend to Jimmy Smith too.

So as i am plowing the baja skies and listening for air chatter i often hear Chavez call in announcing position and intentions, his voice is distinctive and he always calls back with a friendly, "Oye Capt. Mike! Where will you be going today? Isn't it another nice day to be up here?"

No time for sadness for Munoz, he was a spectacular pilot and had a great life, i am so fortunate to now be connected to one of his legacy.

Thx Elana for the note, how is Bill doing?

hope to be in the air headed for Mulege friday.;D

Francisco Munoz, 86; founder of Baja Airlines loved to fly

BajaNews - 4-2-2006 at 08:24 AM

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060401/news_1m1mun...

By Jack Williams
April 1, 2006

He was a famed author's passport to Baja California, a daringly resourceful pilot and the inspiration for a song ? ?The Kissing Captain? ? that glorified his nickname.

Francisco Munoz logged close to 25,000 hours of flying in his lifetime, many of them as the founder of Baja Airlines, which he operated until its closure in 1970.

It never would have happened, however, had he not left seminary school after one semester to follow his dream.

?He realized he would never be a priest, although his family wanted him to be,? said his daughter, Amy Munoz Friedlund. ?He had been building airplanes since he was little, and he wanted to fly.?

Mr. Munoz, who at 19 became the 237th commercial pilot licensed in Mexico, died March 20 at his home in Crest. He was 86.

The cause of death was complications from Parkinson's disease, Friedlund said.

Much of Mr. Munoz's colorful career was tied to his decade-long relationship with author/adventurer Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of fictional lawyer Perry Mason.

The pair met in 1960, when Mr. Munoz began flying Gardner to sites in Baja that inspired six nonfiction books. One of Gardner's books, ?The Hidden Heart of Baja,? described Mr. Munoz as a ?quick-thinking, quick-talking aviator, who has been flying long enough to have developed an uncanny skill as well as an encyclopedic knowledge of the country over which he is flying.?

Some of the flights were at an unusually low trajectory and slow speeds so that Mr. Munoz could make an impromptu landing on sandy beaches at Gardner's request.

When they first met, Gardner's celebrity status failed to register with Mr. Munoz.

Then, as Mr. Munoz flew Gardner from Guerrero Negro to San Diego in his twin-engine Cessna, he realized this was no ordinary passenger. ?I thought, 'Oh, my God, I've got Perry Mason on board!' ? he told the San Diego Reader in a 1995 interview.

Mr. Munoz, known to Gardner as ?Don Francisco,? practically made a career out of shuttling scripts, mail and secretarial replacements between the author's Temecula digs and the Baja outback.

Fred Astaire, Leo Carrillo, James Arness, Chuck Connors and Desi Arnaz also requested his services. And he was the private pilot of Miguel Aleman, president of Mexico from 1946-52, during a presidential campaign.

In 1967, when Dean Jones was critically injured on a motorcycle deep in Baja, Mr. Munoz flew the actor to safety and was credited with saving his life.

Mr. Munoz's ?Kissing Captain? moniker stemmed from the way he greeted female passengers as they boarded and left. A Mexican quartet wrote a ?Kissing Captain? song describing his warm and affectionate demeanor.

?He was the kind of a person you knew well even if you only talked to him for 15 minutes,? Friedlund said. ?People were attracted to him.?

The eldest of nine children, Mr. Munoz was born April 15, 1919, in Parras, Coahuila, Mexico, and raised on his well-to-do grandparents' ranch.

He fell out of favor with a bishop in seminary school by asking too many questions, he later recalled.

Mr. Munoz finished high school in Monterrey, Mexico, and worked as a butcher to pay for flight lessons. Two months short of his 18th birthday, he earned his private pilot's license after fewer than 10 hours of training.

After two years of flying passengers on sightseeing trips, he earned his commercial license and joined Aeronaves de Mexico.

In the late 1940s, he briefly changed career paths by working in the concrete industry in Coahuila.

?He had a house made of concrete,? Friedlund said. ?Then he bought a plane for use on the weekend and little by little starting flying people again.?

On a business trip to San Diego, Mr. Munoz learned that Tijuana was lacking an air service. In 1955, he started Baja Airlines with a four-passenger Cessna 170 and established residences in Imperial Beach and Bahia de Los Angeles.

Mr. Munoz began flying deep-sea fishing parties up and down the Baja peninsula, shuttling supplies into fish camps on the Gulf of California and its islands.

He expanded his service to fly teams of oceanographers into Baja for research. The oceanographers' projects led to the establishment of D.K. Ludwig's expansive salt works at Guerrero Negro Lagoon.

From 1974 until his retirement in 1983, Mr. Munoz worked full-time as a pilot for Exportadora del Sal, the operators of the salt works. His assignment: shuttling plant personnel back and forth to San Diego and to mainland Mexico.

After a divorce from his first wife, Guadalupe Valdez, in 1968, Mr. Munoz moved his main residence from Imperial Beach to Crest. He lost the home in a 1970 fire and rebuilt. Then he lost it a second time in the 2003 Cedar fire.

Again, he rebuilt, refusing to abandon his panoramic view and the apple and avocado trees he loved.

Survivors include his wife, Anne Leysl Semler; daughters, Olivia Munoz of Imperial Beach, Amy Munoz Friedlund of Rancho Pe?asquitos and Rebecca Munoz Sanchez of Chula Vista; son, Francisco Munoz Jr. of San Diego; sisters, Pilar Aguirre of Ensenada, Genoveva Tames of Queretero, Guanajuato, Mexico, Refugio Marca of Mexico City, Socorrina Hernandez of Queretero and Clemen Junco of Mexico; brother, Jose Luis Munoz Ceballos of Guadalajara; eight grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.

A private celebration of life is scheduled.

David K - 4-2-2006 at 12:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Paula
David k

Thank you for the link to Choral Peper's photos! I hadn't heard of her before, but such good pictures! She seems to be a very interesting person-- how is the publication of her manuscript coming along?

I also didn't know of Francisco Munoz, but have enjoyed learning about him from all who have posted on this thread. Thanks to all of you...

Paula


Hi Paula,

I don't want to hijack this thread on Capt. Mu?oz, so please see the new thread 'Choral Pepper' on the Nomad Historic Interest and Literature forum...
There are some chapters from her unpublished book there to read, as well...

flyfishinPam - 4-3-2006 at 01:08 PM

I have to say that this scared me bigtime as my husband's name is also Francisco Munoz and he's out fishing at the moment. Gene Kira asked us if there was any relation and we didn't know who he was except that he was a pilot. Now thanks to this board we can read about him.

Phil S - 4-3-2006 at 01:16 PM

Cap MIke. Did Munoz ever fly Otters & Beavers down here in the Baja?
Exc. plane for short heavy takoffs. Seems that these days, the Canadian Bush pilots have floats on all the O's & B's that used to be in the states.

David K - 4-4-2006 at 11:57 PM

Hola Glenn, ...

Hunting the Desert Whale (1960) was written before his helicopter discoveries...

Those are in the following: Hovering Over Baja (1961), Hidden Heart of Baja (1962), and Off the Beaten Track in Baja (1967).

In his next Baja book 'Mexico's Magic Square' (1968) Gardner convinced the Goodyear Company to take their blimp across the border... Choral Pepper was on board and told me a funny story to go with that adventure...

Also the blimp was much quieter than helicopters, over Baja!

[Edited on 4-5-2006 by David K]

capt. mike - 4-5-2006 at 06:42 AM

Phil S.

i don't believe they had those planes at that time in their fleet. Used to be a beaver straight legs parked at Alfi's a lot though, and i have seen one at Serenidad before.
how ya bean?

Munoz

Pompano - 4-5-2006 at 10:14 AM