Page 75 - All About History - Issue 12-14
P. 75
HISTORY’S 10 GREATEST IMPOSTORS
“ Before he was 18, it is estimated THE MONEY FORGER AND PILOT WHO
he had flown more than 1.6 INSPIRED A HOLLYWOOD BLOCKBUSTER
million kilometres (1 million Frank Abagnale
miles) to 26 countries on more American, 1948
than 250 flights” During Frank Abagnale’s childhood, his father
became thousands of dollars poorer thanks to
a credit card scam his son had pulled. Leaving
home at 16, Frank continued to break the law,
cashing personal cheques despite having an
overdrawn account.
He figured cashiers would eventually grow
suspicious unless he looked respectable so, using
fake ID, called Pan American World Airways and
told the company he was one of their employees.
In claiming he had lost his pilot’s uniform and
asking for a replacement, it wasn’t long before he
was given a new one.
With a forged pilots license and identification,
Abagnale immersed himself in his new persona,
finding out as much as he could about the
process of flying to appear more genuine. At first,
he pretended he was conducting student research
into Pan Am and he later dated stewardesses.
He became so convincing that he was able to
persuade other pilots to let him ride on their
planes to far-flung destinations for free during
the time he wasn’t “working.” Before he was 18, it
is estimated he had flown more than 1.6 million
kilometres (1 million miles) to 26 countries on
more than 250 flights.
Before long, Pan Am discovered the truth
about his pilot credentials and Abagnale was
forced to leave, but this didn’t put an end to his
games, as he became a doctor for 11 months using
the name ‘Frank Williams.’ Again, he buried his
head in books to learn more about his ‘profession’
and he was promoted to a supervisor job on the
hospital night shift. He eventually left when a
nurse said there was a “blue baby” on the ward
and he didn’t realise it meant the baby was close
ē RATING ē to dying of oxygen deprivation.
Cunning: His experience at the hospital prompted him to
Audacity: take less of a life-or-death approach to work. He
Media storm: became a sociology teaching assistant at Brigham
Success: Young University and posed as ‘Robert Black’ to
get a job as an attorney, passing the Louisiana
Bar exam by forging a Harvard University law
transcript. He left for France where he chalked up
more than $300,000 by scamming French banks
and, in 1969, at the age of 21, he was arrested and
THE GOLDEN AGE OF AVIATION jailed for a year, reduced to six months, but spent
Abagnale’s crimes took place at a time when air travel This golden age arose from a crucial period between the it in squalid conditions in Perpignan’s prison.
for the masses was becoming more commonplace and world wars where technology came forward by leaps and Abagnale ended up being sentenced for 12
the period of the 1950s and 1960s are often referred bounds and the aviation industry became very efficient. years in prison for multiple counts of forgery
to as the glory days of flight travel. Passengers enjoyed There were great innovations such as the Ford Tri-Motor in America. Released just five years into his
impeccable service and easy security passage, and flight and wonderful watershed moments, including the first sentence, the US government asked him to help
was beginning to be more affordable for the working man nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 by Charles
but priced high enough to remain a luxury purchase. Air Lindbergh. The planes also became increasingly powerful. them investigate fraud and scams. In 2002,
travel in this period still had an air of mystique about it; to In the 1930s, the jet engine began was, a crucial step Leonardo DiCaprio played Abagnale in the film
be a pilot was something to aspire to. forward for flight. Catch Me If You Can.
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