North 40 takes Pangborn’s ‘greatest story never told’ to the screen

WENATCHEE — A Wenatchee-based film company is developing a feature-length documentary about Clyde Pangborn and Hugh Herndon’s historic nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean, with plans to take the story well beyond the Wenatchee Valley ahead of the flight’s 100th anniversary.

Jeff Ostenson of North 40 Productions presented the project Aug. 25 to the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority, describing a multi-year effort that could culminate in a Wenatchee premiere in 2029 and broader distribution before the centennial in October 2031.

The goal, Ostenson said, is not simply to retell a piece of local history, but to restore the 1931 flight to what filmmakers believe is its proper place in aviation history.

“Kitty Hawk is synonymous with the Wright Brothers’ flight, and Wenatchee Valley should be known as the place where [Pangborn and Herndon] landed, but it’s not,” Ostenson said.

Pangborn and Herndon took off from Misawa, Japan, in the Miss Veedol on Oct. 4, 1931, Japan time, and landed near Wenatchee on Oct. 5 local time after completing the first nonstop flight across the Pacific Ocean.

North 40 is approaching the documentary as an opportunity to introduce that achievement to an audience that Ostenson said largely does not know the story outside the Wenatchee Valley and Misawa.

“We call it the greatest story never told,” Ostenson said while cueing up a concept trailer shown to commissioners.

The story offers filmmakers plenty to work with. Pangborn and Herndon were arrested in Japan before the flight after photographing military installations. The Miss Veedol was modified with landing gear designed to be dropped after takeoff to reduce drag. When part of the assembly failed to fall away, Pangborn climbed outside the aircraft while it was in flight to remove it by hand.

The resulting journey lasted more than 40 hours before the pair landed in the Wenatchee Valley.

North 40 expects the documentary to run at least an hour and potentially about 90 minutes.

Development is underway this year, with approximately $100,000 targeted for research, story development, partnerships, fundraising, production planning and an initial distribution strategy.

Principal photography is planned for 2027, with a projected cost of about $250,000. That work would include interviews and filming in locations including Misawa, Washington State University and Seattle’s Museum of Flight.

Post-production would follow in 2028, including editing, archival material, sound and a planned original score.

The filmmakers hope to premiere the finished documentary in Wenatchee in 2029 before taking it through film festivals, community screenings and other distribution channels. Potential eventual outlets could include public television, broadcast networks and streaming services.

North 40 has produced documentaries and commercial work in the region for about 20 years. Ostenson told commissioners the company has received eight regional Emmy nominations and won a Northwest Emmy, and previous work has appeared on Netflix, Hulu and PBS.

The production is also drawing on other regional filmmakers and organizations.

The Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center is serving as the project's fiscal sponsor and partner. North 40 is working with Voortex Productions' Charley Voorhis, who has extensive experience with the Miss Veedol replica and connections in Misawa, as well as producer York Baur of Leavenworth.

The filmmakers are also working with the nonprofit Spirit of Wenatchee, which has the Miss Veedol replica, and have begun working with members of the Pangborn family. Ostenson said Washington State University holds about 40 boxes of material spread among three archives related to the story.

Ostenson also traveled to Misawa in March and began establishing contacts there.

The project has received $45,000 in seed funding from local philanthropists Mike and Joann Walker and Rudi Pauly.

Ostenson told commissioners the immediate goal is to raise another approximately $50,000 to complete pre-production, which would allow filmmakers to establish specifically whom they will interview, where filming will occur and how the story will be structured before beginning the larger fundraising effort for production.

Regional Port Authority commissioners responded favorably to the concept but made no funding commitment Aug. 25. Ostenson was encouraged to continue working with Economic Development Director Stacie de Mestre to determine whether the project could qualify for support through the Port's economic development partnership program.

Ostenson said the Port is a natural potential partner because of its existing investment in preserving and promoting the Pangborn-Herndon story at Pangborn Memorial Airport.

“In many ways, I think that this film is going to make all your work more valuable,” Ostenson said. “All the investments you've made, I think this is just going to make it that much more valuable to not only the region, but basically to aviation.”

The filmmakers said the story also carries themes extending beyond the flight itself, including the cooperation between the aviators and the people of Misawa who helped them prepare for their departure.

The documentary, Ostenson said, is ultimately intended as an invitation for a much larger audience to discover the story before its centennial.

“What we want to do is have the world celebrate this moment with us,” he said.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media