We've worked at it two nights now, but Dorfman's brainchild looks less like an airplane than it did when we started.

It's almost mid-day and he's still working. He's right about one thing, though. The little men with the slide rules and computers are going to inherit the earth.

It's kind of sad that Dorfman won't be there to see it, but then I guess he doesn't need to see it.

He already knows it.

Jimmy Stewart gives that speech in 1965 in the original "Flight of the Phoenix." But apparently there's some morbid truths behind the story.

During World War II an American bomber crashed in the Libyan desert. The survivors attempted to walk across the desert, travelling 75 miles. None survived; their remains were discovered a decade later by an oil survey crew. The author of "Flight of the Phoenix" apparently knew this story. His fictitious plane crash occurs in precisely the same part of the desert.

Equipment from that plane - the "Lady Be Good" - was installed in other planes, which then, mysteriously, also crashed.

In the 1965 film the rickety take-off was simulated by a real-life stunt pilot - Paul Mantz - who was to fly his C-82 Boom down to touch the sand, and then up again. His plane crashed. The movie was dedicated to his memory.

Stranded in the desert on their first night, the lonely men's spirits are lifted when a transistor radio picks up this haunting song - "Senza Fine" - by Connie Francis.

No fears, no tears
No love that dies...

Never ending,
the summer days,
The moon at night,
The sea, the sand,
the starry heights
Are yours and mine
Forever

10:42 PM