Ignition Override,
It was Paul Mantz who died during the making of 'Flight of the Phoenix'.
Spookily enough, this film was shown again on British television only the other day, over the New Year holiday and we were talking about the exploits of Frank Tallman & Paul Mantz, who together formed Tallmantz Aviation.
I don't know if the flim was based on fact, but there are many stories of 'bitza' aircraft being made during WW2. One of our best loved comics, the late Jimmy Edwards was a pilot and used to recount the story fo how he flew out of some remote Far Eastern area in a 'DC 2 1/2', which was a DC3 with one wing from a DC2...
Cheers,
The Odd One