The Crash Of The "phoenix"
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The Crash Of The "phoenix"
http://stripe.colorado.edu/~steinerd/Phoenix.html
THE CRASH OF THE "PHOENIX"
Paul Mantz's last flight.
THE CRASH OF THE "PHOENIX"
Paul Mantz's last flight.
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Fascinating - I knew the film makers had actually built the 'Pheonix' - but imagined it used components from the 'crashed' transport aircraft. That second take business - often essential to professional film-making - has killed any number of movie pilots...
One factual error: 'Fred' Tallman was, of course, Frank Tallman. His book of flying experiences, in anything and everything from Nieuport 28 to Vought Corsair is one of THE aviation books.
One factual error: 'Fred' Tallman was, of course, Frank Tallman. His book of flying experiences, in anything and everything from Nieuport 28 to Vought Corsair is one of THE aviation books.
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I'll second that - Frank's book is a classic. Long time since I last read it but I recall the story of a (Camel?) engine failure and him deliberately stalling the aircraft to get it into a small clearing. Awesome.
There is an excellent biography of Paul Mantz, "Hollywood Pilot" by Don Dwiggins. Mantz was at one time the owner of more aircraft than any other individual in the World, following his bulk purchase of surplus aircraft following WW2. The fuel in the aircraft he purchased was worth more than the purchase price of the aircraft!
The father of a good friend of mine was a pilot for Mantz, prior to starting his career as a Tanker pilot. I have seen some very interesting pictures of various movie shoots they were on, he became a close friend of John Wayne as a result of movies they worked on together (they not only looked alike, but shared similar personalities)! Sadly he died last year but his son has all his papers and photo's. He used to love telling everyone of his exploits, flying in those days, and they were pretty interesting stories (plus being shot down twice in WW2)!
Mantz was also heavily involved in Amelia Earhart's round the world flight and took a lot of heat for it's failure. He was also reputed to be having an affair with her.
Interestingly, the NTSB accident report for this accident cites alcohol impairment as a contributory cause!
Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have a library that stocks the most incredible collection of aviation books (this was an active book, not in the stacks) and seem to continually stumble across a variety of exceptional reading material.
The father of a good friend of mine was a pilot for Mantz, prior to starting his career as a Tanker pilot. I have seen some very interesting pictures of various movie shoots they were on, he became a close friend of John Wayne as a result of movies they worked on together (they not only looked alike, but shared similar personalities)! Sadly he died last year but his son has all his papers and photo's. He used to love telling everyone of his exploits, flying in those days, and they were pretty interesting stories (plus being shot down twice in WW2)!
Mantz was also heavily involved in Amelia Earhart's round the world flight and took a lot of heat for it's failure. He was also reputed to be having an affair with her.
Interestingly, the NTSB accident report for this accident cites alcohol impairment as a contributory cause!
Maybe I'm just lucky, but I have a library that stocks the most incredible collection of aviation books (this was an active book, not in the stacks) and seem to continually stumble across a variety of exceptional reading material.
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'Alcohol impairment' - an article in Mayfair claimed that a quart bottle was one of the things thrown from the wreckage! (Can't give a steer on the issue - it was some time ago, and not the sort of magazine to been seen leafing through for too long in the newsagent's!)
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Look at what I found!
http://home.earthlink.net/~eellbee/mantz3.html
http://www.securaplane.com/steam.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~eellbee
Great story.
http://home.earthlink.net/~eellbee/mantz3.html
http://www.securaplane.com/steam.html
http://home.earthlink.net/~eellbee
Great story.
Last edited by I. M. Esperto; 3rd Jul 2003 at 01:16.
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I've got to say, as a lover of the little bits of aviation history that everyone else ignores; this is magic!!. Is there nothing that the ppruners and the web can un-cover?. How obscure a question must one ask for ppruners to say "I dunno".
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I think maybe you just asked it Dr Illitout!
Excellent thread, I didn't know mucgh about this at all...
Excellent thread, I didn't know mucgh about this at all...
