Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz (August 2, 1903 – July 8, 1965) was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.
Early years
Mantz (the name he used throughout his life) was born in
Mantz took his first flying lesson at age 16 using money that he made from driving a hearse during the influenza epidemic of 1919. Although he had accumulated hours towards his private pilot certificate, Mantz quit flying when he witnessed the death of his instructor.[2]
On September 24, 1924, Mantz became a part of a famous aviation event when he lent his car battery to the Douglas World Cruiser that had "dead-sticked" into a field on its way to San Francisco for a celebration of the world flight.
U.S. Army air cadet
Mantz applied for admission to the
In 1927, shortly before his graduation at March Field, Mantz was flying solo over the Coachella Valley when he spotted a train heading west over the empty desert floor up the long grade from Indio. He rolled over into a dive, leveled off a few feet above the track and flew head-on towards the train as the engineer repeatedly sounded the whistle. At the last moment Mantz pulled up, did a "victory roll" and flew away.[3] This sort of dangerous stunt was fairly common during the early era of loosely regulated flying in the 1920s, but the train's passengers included ranking officers coming to March Field to participate in the graduation ceremonies and Mantz was subsequently dismissed from the army. His instructor reportedly made it clear to him that he had the makings of an exceptional pilot and encouraged him to continue a career in aviation.
Hollywood stunt pilot
After working briefly in commercial aviation, Mantz went to Hollywood, attracted by the large sums of money movie stunt pilots were making at the time. A main requirement was Associated Motion Picture Pilots (AMPP) membership but that was only gained after employment in the industry. In an effort to gain notoriety, on July 6, 1930, Mantz set a record in flying 46 consecutive outside loops as a part of the dedication ceremonies of the San Mateo airport.[4] Although he gained recognition as an accomplished pilot, without the AMPP card, he still could not work in Hollywood. However, in 1931, Mantz performed the climactic stunt in The Galloping Ghost which required him to fly down a canyon and just miss a prominent sycamore. Misjudging his approach, Mantz crashed into the tree but the film crew got their shot and he got his AMPP card.[5]
Howard Hughes was among his first clients. After much difficulty finding steady stunt work, he accepted a particularly risky assignment, flying a Curtis-Wright CW-16K through a hangar with less than five feet of clearance off each wingtip for the 1932 film Air Mail. Mantz reportedly handled the challenge with thorough planning, which set him apart from most of the pilots then flying stunts for the movies.
Air Mail was a hit and as word spread about his success in getting through the hangar unscathed, Mantz found more work and his professional ideas about stunt flying were gradually accepted by the studios. United Air Services, Paul's fledgling company at
Other activities
During this period, Mantz carried out a number of "mercy" flights including transporting a deep sea diver to the Mare Island Navy Yard where a decompression chamber was able to save his life, flying 15 Mexican fishermen to safety after their boat began to break up, and dropping supplies to assist 53 trapped firefighters in the Santa Barbara mountains. Mantz had to fly low through an inferno in order to make the drop.[7] After Tom Mix's accident and death, Mantz was also chosen to fly the body of Mix home.[8]
In 1937, a few months before Amelia Earhart vanished over the western Pacific Ocean, Mantz, acting as a technical advisor,[9][10][11][12] tutored her in long-distance flying and navigation.[citation needed]
Earhart asked Mantz to pilot the landing at Wheeler Army Airfield, Honolulu, after an overnight, 15-hour 47-minute flight from Oakland, California, of Earhart’s Lockheed Electra 10E Special, registration NR16020, with crew: pilot Amelia Earhart, co-pilot Paul Mantz, navigator Frederick Joseph Noonan, radio operator and navigator Harry Manning.[13]
Air racing also became a passion for Mantz in the late-1930s. He entered his
On July 4, 1938, Mantz flew from
World War II
During World War II, Mantz enlisted and was commissioned a major (later promoted to lieutenant colonel), serving in the First Motion Picture Unit (FMPU) in California. Following an August 1944 honorable discharge, Mantz purchased a fleet of 475 wartime surplus bombers and fighters (including North American P-51 Mustang fighters) for $55,000 to use in film work.[14] Mantz joked that he had the sixth-largest air force in the world, and sold the fleet's onboard fuel for a profit on his initial investment.[15] Retaining only 12 aircraft, the remainder of his "air force" was sold off as "scrap" at a handsome profit.[16]
Racing pilot
With his film fleet in place, Mantz chose one of the
Postwar film career
In 1945, Mantz flew a P-40 and directed aerial sequences in
His longest single flying assignment was in the late 1950s, for the TV series Sky King.
Mantz piloted a converted B-25 bomber to film footage for Cinerama travelogues. According to an interview in the documentary Cinerama Adventure with Mantz's cameraman, in one instance, Mantz flew through an active volcano and narrowly escaped crashing into the mouth of the volcano when the engines died due to oxygen starvation. Mantz's B-25 was outfitted with a refrigerator and other amenities for comfort as he used it for world travel on film assignments.
Mantz came up with the idea for filming the opening shot for the 1955 film Bad Day at Black Rock in which an aerial view of an approaching passenger train was filmed in reverse with the consist backing away from the camera helicopter as flying towards the train was too dangerous. The sequence was then reversed in the film.
Mantz used his B-25 to film Cinerama sequences of military aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in October and November 1956, for the Lowell Thomas production, Search for Paradise, released in 1957.[21] Also, in 1957 he was the behind the scene pilot for the film “The Spirit of St. Louis.”
In 1961, aged 58, Mantz formed Tallmantz Aviation with pilot
Family life
In 1932, Mantz married Myrtle "Red" Harvey, one of his former flying students, but divorced in 1935.
Death
Mantz died on July 8, 1965, while working on the movie The Flight of the Phoenix, which was produced and directed by Robert Aldrich. Flying a very unusual aircraft, the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 built especially for the film, Mantz struck a small hillock while skimming over a desert site in Arizona for a second take. As Mantz attempted to recover by opening the throttle to its maximum, the over-stressed aircraft broke in two and nosed over into the ground, killing Mantz instantly.[25] Bobby Rose, a stuntman standing behind Mantz in the cockpit and representing a character played by Hardy Krüger, was seriously injured.
The FAA investigation noted Mantz's alcohol consumption before the flight and said the resulting impairment to his "efficiency and judgment" contributed to the accident. Thirteen years later his business partner, Frank Tallman, also died in an aviation mishap.
Some who were with Mantz during the shoot dispute that he was flying under the influence, although they acknowledge he was drinking alcohol the night before the fatal flight. Toxicology tests were performed several hours after the accident; in the absence of refrigeration, normal postmortem biochemical processes might produce blood ethanol and cause or contribute to an elevated BAC level.[26]
Out of respect, neither take appeared in the completed film, although the accident was shown in contemporary newsreels and stills of the moment of impact have been published.[27] The final credits of The Flight of the Phoenix bear a tribute to Paul Mantz: "It should be remembered ... that Paul Mantz, a fine man and a brilliant flyer gave his life in the making of this film ..."[28]
I'm not a stunt pilot. I'm a precision pilot.
— Paul Mantz, 1934, [22]
In the 1988 TV movie
Awards
- Bendix Trophy, 1946, 1947, 1948[29]
- Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2002.[30]
- Inducted into the International Council of Air Shows Foundation Hall of Fame[31]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ "Mantz, Paul, 1903-1965 | Archives and Special Collections". archives.lib.purdue.edu. Retrieved December 27, 2023.
- ^ Schiller 2003, p. 47.
- ^ a b Dwiggins 1975, p. 46.
- ^ Onkst, David H. "Hollywood Stunt Pilots." centennialofflight.net, 2003. Retrieved: June 4, 2010.
- ^ Schiller 2003, p. 48.
- ^ "Paul Mantz: King of the Hollywood Pilots." Archived November 4, 2015, at the Wayback Machine cineramaadventure.com, April 28, 2010. Retrieved: June 4, 2010.
- ^ Schiller 2003, p. 49.
- ^ Dwiggins 1975, p. 48.
- ^ https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/earhart/id/237/
- ^ https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/6387640jpg
- ^ https://thecatalinaislander.com/mysterious-island-the-legendary-paul-mantz-2/
- ^ https://iwasm.omeka.net/items/show/1256
- ^ https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/18-march-1937/
- ^ "Man's air force now ranks 7th". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. February 8, 1946. p. 1.
- ^ "Paul Mantz: Race Pilot." Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine air-racing-history.com. Retrieved: June 4, 2010.
- ^ Schiller 2003, p. 50.
- ^ Schiller 2003, pp. 50–51.
- ^ Arthur Wise & Derek Ware, Stunting in the Cinema, Constable, London, 1973, pp. 140 & 213.
- ^ Mantz, Paul (July 1951). "Crash and Survive" (PDF). Flying Safety. Vol. 7, no. 7. Inspector General, Department of the Air Force. pp. 2–5. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
- ^ Wise & Ware 1973, p.213, quoting reply to a 1956 letter in London Daily Mail.
- ^ Crestview, Florida, "Cinerama Crews Shooting New Movie At Eglin AFB", The Okaloosa News-Journal – Edgewater Area News section, Thursday November 1, 1956, Volume 42, Number 44, page 1.
- ^ a b Joiner 2007, p. 69.
- ^ Joiner 2007, p. 70.
- ^ Joiner 2007, p. 71.
- ^ "Accident Investigation LAX66A0002". Federal Aviation Administration. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
- ^ Boyle, John. "Was Paul Mantz's Blood Alcohol Content Really 0.13 When He Flew The Phoenix??" Retrieved: February 22, 2011.
- ^ Wise & Ware 1973, list of illustrations p.10.
- ^ The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). 20th Century Fox, DVD re-release, 2003.
- ^ "The Paul Mantz Bendix Trophy". San Diego Air & Space Museum.
- ^ Paul Mantz at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
- ^ "Paul Mantz." International Council of Air Shows Foundation Hall of Fame, 2006. Retrieved: November 20, 2022
Bibliography
- Cowin, Hugh W. The Risk Takers, A Unique Pictorial Record 1908–1972: Racing & Record-setting Aircraft (Aviation Pioneer 2). London: Osprey Aviation, 1999. ISBN 1-85532-904-2.
- Dolan Edward F. Jr. Hollywood Goes to War. London: Bison Books, 1985. ISBN 0-86124-229-7.
- Dwiggins, Don. Hollywood Pilot: The Biography of Paul Mantz. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967.
- Dwiggins, Don. "Paul Mantz: Kingpin of the Hollywood Air Force." Air Classics Vol. 11, no. 10, October 1975.
- Farmer, Jim. "Paul Mantz: The Golden Years." Air Classics Vol. 26, no. 3, March 1990.
- The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). 20th Century Fox, DVD re-release, 2003.
- Goldstein, Donald M. and Katherine V. Dillon. Amelia: The Centennial Biography of an Aviation Pioneer. Washington, DC: Brassey's, 1997. ISBN 1-57488-134-5.
- Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." The Making of the Great Aviation Films, General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
- Joiner, Stephen. "Hollywood's Favorite Pilot." Air & Space, Volume 22, no.5, October/November 2007.
- Kinert, Reed. Racing Planes and Air Races: A Complete History, Vol. 1 1909–1923. Fallbrook, California: Aero Publishers, Inc., 1969.
- Moore, Kevin. "The Tallmantz Story and the Carpetbaggers." Air Classics Summer Issue, no. 2, 1964.
- Orriss, Bruce. When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. ISBN 0-9613088-0-X.
- Schiller, Gerald A. "Hollywood's Daredevil Pilot." Aviation History, Vol. 13, no. 6, July 2003.
- Wise, Arthur & Derek Ware. Stunting in the Cinema, Constable, London, 1973.