Tallmantz Phoenix P-1

infobox Aircraft
name=Phoenix P-1
type=Movie model


caption= Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 as seen in the film
manufacturer=Tallmantz
designer=Otto Timm
first flight= 29 June 1965
introduced=
retired=
primary user=
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number built=1
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The Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 was a movie model built for the 1965 film production, "The Flight of the Phoenix". Although it was used in the aerial sequences, its pilot, Paul Mantz died in an accident involving the aircraft.

Design and development

In late 1964 or early 1965 Tallmantz Aviation Inc. of Orange County, California was hired by 20th Century Fox to supervise the aerial sequences for their upcoming film, "The Flight of the Phoenix". Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman, the owners of Tallmantz Aviation were well-known movie stunt pilots but in order to provide a realistic movie "prop", they hired Otto Timm, a highly-respected aeronautical engineer and designer to create a new aircraft.

Timm, following the storyline of the movie, designed a remarkable hybrid using parts cannibalized from a number of aircraft to resemble the Fairchild C-82 Packet that featured prominently as the "crashed" aircraft in the desert.

The "Tallmantz Phoenix P-1" was made up of:
* North American T-6 Texan engine, cowling, propeller, undercarriage wheels and cockpit controls
* Beechcraft C-45 Expeditor wings,
* North American L-17 Navion tail wheel
* Tallmantz-designed and constructed fuselage, wing roots and skids

The Tallmantz workshops near Santa Ana, California built an open cockpit fuselage comprised of a tubular steel framework surrounded by circular wooden bracing frames with a plywood covering and the tail section was similar in construction. The skids were scratch built from steel parts while wire bracing was added, made from clothesline to intentionally create a "flimsy" look. [ [http://www.uswarplanes.net/phoenix5.html Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 - Flying Phoenix] ] Although wheels were used, they were camouflaged in the final print of the film in order to make it appear that the aircraft was fitted with skids only.

Construction was completed in June 1965 and the completed "movie model" was submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which issued a Certificate of Airworthiness on 14 June. A second Phoenix static/ground run model was built up from Fairchild R4Q-1 Flying Boxcar (a USMC version of the C-119C) components and was extensively used for ground shots, even running up its engine. This was a non-flying prop that the Phoenix P-1 very closely resembled.

Film work

Principal photography started 26 April 1965 at the 20th Century Fox Studios and 20th Century Fox Ranch, California. Other filming locations were at Buttercup Valley and Pilot Knob Mesa, California. The flying sequences were all filmed at Pilot Knob Mesa, Winterhaven, located in Imperial Valley, California on the northern fringes of Yuma, Arizona.

Besides the Phoenix P-1 prop, a number of other movie models were utilized, including:
*Fairchild C-82A Packet, N6887C — flying shots.
*Fairchild C-82A Packet, N4833V — outdoor location wreck.
*Fairchild C-82A Packet, N53228 — indoor studio wreck.
*Fairchild R4Q-1 Flying Boxcar, BuNo. 126580 — non-flying Phoenix prop.

Although Frank Tallman had flown the Phoenix P-1 for the first aerial shots on 7 July 1965, he injured his leg in a freak go-cart accident with his young son and was hospitalized. Second unit director Oscar Rudolph called for another takeoff shot to ensure he had "The Shot", a common practice in the film industry. Paul Mantz, who had completed the majority of the trial flights in the P-1, volunteered to stand in for his partner.

During filming on 8 July 1965, Mantz tried to simulate a takeoff by making a "touch-and-go". As Mantz came in for another low camera pass, he misjudged his rate of descent and unexpectedly struck a small hillock at 90 mph, catching the skids of the P-1. The jarring impact of the crash caused a structural failure in the aircraft boom section behind the wings, propelling the nose section forward, with the P-1 breaking up violently, killing Paul Mantz instantly. [http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Mantz-P1.htm Check-Six.com — The Final Flight of the Phoenix] ] Stuntman Billy Rose, also on board, was thrown clear and survived with a broken shoulder and pelvis. (Ironically, Rose had been involved in an accident on Mantz's first stunt flying assignment for the film industry.)

In the subsequent accident investigation, a number of factors were identified, including Mantz's misjudgment of the "pullout" speed of the Phoenix P-1. He had to contend with a nose-heavy configuration, with no flaps or adequate trim to slow the aircraft in its final descent. Investigators also revealed that Mantz had been impaired by alcohol consumption.

Mantz's body was flown back to Orange County in his B-25 camera plane, "N1203". The last credit of "The Flight of the Phoenix" pays tribute to Paul Mantz. Although principal photography "wrapped" on 13 August 1965, in order to complete filming, a North American O-47A ms/n 25-554 from The Air Museum in Claremont, California was modified and used as a flying Phoenix stand-in. With the canopy removed, a set of skids attached under the fuselage as well as a ventral fin added to the tail, it was a visual look-alike. Filming using the O-47A was completed in October-November 1965. It appears in the last flying scenes, painted to look like the earlier Phoenix P-1.

The final production utilized a mix of footage that included the O-47A, the "cobbled-together" Phoenix and Phoenix P-1.

pecifications (Phoenix P-1)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=
crew=one
capacity=one passenger (three dummies to be carried on each wing as "passengers")
payload main=
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length main= 45 ft
length alt= 13.72 m
span main= 42 ft
span alt= 12.8 m
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empty weight main= 4,550 lb
empty weight alt= 2,064 kg
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engine (prop)= Pratt & Whitney Wasp R-1340-AN-1
type of prop=9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine
number of props=1
power main= 600 hp
power alt= 447 kW
power original=

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References

Notes

Bibliography

* 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.
* Elleston, Trevor. "Flight of the Phoenix". New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2004 (reprint of 1964 edition). ISBN 978-0-060762223.
* Hardwick, Jack and Schnepf, Ed. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies." "The Making of the Great Aviation Films", General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989.
* Moore, Kevin. "The Tallmantz Story and the Carpetbaggers." "Air Classics" Summer Issue, no. 2, 1964.
* Oriss, 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.
* Taylor, John, W.R., ed. "Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965-1966". London: Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1967. ISBN 0-71061-377-6.

External links

* [http://www.uswarplanes.net/phoenix5.html Phoenix P-1]
* [http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/Mantz-P1.htm Check-Six.com - The Final Flight of the Phoenix]
* [http://www.uswarplanes.net/specialfeature.html Phoenix films]