15 Facts About Otto Timm

Otto William Timm was an American barnstormer and aircraft manufacturer of German descent based in California.

Timm partnered at times with his brother Wally Timm who did a lot of flying for the nascent Hollywood movie industry.

Otto Timm was born on October 28,1893, in Lakefield and spent a few years in Windom, Minnesota before moving to pursue aviation.

Otto Timm originally started in the aviation field in 1910 when he attempted to build a copy of the Santos-Dumont "Demoiselle" monoplane while living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, although it appears this was never completed.

Otto Timm started a business flying the aircraft in Pennsylvania with a partner.

In 1913, Otto Timm sold the business to his partner and returned to Cicero Field to begin construction of a "conventional" biplane design under contract.

Otto Timm's aircraft happened to come down in the field of Bert Kinner, who repaired the engine.

Otto Timm then built another design under contract for the Grinnell Aeroplane Company in 1915, later flying it at town fairs around the mideastern region during the summer of 1916.

In October 1916, Otto Timm became a senior flight instructor at Rockwell Field, San Diego.

Otto Timm remained there during the war, while building a new trainer biplane known as the Timm Model T-18.

Over a six-week period in 1920, Otto Timm designed and built the C-1 racing monoplane, which would win the International Air Tournament in Los Angeles in 1921.

Otto Timm built another one-off design in 1926, the two-place monoplane Collegiate.

In World War II, Otto Timm built planes for both the Army and the Navy, including hundreds of trainers and CG-4 assault gliders.

In 1965, Otto Timm was contacted by the TallMantz company to design a "one-off" movie model called the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 which had a short and tragic lifespan, being involved in the death of its pilot, Paul Mantz.

Otto Timm died on June 29,1978, two months to the day after his younger brother Wally.