33 Facts About Paul Mantz

Albert Paul Mantz was an American air racing and movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s.

Paul Mantz gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.

Paul Mantz developed his interest in flying at an early age; as a young boy, his first flight on fabricated canvas wings was aborted when his mother stopped him as he tried to launch off the branch of a tree in his yard.

Paul Mantz took his first flying lesson at age 16 using money that he made from driving a hearse during the influenza epidemic of 1919.

On September 24,1924, Paul 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.

Paul Mantz did not inform officials of his prior flying experience.

In 1927, shortly before his graduation at March Field, Paul 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.

Paul Mantz 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 Paul Mantz pulled up, did a "victory roll" and flew away.

However, in 1931, Paul Mantz performed the climactic stunt in The Galloping Ghost which required him to fly down a canyon and just miss a prominent sycamore.

Paul 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, Paul Mantz found more work and his professional ideas about stunt flying were gradually accepted by the studios.

Paul Mantz's company grew steadily along with the public's fascination with flying as the studios made increasing numbers of aviation related films.

Paul Mantz had to fly low through an inferno in order to make the drop.

In 1937, a few months before Amelia Earhart vanished over the western Pacific Ocean, Paul Mantz, acting as a technical advisor, tutored her in long-distance flying and navigation.

Paul Mantz entered his Lockheed Orion in the Bendix Trophy transcontinental dash from Los Angeles to Cleveland, placing third in 1938 and 1939.

On July 4,1938, Paul Mantz flew from Wichita to Burbank, California, accompanied by Paramount press agent, pilot, and pulp writer, Edward Churchill, in an attempt to break the speed-dash record.

Paul 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.

Paul Mantz went on to win the Bendix for an unprecedented three consecutive years with over $125,000.00 in winnings.

In 1945, Paul Mantz flew a P-40 and directed aerial sequences in God is My Co-Pilot.

Paul Mantz single-handedly piloted a Boeing B-17 for the "near-suicidal" belly landing scenes in Twelve O'Clock High and the footage was reused in several other movies.

Paul Mantz piloted a converted B-25 bomber to film footage for Cinerama travelogues.

Paul Mantz's B-25 was outfitted with a refrigerator and other amenities for comfort as he used it for world travel on film assignments.

Paul 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.

Paul 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.

In 1961, aged 58, Paul Mantz formed Tallmantz Aviation with pilot Frank Tallman, supplying aircraft along with their personal stunt flying services to movie and television productions.

However, in January 1953, Paul Mantz gave control of his airline to the North Star combine, a ticket agency that operated the Paul Mantz airline in scheduled service, which was illegal.

In 1932, Paul Mantz married Myrtle "Red" Harvey, one of his former flying students, but divorced in 1935.

Paul Mantz remarried two years later to Theresa "Terry" Mae Minor and had a son, Paul, Jr.

Paul Mantz adopted her two children by a previous marriage to Roy T Minor, Roy, Jr.

The Paul Mantz family lived on Balboa Island, off Newport Beach, California, where Paul Mantz had a yacht.

When his partner, Frank Tallman, broke his leg in a freak accident, Paul Mantz stepped in to finish the aerial scenes for one last movie project.

Paul Mantz died on July 8,1965, while working on the movie The Flight of the Phoenix, which was produced and directed by Robert Aldrich.