I remember watching the film in 1965, and knew at the time that the stunt man had lost his life while filming. That's why you never saw the landing at the oasis. I did not know of his close association to Amelia Earhart, though. Thanks for this video!
One of my favorite movies of all time! Paul was truly a legend! I have read about and discussed his tragic accident many times over the years. I never expected to see the actual location of the crash. Thanks for another great adventure Bill!
A fine movie, especially the nail-biting scene trying to start the engine. But even as a 10-year old, I knew something was wrong when the movie failed to show the landing at the end. Many thanks for bringing some closure to this tragic story
Hi from Yuma Arizona USA, twenty miles or so away from the desert crash site. I live close to the Airport and watch planes come and go from my window. Have a great time this holiday season!
Err, Eh… And if not? Why can´t You let the man have some closure? The Phoenix IS an epic movie, I love it. And now (grown up) I see and know what all else is happening in the movie, I now can really appreciate. And it wasn´t known to me until now that someone died whilst doing the movie. And I too want to belive that these are parts of the Phoenix. Spark arrestor? Maybe… Maybe not… Know what? Eff off. You didn´t drive in the desert, You didn´t research the crash. William did. So: eff off. Merry Christmas.
Correct. Also, when you watch the crash video in slow motion, you can tell there wouldn't be that many small broken parts as the home made aircraft flipped over on landing, not the same as impacting the ground for the sky at a higher rate of speed.
@@LaLaLand.Germany The man who went out there wants the truth. Someone gives it to him and you tell them to fuck off? That's what Eff off means. Some class act you are. You may enjoy false information but the rest of us do not.
That movie, along with many others about aviation and aircraft, inspired me in my quest to understand aerodynamics and flying, eventually leading to me getting a degree in aerospace engineering. The crash of the Phoenix during filming and the loss of Paul Mantz was tragic. The courage these pilots have to fly such contraptions is amazing. Rare men who risked life and limb to make a living, and to defend this country. Thanks for the video! I never saw the actual crash of the Phoenix. Heart wrenching…
Thanks for posting. Frank Tallman flew the Beech 18 through the billboard (he was associated with Paul Mantz though Tallmantz Aviation. He was supposed to fly the Phoenix, but had a medical issue with his leg from a go-cart accident, so Paul flew it)
Paul was also supposed to be the navigator for Emilia Erhardt. Tallman flew the plane through the hangar at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa. Which was slick flying.
Flight of the Phoenix is one of my favourite films, even more so that Jimmy Stewart is one of the lead characters. I was pretty shocked to see that Paul Mantz had given his life in the making of the movie. This is an excellent tribute.
In 1982 Victor Armendarez took us to the crash site. He had worked on the film. Not that I could take you there today, it's been too long. He worked as a driver for the film company starting that spring. He was 23 at the time, a Yuma local. He has a ton of photos taken with an old Brownie of the crew actors and set area. He and his cousin helped load smaller sections of the plane after the crash. He does not have any photos of the crashed plane but quite few before the crash. I was stationed in Yuma when I met Vic through his son in law. When we went out, there was nothing of the plane that we saw. Our pics that we took that day matched up with all of the movie background in his pics. That next week, we went to what was left of the Star Wars set. That had a bunch of stuff left behind. Vic lived in Winterhaven after that and moved to Indio where he died a couple of years ago. Nice guy. He was an extra with Cinex (sp ???) casting for a long time, too.
My Dad was a Lanc pilot in WW2. His navigator and lifelong friend was a chap called Len Smee. After the war, when they had demobbed, Len wanted to continue flying and as there was a queue a mile long for navigator jobs he took a job as a steward with BOAC. He was the navigator on a BOAC Hermes that crashed in the desert, and he was in fact the quiet hero of the incident. The incident might not have happened at all if the flight crew had listened to Len when he noticed the sun rising in the wrong position and tried to tell them they might be going the wrong way. Such was the hierarchy on a plane then. It was this crash that inspired 'The Flight Of The Phoenix', and it was Len who kept his head, organised everybody and then set off walking out of the desert to try and get them rescued. And it was his use of a piece of broken mirror that he flashed up at the sky that resulted in him being spotted and a rescue posse coming to get them (all that stuff has been used for years since in team building exercises, where a group are put into an imaginary situation and told to decide their course of action). Len told me all this way back in the 1980s when I met him, now flying model airplanes after retiring from BA on health grounds. He was a modest man and not given to bragging, and was reluctant to let me write his story up for a magazine. The story did eventually get unearthed and a documentary was made about it, although the facts seem to have been altered a bit from what I know from both Len and my Dad. Probably this was because Len still wanted to keep out of the limelight. I asked Len back then how he wanted to keep on flying after such close shaves (he'd also been chief steward n a BOAC Comet 1 that caught fire in Singapore and they got all passengers off in under 2 minutes). He said well, I was just doing my job. What had eventually got to him though, he said, was being moved up to senior management. He lasted 2 years there before having a heart attack and having to retire! Here's a link to more info: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/gallery_desert_rescue_02.shtml The Wellington crash details are wrong though, from what my Dad and Len told me. The crash happened on a UK navex training flight when the plane developed engine trouble. With cloudbase very low, the plane unable to climb, and knowing they were headed for hilly territory, my Dad spotted an airfield (later identified as Castle Donnington) and made an immediate decision to put the plane down wheels up on the grass (as Wellingtons caught fire very easily if a hard runway created sparks, wheels up I imagine as there wasn't time to lower it safely plus it would have added drag to an already ailing aircraft). They all walked away without a scratch, and my Dad's reward was to be bawled out by the station commander for having wrecked one of His Majesty's aircraft. This was in 1944, and I don't think Wellington's were even flying ops over Europe by that time.
Wonderful story. To quibble, Bomber Command stopped using Wellingtons operationally in 1943 but they continued to operate in Europe well into 1945, as bombers over Italy and, flying from the U.K., as anti-submarine and anti-mine aircraft in Coastal Command.
@@Dalesmanable Yes indeed. It was BC ops over Northern Europe (which my dads crew started flying in late 1944) that I was musing about. Unless they were flying those, the BBC version of story about the Wellington crash doesn't hold up.
Awesome vid! The '65 version is so much better than the newer one, which I found unwatchable. I saw it with my father, a WW2 C-47 pilot with the RCAF in Burma, at age 9 at the Odeon theatre on Queen St W in Toronto on a rainy fall night in '65. Nowhere Man was playing on the radio of his powder blue '64 Pontiac convertible when we parked, and the same song was playing when we got back in afterwards (CHUM AM radio in Toronto was playing Beatles songs constantly).
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures In the movie in the final scene, after the oil worker says "What the hell is that?", freeze the frame of the thing flying past. It's WW2 trainer, a Vultee BT 13 I believe, with a makeover to resemble the real one, substituted to complete the filming. The Mantz version only appears in the brief flying clip at takeoff and just after.
I saw the movie in the theater when I was 11 years old. I have a book signed by Frank Tallman who was Paul’s business partner and had chartered one of our aircraft to scout out a filming site for a movie. Thanks for the effort you put out in this.
I paid my $1.35, walked into the theater not knowing what to expect and was captivated by this film. Stewarts greatest work, of a lot great works. Didn't know of Mantz Passing until mentioned at the end of the rolling credits. Touching impression for this little kid.
Absolutely True, retired tech for Honda, also restoring WWII crashed aircraft 20 years, including B-25, that is in fact a baffle from dirtbike muffler, still has fragments of fiberglass caught in hardware. Good Eye Captain, Cheers
Thanks for the actual film footage of the crash. I wondered why the ending of the movie didn’t show a landing. It was unfortunate learning about the crash, but now we see just how it happened…
My Dad had the daily pined to his tool box for decades, The rear was cracking and was repaired multiple times. Steward Davis supplied the Box Car and He was there for the shooting , Paul had a habit of undoing his seat belt, he was found outside the wreck and the guy seated behind him had a broken hip. Dad said when they found Paul he still had his cigar clenched in his teeth. Frank Tallman & Paul Mantz had a nice Museum. Movie Land of the Air where they parked their planes, Including the B-25s P.S. The Phoenix had a plywood fuselage
I stumbled upon this video, I saw the movie decades ago and I am a private pilot, so completely enjoyed this. I intend to read more about Paul Mantz. Thank you. Chuck
Bill loved your post. Loved the movie. I have seen other RUclipss on Paul's accident but never one on a travel there. My brain assumed the accident was halfway around the earth. The magic of Hollywood!! Happy Holidays
What a fantastic documentary! As a videographer myself, it's these types of stories that truly motivate me behind the camera. Telling history is important. Subscribed!
Other than triangulating the distant mountains, I don't think it's (now) possible to find the actual spot. Sand dunes drift, the sand shifts. Regarding Mantz flying through the billboard, that was in Orange County CA as part of the film "It's a Mad Mad World." From my reading, a portion of the sign partially clogged the air inlet in one engine, greatly reducing its power. He planned for something like this to happen and had enough airspeed to reach Orange County Airport (now John Wayne Airport) which was only a few miles away. BTW, several trees in the area are still there, making it possible to find where the billboard stood.
Thank you for filling in a piece of film history for me. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it,but remember the tribute in the closing credits and wondered what happened.
Thanks for all the hard work you put into this project; definitely a needle in a haystack situation! The parts you mentioned probably aren’t connected to this tragedy I doubt there’s anything left to find, but you never know. You were right there where it happened and gave us a chance to see it thanks 🙏
"The Flight of the Phoenix" and "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" were two of my favorite movies as a kid growing up in Wichita Kansas. The Beechcraft Super H18 in "IaMMMMW" was built in Wichita at the plant many of my friends' dads worked at. I had no idea Mr. Mantz was killed while filming (I was too young to sit through the end credits), or that he was the pilot in both films. THANK YOU for this video!
Hi Bill, very interesting video. Back around 1969-71. as a young guy, one of my best friends was the son of an executive of the Robert Aldrich production company. Aldrich of course was the producer/director of The Flight of The Phoenix. He also created other iconic films, including The Dirty Dozen. He was a real character and my buddy's dad related many stories about the producer's unusual business practices and life. I always suspected my friend's father could have made a better living for himself elsewhere in the movie business but that he admired Aldrich's tenacity and quirkiness so much that he held in there with him, even though the traditional big studios offered more security. Robert Aldrich was one or a kind .
I saw this movie a long time ago - long before the internet made research easier. At the end of the movie, the appearance of the crew over a ridge, with no footage of the aircraft landing, was quite jarring. With the "In memory of" credit of someone working on the film, I wondered at the time whether the plane had crashed while the movie was being made. I was, of course, saddened to learn, much later, that this had indeed happened.
Thanks, Bill, for this video/research on Paul Mantz life. I have worked with his grandson for the past 25 years and have talked many times about his grandfather. I have forwardyour video to him. Will be fun to see what he things of it
I saw the movie on TV several years after it came out. Excellent movie and probably the best plane crash movie ever made. But I didn't know about the life and death of Paul Mantz, until seeing this video. So thanks for telling his story. And as a bonus this video also represents a couple of other video genres: finding stuff in the desert, and visiting old plane crash sites (desert or otherwise).
Anyone who knows me well, knows that the original Flight of the Phoenix was my all time favorite movie. In fact I have the movie poster hanging in the office I am currently sitting in. Nice detective work. Amazing to me how little is known about the exact location of this terrible accident.
Yes, agree with your thoughts about this story. As a young person I happened to read the book first, and thought it was a really terrific, engrossing and gritty story, and then saw the film later and was impressed with it's handling of the story. It had great actors and was well directed and totally captured the essence of the book - a usually difficult job to transition from pages to film. After seeing in the credits the passing of Paul Mantz in this accident, it really brought home how dangerous it must have been to even try to emulate what was written. Today of course it would be all CGI, but back then it was very much 'real' stuff. So great respect here to Paul (and many more) who did/do nearly impossible stunts in film, both back then and even today, and thank you for having the interest and perseverance for taking the time to follow this up.
My wife and I are 80s kids and the 2004 Flight of the Phoenix with Dennis Quaid is one of our favorite movies we've watched as adults. We have our own copy and watch it regularly. We've shared it with our nephews and nieces and they love it as well. I had no idea until seeing your video that there was an original version from 1965. No idea. It was so bizarre seeing this footage because it looks so similar to the newer version in regard to the build of the airplane, the crew situated on the wings, the pulling of the airplane through the desert, etc. We are certainly going to have to go back and watch the 1965 version now!
wow, I'm an 80s kid from the UK and the original movie was always on UK TV and is one of my all time favourite movies, with a high quality cast and memorable music. Didn't think much of the Denis Quaid one if I'm being honest. Wasn't aware of the crash though....
@@bishbashbosh-j6z, I knew when I shared the comment that I'd probably get original version fans that would not think much of the newer version. It's funny because I'm usually on the other side of that conversation having seen an original and not much liking the newer version of this or that movie. I totally get it. On music, I do love the opening Johnny Cash number on the 2004 version -- "I've Been Everywhere" goes pretty well with that gorgeous flight scene. And the pilot/co-pilot banter at the next takeoff is pretty fun. Lots of memorable moments.
Thank you. I was. 15 when this movie came out and it’s always been one of my favorites .They made you feel like you were there. Much more real and suspenseful than the remake.
When i was 14 my dad flew for Steward & Davis Aviation in long beach Ca and delivered one of 3 C82's for the movie , I got to go along and met Paul and James Steward , , later after awhile my dad told me about Paul getting killed trying to fly that junk of a Airplane , Dad was a Hat , A&P , A&E , A&I , CFI , and said that the plane that Paul built was a death trap !! When dad told me that Paul got killed , it realy hit me, after watching him and Art Shol flying at air show most of my life and seeing all the movies , that he flew in . Don A. Pardew
You can see the fuselage is cracked along the seam at the top and breaking loose before he touches down for the third time, It was going to fall off even if he was airborn again. He might have realized that and tried to land.
@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures I'm guessing that he might have heard some metal cracking and popping and although you don't see him look he knew what was going on. He was an exceptional pilot.
I am with the crowd, love the original movie and watched the remake. The original was absolutely captivating and a true classic. I had no idea that that a man's life lost to the making of the movie. So sad. Neat video on this topic, thanks for making it.
When I was in the Army my first sergeant was Paul Manz son Paul Manz jr. he talked about his dad a little bit and had some really interesting stories about growing up with Paul as his father. This story aside.
Great video! Great detective work and excellent use of the drone for the overhead video segments! Cool to be able to drive the truck over a vast area! The Phoenix would be a cool airplane in Flight Simulator!
I actually saw the Phoenix at the Tallmantz hangar in late June of 1965. It looked completed. No one was around, and the plane looked great. I was 9 years old. About 2 weeks later, my mom informed me that Paul Mantz had been killed in that plane out in the desert. Wow!!! Myself and my brother saw the film in a theater in late 1965. The 2nd movie was "Our man Flint".
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures The accident film did not see the light of day until about 1970. There was a afternoon Public Affairs program in Los Angeles that the topic was Paul Mantz, and the producers somehow had gotten a copy of the crash film, and either got permission from 20th Century Fox to show it, or, showed it under the umbrella of "valid news reporting". I never heard they got in trouble.
I believe (and may be mistaken) the first item is a universal tailpipe hanger. As you mentioned with 60 years of OHV use it's more probably from one of those. Thanks for the research. I never new that there was a accident during the filming.
Also a favorite film of mine. Grew up in Yuma and knew of the crash in Buttercup Valley which I’ve crisscrossed many times, but never triangulated the exact spot like you did. Nice tribute to Paul Mantz.
The video was suggested to me and I watched it with great interest. Thank you very much for this impressive documentary. For me, too, The Flight of the Phoenix was and is one of my absolute favorites. Unfortunately, the remake in no way comes close to the quality of the original - as is often the case with remakes. Paul Mantz is surely now flying a few laps of honor in the sky with Jimmy Stewart, Hardy Krüger and the others...
Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman were Hollywood aviation, if you exclude Howard Hughes, and I don’t know why you would. Mantz flew the Fairchild (?) in the incredible uncut scene from “Only Angels Have Wings” where he lands on a mesa. The cinematography from that flight has never been matched in movie history. I saw Frank Tallman, prosthetic leg and all, do aerobatics in his iconic Grumman Duck at Reno Air Races. Both of these guys were legends.
Interesting video. Thanks for explaining. One of my, and my fathers (Dennis Reginald Pritchard) favourite films, he was a pilot, ex RAF, from Biggin Hill, Kent.
I have hade tis movie in every form there could be.Jimmy was my favorite older actor back in the days.And me and my dad watched this many times together.The re-make was not even worth buying and was quite stupid and un believeable.Ive seen this 65 version over 100 times and to this day still tops my list of favorites.I am almost sure this was featured on Family Classics with Fraisier Thomas.years ago on Froday nights.Thanks for posting William.!
Thanks for the video. I always wondered how Paul Mantz put the phoenix together but also flew it and I never saw a video of the crash. He definitely was one very smart individual and his death was a real loss. Thanks again. Oh and I subscribed to your channel.
Fascinating video. I too liked Flight of the Phoenix...I saw it probably sometime around 1971-72 as a teenager. I also lived in Yuma from July of 1992 to October of 1993 and visited the Algodones Dunes a couple of times from Interstate 8. I found ti a very inspiring movie as, at the time, I probably needed to watch something inspiring as a wayward teenager. During the time I lived in Yuma I worked for Arizona State Parks. We removed parts from a F4 Phantom crash in a project in conjunction with the US Bureau of Land Management in the Gibraltar Wilderness Area outside of Parker AZ. It involved pack mules and a climb up a slope accessible from a paved road. You might want to look for it. My understanding is that the Marine Corps airlifted what was left of the fuselage after we did what we could by manual labor. If I remember correctly the plane was from NAS Yuma and the pilot ejected but was killed when his parachute wrapped around the vertical stabilizer.
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures NCAS Yuma might have records of that crash. I haven't been up in that area for years. Gibraltar Wilderness is not exactly what one who is more familiar with California or Colorado Wilderness might expect.
As a boy in mid-late 1960s the father of neighborhood kids was a firefighter at Nevada Test Site. He told us kids about a gang of them each with bucket in hand combing the desert for bits of meat after fatal aircraft mishaps. Not for identification but to keep the critters from a free meal. Respect includes.
Wow Fantastic video bill.....amazing film watched it several times over the years.....still remember how spellbound I was first time I saw it many many years ago. I remember seeing the note at the end of the film mentioning that somebody had lost there live making the film and did wonder how. Very Very Sad. The line....You behave as if stupidity was a virtue.....what an amazing line. Thank you for your video.....and merry Christmas from the UK.
Paul was an amazing pilot. The aerial footage is incorrect though. Paul did crash-land the B-17 in 12 O'Clock High. The Beechcraft D-18(color footage) was Frank Tallman, a good friend of Pauls, in It's a Mad,Mad, Mad, Mad World. Nice documentary.
My father was on the film crew. He knew both Paul Mantz as well as Frank Tallman. Frank was the lead stunt pilot on "Catch 22" filmed in San Carlos, Mexico. I was cast as an extra while my dad was in the art department. I was 12 years old at the time.
Great video! As for the comments about the air filter... 😂 Watched that movie as a kid, had no idea of the crash. Thank you, next time I watch it will be special 👍👍
Very interesting to see your interest in this crash. I was at an airport in California as a kid and saw this strange aircraft so my dad and I went to get a closer look. That’s when we met Paul. He was painting the plane and told us it was for a movie. He went on to say he was the pilot and did not like the airplane because it was nose heavy. To solve this issue they poured concrete in the tail. When I saw the movie I was sad not to see the plane land and later found out he was killed in a crash landing. I will always remember my father telling me “ that’s a Corsair and that’s a P51 and I don’t know what that is. Let’s go see”
As a boy growing up in Warwickshire, England, in the sixties, obsessed by aviation, I loved that film, and as a Stuart I had to like Jimmy Stewart (even though his surname was spelt the 'wrong' -- i.e. unroyal -- way) and thought his strange accent funny but appealing. Thanks for reminding me of a gem of that great era of cinema.
Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz were both innovators in their field. I knew that Paul died in the filming of FoTP, but I’d never seen the actual crash footage.
First of all, this was a great video. I was near there the day it happened, I was working my last day for L.M. McLaren Produce Co in a melon field with a bunch of Mexican Bracero`s. At the end of the day on the way back to Yuma our bus passed a flatbed truck with the remains of a plane on it and we heard later someone was killed doing a stunt for a movie. I also remember hearing the temperature out at Gordons Well that day was 126 degrees. On the next day I headed for the U.S. Coast Guard boot-camp & did not see the film with Jimmy Stewart and cast for several years later. R.I.P. Paul Mantz.
Mantz was the one that flew the plane following the train in the opening sequences of the movie, Bad at Blackrock. What is seen in the finished movie, is him flying forward, and then the footage reversed. A technological innovation in 1954
I too, am a fan of the movie, Flight of the Phoenix (the original, mind you). I did a book report on Paul Mantz in the 8th grade, many years ago, and learned he had died in the production of this movie. He and Frank Tallman were renowned for their flying and formed a company to do aerial photography and stunt flying, TallMantz Aviation. Frank Tallman was also killed in an aviation accident in 1978.
Very interesting. I Love that movie, and re-watch it every few years to introduce a friend or relative to it and just to enjoy. I watched about 1/2 of the re-make and shut it off. Not even close to the epic classic I grew up with. Sad about Paul Mantz. I was unaware. With some years and a good GPR (ground penetrating radar) I think you could find the Phoenix, but what a monumental task.
I remember being a little puzzled by the ending, when there was no landing, just the guys coming over a little hill cheering. Then I saw the end credits and realized it was a plan B. Sad.
Great job! Love your search for the crash site. FYI, You might want to re-edit the part about Mantz doing the fluing scenes in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. His partner, Frank Tallman flew sll those stunts.
I work on aircraft and have built and helped build 4 aircraft, those parts you found were not aircraft parts - the pipe looked like part of some sort of land vehicle exhaust
Hard to be absolutely sure. That is why I qualified it at the end. The motorcycle baffle for sure is not from the plane. The other part could be as part of their custom work!
It was written in the book about Paul Mantz that the stunt man who was seated behind Mantz knew something really bad was happening so he released his own seatbelt and instantly piledrived head first into the sand, breaking his shoulder blade, but surviving the accident. It is the stuntman falling seen in the films.
I loved that film as a child, its so sad to hear that someone lost their life during the making of the film. My other favourite childhood film was 'Ice cold in Alex'
Well I liked your Video ! No A I and I am so glad ! You seem to have a lot of respect for one of my favorite movies ! I like the way you spoke About Paul Mantz . The Accident clips seem diferent to any that I have seen before ! Thank you too for asking for subscrition likes at the end of your presentation ! So,... I subscribed and liked ! Waiting for your next Video Thank you !
You might have mentioned Frank Tallman, the other half of TallMantz Aviation. He too did some notable work, and died in a plane crash, as well, tho not on a movie set. "The story" has it that Frank was supposed to have flown the Phoenix, but hurt his leg in a go-cart crash, which resulted in infection and the partial loss of one leg. Nevertheless, he still flew. Those two will never be replaced, ever again. I agree, the remake was nowhere nearly as interesting as the original movie.
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures The Go-Kart story is Frank Tallman was pushing his son who was in the Go-Kart, and slipped in the driveway(?) and went down. Tallman was hospitalized when the knee/leg became infected. Paul Mantz stepped in and did nearly all the flight testing of the Phoenix and all of the filming.
A number of years ago, on the internet, was transcripts from Paul Mantz to his personal secretary from the June/July 1965 time span. At the time of the accident, the Phoenix, after all the investigations were complete, was of no use to Frank Tallman, the co-owner of Movieland of the Air Museum at the Orange County Airport. It was written that a sizeable deep hole was dug at the area of the accident and the Phoenix was dumped in and buried. A person would need a very powerful metal detector to find the Phoenix at the probable depth that it currently is in. I too would like to find it also but the truth is the Phoenix is so deep it will never be found. I lived a short distance for Movieland of the Air in the 1960s and on my various trips to the Museum, there was zero evidence of any materials from the crash had been stored at the Museum. Now, all this may be internet here say, but as it was written and released to the internet, the story passes the logic test. All we have to do is dig down about 20 feet in Buttercup Valley.
Aluminum wings plywood fuselage buried and the engine with a mashed cowl no prop was at Steward Davis - Saw it there when they went out of business. At auction Steward wouldn't sell his Ascott Raceway painting to my Dad (Not for sell at any price) and the engine went to a guy rebuilding a war bird about 1982
Good to see other techs quickly see at 6;05 recognized the dirt bike exhaust baffle insert from 20 years ago. Retired tech for Honda, also restoring crashed WWII aircraft,, including fully restored B-25. Darn right, we'd create a new ship from nothing but scrap and make it fly. Ive spent many years in that desert on motorcycle exploring it, to finding hidden perfect spring mountain water. We camped near it quite often. Coyotes always harrassed us at night. And I wish I knew where it was today. 40 yrs later, details fade. Tried google earth, but too much has changed. As for finding parts, surely a metal detector is at hand. Those sands have covered and uncovered anything by tons of moving sand. Clearly exposing baffle. If camping, beware of viscous shinook winds that can nearly flip your vehicle as if hit by a train. Tough mission for sure. Best of luck, and makes me wonder how I was notified of this video. Screensho saved to show parts dept the baffle, where a poster of it might find the owner who is probably losing sleep as to where the hell he lost it. It was law, to have them in place, and park ranger could arrest them. Cheers
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It doesn’t matter whether you found a piece of the airplane. Thanks for sharing that story of Paul’s life.
I remember watching the film in 1965, and knew at the time that the stunt man had lost his life while filming. That's why you never saw the landing at the oasis. I did not know of his close association to Amelia Earhart, though. Thanks for this video!
Thanks for the tribute to Paul Mantz. He was a true original who could never be replaced.
Thanks! Much appreciated!
One of my favorite movies of all time! Paul was truly a legend! I have read about and discussed his tragic accident many times over the years. I never expected to see the actual location of the crash. Thanks for another great adventure Bill!
Thx Ken!! Merry Christmas!
Hey Ken, any info on what was done that day, and if it was ever inspected ?
A fine movie, especially the nail-biting scene trying to start the engine. But even as a 10-year old, I knew something was wrong when the movie failed to show the landing at the end. Many thanks for bringing some closure to this tragic story
Yep! They cut the landing scene in the movie!
Watching from England on Christmas morning. Superb film and, like you, a childhood favourite. Great investigative work to find the site.
Merry Christmas from Alaska!
Hi from Yuma Arizona USA, twenty miles or so away from the desert crash site. I live close to the Airport and watch planes come and go from my window. Have a great time this holiday season!
Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas from San Diego, California.
Also watched on Christmas Day in England, ever since I watched the film as a boy I had wanted to know more, thanks and Merry Christmas all.
5:58 That part is an exhaust spark arrestor from an older ATV.
Thanks for the help!!
Err, Eh… And if not? Why can´t You let the man have some closure? The Phoenix IS an epic movie, I love it. And now (grown up) I see and know what all else is happening in the movie, I now can really appreciate. And it wasn´t known to me until now that someone died whilst doing the movie.
And I too want to belive that these are parts of the Phoenix. Spark arrestor? Maybe… Maybe not… Know what? Eff off. You didn´t drive in the desert, You didn´t research the crash. William did. So: eff off. Merry Christmas.
Correct. Also, when you watch the crash video in slow motion, you can tell there wouldn't be that many small broken parts as the home made aircraft flipped over on landing, not the same as impacting the ground for the sky at a higher rate of speed.
@@LaLaLand.Germany
The man who went out there wants the truth. Someone gives it to him and you tell them to fuck off? That's what Eff off means. Some class act you are. You may enjoy false information but the rest of us do not.
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures That is correct an exhaust baffle from an ATV.
That movie, along with many others about aviation and aircraft, inspired me in my quest to understand aerodynamics and flying, eventually leading to me getting a degree in aerospace engineering. The crash of the Phoenix during filming and the loss of Paul Mantz was tragic. The courage these pilots have to fly such contraptions is amazing.
Rare men who risked life and limb to make a living, and to defend this country. Thanks for the video! I never saw the actual crash of the Phoenix. Heart wrenching…
Thanks for the heartfelt comment!
Thanks for posting. Frank Tallman flew the Beech 18 through the billboard (he was associated with Paul Mantz though Tallmantz Aviation. He was supposed to fly the Phoenix, but had a medical issue with his leg from a go-cart accident, so Paul flew it)
Interesting, thanks for the additional info!
Paul was also supposed to be the navigator for Emilia Erhardt. Tallman flew the plane through the hangar at the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa. Which was slick flying.
So he did neither?
Flight of the Phoenix is one of my favourite films, even more so that Jimmy Stewart is one of the lead characters. I was pretty shocked to see that Paul Mantz had given his life in the making of the movie. This is an excellent tribute.
Thanks!
In 1982 Victor Armendarez took us to the crash site. He had worked on the film. Not that I could take you there today, it's been too long. He worked as a driver for the film company starting that spring. He was 23 at the time, a Yuma local. He has a ton of photos taken with an old Brownie of the crew actors and set area. He and his cousin helped load smaller sections of the plane after the crash. He does not have any photos of the crashed plane but quite few before the crash. I was stationed in Yuma when I met Vic through his son in law. When we went out, there was nothing of the plane that we saw. Our pics that we took that day matched up with all of the movie background in his pics. That next week, we went to what was left of the Star Wars set. That had a bunch of stuff left behind. Vic lived in Winterhaven after that and moved to Indio where he died a couple of years ago. Nice guy. He was an extra with Cinex (sp ???) casting for a long time, too.
Thanks for sharing those details, really cool!
My Dad was a Lanc pilot in WW2. His navigator and lifelong friend was a chap called Len Smee. After the war, when they had demobbed, Len wanted to continue flying and as there was a queue a mile long for navigator jobs he took a job as a steward with BOAC. He was the navigator on a BOAC Hermes that crashed in the desert, and he was in fact the quiet hero of the incident. The incident might not have happened at all if the flight crew had listened to Len when he noticed the sun rising in the wrong position and tried to tell them they might be going the wrong way. Such was the hierarchy on a plane then. It was this crash that inspired 'The Flight Of The Phoenix', and it was Len who kept his head, organised everybody and then set off walking out of the desert to try and get them rescued. And it was his use of a piece of broken mirror that he flashed up at the sky that resulted in him being spotted and a rescue posse coming to get them (all that stuff has been used for years since in team building exercises, where a group are put into an imaginary situation and told to decide their course of action). Len told me all this way back in the 1980s when I met him, now flying model airplanes after retiring from BA on health grounds. He was a modest man and not given to bragging, and was reluctant to let me write his story up for a magazine. The story did eventually get unearthed and a documentary was made about it, although the facts seem to have been altered a bit from what I know from both Len and my Dad. Probably this was because Len still wanted to keep out of the limelight. I asked Len back then how he wanted to keep on flying after such close shaves (he'd also been chief steward n a BOAC Comet 1 that caught fire in Singapore and they got all passengers off in under 2 minutes). He said well, I was just doing my job. What had eventually got to him though, he said, was being moved up to senior management. He lasted 2 years there before having a heart attack and having to retire! Here's a link to more info:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/archaeology/gallery_desert_rescue_02.shtml
The Wellington crash details are wrong though, from what my Dad and Len told me. The crash happened on a UK navex training flight when the plane developed engine trouble. With cloudbase very low, the plane unable to climb, and knowing they were headed for hilly territory, my Dad spotted an airfield (later identified as Castle Donnington) and made an immediate decision to put the plane down wheels up on the grass (as Wellingtons caught fire very easily if a hard runway created sparks, wheels up I imagine as there wasn't time to lower it safely plus it would have added drag to an already ailing aircraft). They all walked away without a scratch, and my Dad's reward was to be bawled out by the station commander for having wrecked one of His Majesty's aircraft. This was in 1944, and I don't think Wellington's were even flying ops over Europe by that time.
WOW, awsome facts.
Wow! Great story! Thanks so much!
The Lancaster is an amazing aircraft. Genius and the right smart design for the job it had to do.
Wonderful story. To quibble, Bomber Command stopped using Wellingtons operationally in 1943 but they continued to operate in Europe well into 1945, as bombers over Italy and, flying from the U.K., as anti-submarine and anti-mine aircraft in Coastal Command.
@@Dalesmanable Yes indeed. It was BC ops over Northern Europe (which my dads crew started flying in late 1944) that I was musing about. Unless they were flying those, the BBC version of story about the Wellington crash doesn't hold up.
Awesome vid! The '65 version is so much better than the newer one, which I found unwatchable. I saw it with my father, a WW2 C-47 pilot with the RCAF in Burma, at age 9 at the Odeon theatre on Queen St W in Toronto on a rainy fall night in '65. Nowhere Man was playing on the radio of his powder blue '64 Pontiac convertible when we parked, and the same song was playing when we got back in afterwards (CHUM AM radio in Toronto was playing Beatles songs constantly).
What a cool memory! Thanks for posting!!!
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures In the movie in the final scene, after the oil worker says "What the hell is that?", freeze the frame of the thing flying past. It's WW2 trainer, a Vultee BT 13 I believe, with a makeover to resemble the real one, substituted to complete the filming. The Mantz version only appears in the brief flying clip at takeoff and just after.
I saw the movie in the theater when I was 11 years old. I have a book signed by Frank Tallman who was Paul’s business partner and had chartered one of our aircraft to scout out a filming site for a movie. Thanks for the effort you put out in this.
Thanks for sharing that! Cheers!
I paid my $1.35, walked into the theater not knowing what to expect and was captivated by this film. Stewarts greatest work, of a lot great works. Didn't know of Mantz Passing until mentioned at the end of the rolling credits. Touching impression for this little kid.
I agree, the original was a great movie!
Ditto, love this movie and Jimmy Stewart.
Bill the filter you found, was not a filter, it was the inside of a motorcycle silencer. Absolutely not a air plane part.😂 trust me I know.
Thank Marco!
Yup The inner core of a spark arrestor for a dirt bike
A baffle out a silencer from a motorbike
Guess what. It is indeed part of the damper in an outer muffler of a suzuki gt 750... lol.
Absolutely True, retired tech for Honda, also restoring WWII crashed aircraft 20 years, including B-25, that is in fact a baffle from dirtbike muffler, still has fragments of fiberglass caught in hardware.
Good Eye Captain,
Cheers
Thanks for the actual film footage of the crash. I wondered why the ending of the movie didn’t show a landing.
It was unfortunate learning about the crash, but now we see just how it happened…
My pleasure! It is a sad story.
My Dad had the daily pined to his tool box for decades, The rear was cracking and was repaired multiple times.
Steward Davis supplied the Box Car and He was there for the shooting , Paul had a habit of undoing his seat belt, he was found outside the wreck and the guy seated behind him had a broken hip. Dad said when they found Paul he still had his cigar clenched in his teeth. Frank Tallman & Paul Mantz had a nice Museum. Movie Land of the Air where they parked their planes, Including the B-25s P.S. The Phoenix had a plywood fuselage
Wow! Thanks for sharing this, that is fascinating!
6:14 is a exhaust tip from a four wheeler sorry to say. Not an aircraft part
Thats what I came to say. Its the internal baffel/ spark arrestor of a motorcycle or quad muffler.
Thanks for that!!! Big help!
Thanks for your most entertaining and historically valuable work William. Merry Christmas from Cochrane, Ontario Canada
Thanks so much for the kind words and Merry Christmas to you too!
I stumbled upon this video, I saw the movie decades ago and I am a private pilot, so completely enjoyed this. I intend to read more about Paul Mantz. Thank you. Chuck
Glad you liked it!
Fascinating, this was a favourite film of mine also when growing up.thanks so much for the effort you made in sharing this with us.
My pleasure!
Bill loved your post. Loved the movie. I have seen other RUclipss on Paul's accident but never one on a travel there. My brain assumed the accident was halfway around the earth. The magic of Hollywood!! Happy Holidays
Glad you liked it!
the second item is a silencer for a dirt bike, sorry
Damn! Glad you helped me. I still think the first part has a good chance of being from the crash. Thanks much!!
What a fantastic documentary! As a videographer myself, it's these types of stories that truly motivate me behind the camera. Telling history is important. Subscribed!
Great to hear!
Other than triangulating the distant mountains, I don't think it's (now) possible to find the actual spot. Sand dunes drift, the sand shifts. Regarding Mantz flying through the billboard, that was in Orange County CA as part of the film "It's a Mad Mad World." From my reading, a portion of the sign partially clogged the air inlet in one engine, greatly reducing its power. He planned for something like this to happen and had enough airspeed to reach Orange County Airport (now John Wayne Airport) which was only a few miles away. BTW, several trees in the area are still there, making it possible to find where the billboard stood.
Thank you for filling in a piece of film history for me. It’s been a while since I’ve watched it,but remember the tribute in the closing credits and wondered what happened.
You’re welcome, I appreciate you watching!
Thanks for all the hard work you put into this project; definitely a needle in a haystack situation! The parts you mentioned probably aren’t connected to this tragedy I doubt there’s anything left to find, but you never know. You were right there where it happened and gave us a chance to see it thanks 🙏
Thx
"The Flight of the Phoenix" and "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" were two of my favorite movies as a kid growing up in Wichita Kansas. The Beechcraft Super H18 in "IaMMMMW" was built in Wichita at the plant many of my friends' dads worked at. I had no idea Mr. Mantz was killed while filming (I was too young to sit through the end credits), or that he was the pilot in both films. THANK YOU for this video!
My pleasure
Hi Bill, very interesting video. Back around 1969-71. as a young guy, one of my best friends was the son of an executive of the Robert Aldrich production company. Aldrich of course was the producer/director of The Flight of The Phoenix. He also created other iconic films, including The Dirty Dozen. He was a real character and my buddy's dad related many stories about the producer's unusual business practices and life. I always suspected my friend's father could have made a better living for himself elsewhere in the movie business but that he admired Aldrich's tenacity and quirkiness so much that he held in there with him, even though the traditional big studios offered more security. Robert Aldrich was one or a kind .
I appreciate that you shared your experience with Robert Aldrich and his production company.
I saw this movie a long time ago - long before the internet made research easier. At the end of the movie, the appearance of the crew over a ridge, with no footage of the aircraft landing, was quite jarring. With the "In memory of" credit of someone working on the film, I wondered at the time whether the plane had crashed while the movie was being made. I was, of course, saddened to learn, much later, that this had indeed happened.
I'm glad you brought that up! It's fascinating how the film reflects real life, isn't it?
I saw Paul Mantz fly some aerobatic maneuvers at Orange County airport when I was a kid circa 1965. He was pretty impressive.
Thanks! I will correct that in a follow up! Have learned some new thing from all the great comments!
Thanks, Bill, for this video/research on Paul Mantz life. I have worked with his grandson for the past 25 years and have talked many times about his grandfather. I have forwardyour video to him. Will be fun to see what he things of it
Thanks for sharing this!
Thanks for sharing!
I saw the movie on TV several years after it came out. Excellent movie and probably the best plane crash movie ever made. But I didn't know about the life and death of Paul Mantz, until seeing this video. So thanks for telling his story.
And as a bonus this video also represents a couple of other video genres: finding stuff in the desert, and visiting old plane crash sites (desert or otherwise).
Thanks
Anyone who knows me well, knows that the original Flight of the Phoenix was my all time favorite movie. In fact I have the movie poster hanging in the office I am currently sitting in. Nice detective work. Amazing to me how little is known about the exact location of this terrible accident.
Thanks for the pat on the back!
Frank Tallman flew the scenes in "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" including the Beech 18 stunts. He and Paul were partners.
Thanks! I will correct this in an update soon!
TalManz aviation, it was called.
Yes, agree with your thoughts about this story. As a young person I happened to read the book first, and thought it was a really terrific, engrossing and gritty story, and then saw the film later and was impressed with it's handling of the story. It had great actors and was well directed and totally captured the essence of the book - a usually difficult job to transition from pages to film.
After seeing in the credits the passing of Paul Mantz in this accident, it really brought home how dangerous it must have been to even try to emulate what was written. Today of course it would be all CGI, but back then it was very much 'real' stuff. So great respect here to Paul (and many more) who did/do nearly impossible stunts in film, both back then and even today, and thank you for having the interest and perseverance for taking the time to follow this up.
Agreed!
My wife and I are 80s kids and the 2004 Flight of the Phoenix with Dennis Quaid is one of our favorite movies we've watched as adults. We have our own copy and watch it regularly. We've shared it with our nephews and nieces and they love it as well. I had no idea until seeing your video that there was an original version from 1965. No idea. It was so bizarre seeing this footage because it looks so similar to the newer version in regard to the build of the airplane, the crew situated on the wings, the pulling of the airplane through the desert, etc. We are certainly going to have to go back and watch the 1965 version now!
Me too. I thought the 2004 one was the only one.
wow, I'm an 80s kid from the UK and the original movie was always on UK TV and is one of my all time favourite movies, with a high quality cast and memorable music. Didn't think much of the Denis Quaid one if I'm being honest. Wasn't aware of the crash though....
I hope you enjoy the original movie as much as we do!
No comparison. The remake is just annoying.
@@bishbashbosh-j6z, I knew when I shared the comment that I'd probably get original version fans that would not think much of the newer version. It's funny because I'm usually on the other side of that conversation having seen an original and not much liking the newer version of this or that movie. I totally get it. On music, I do love the opening Johnny Cash number on the 2004 version -- "I've Been Everywhere" goes pretty well with that gorgeous flight scene. And the pilot/co-pilot banter at the next takeoff is pretty fun. Lots of memorable moments.
Thank you. I was. 15 when this movie came out and it’s always been one of my favorites .They made you feel like you were there.
Much more real and suspenseful than the remake.
Agreed!
When i was 14 my dad flew for Steward & Davis Aviation in long beach Ca and delivered one of 3 C82's for the movie , I got to go along and met Paul and James Steward , , later after awhile my dad told me about Paul getting killed trying to fly that junk of a Airplane , Dad was a Hat , A&P , A&E , A&I , CFI , and said that the plane that Paul built was a death trap !! When dad told me that Paul got killed , it realy hit me, after watching him and Art Shol flying at air show most of my life and seeing all the movies , that he flew in . Don A. Pardew
Thanks for sharing that. That’s a powerful story.
You can see the fuselage is cracked along the seam at the top and breaking loose before he touches down for the third time, It was going to fall off even if he was airborn again. He might have realized that and tried to land.
They added weight to the tail for control of the plane which contributed to the crack!
@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures I'm guessing that he might have heard some metal cracking and popping and although you don't see him look he knew what was going on. He was an exceptional pilot.
Great video love your format and clean content. Subscribed. ❤
Thank you! I'm glad you like it!
I am with the crowd, love the original movie and watched the remake. The original was absolutely captivating and a true classic. I had no idea that that a man's life lost to the making of the movie. So sad. Neat video on this topic, thanks for making it.
Couldn't agree more!
Thanx for the informative video, Bill. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Florida! Carry on ... 🥳🍾🥂 🎉
Appreciate that! Same to you!
When I was in the Army my first sergeant was Paul Manz son Paul Manz jr. he talked about his dad a little bit and had some really interesting stories about growing up with Paul as his father. This story aside.
Wow! Thanks for that!
Great video! Great detective work and excellent use of the drone for the overhead video segments! Cool to be able to drive the truck over a vast area! The Phoenix would be a cool airplane in Flight Simulator!
Glad you liked it!
I watched this movie a hundred times and grew up with it and I never knew about this accident until this month.
Thanks for letting us know.
Nice work tracking down the site.👍 I always assumed it was filmed in North Africa .👌
Thanks for watching!
I actually saw the Phoenix at the Tallmantz hangar in late June of 1965. It looked completed. No one was around, and the plane looked great. I was 9 years old. About 2 weeks later, my mom informed me that Paul Mantz had been killed in that plane out in the desert. Wow!!! Myself and my brother saw the film in a theater in late 1965. The 2nd movie was "Our man Flint".
Thanks for sharing that! Very cool!
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures The accident film did not see the light of day until about 1970. There was a afternoon Public Affairs program in Los Angeles that the topic was Paul Mantz, and the producers somehow had gotten a copy of the crash film, and either got permission from 20th Century Fox to show it, or, showed it under the umbrella of "valid news reporting". I never heard they got in trouble.
I believe (and may be mistaken) the first item is a universal tailpipe hanger. As you mentioned with 60 years of OHV use it's more probably from one of those.
Thanks for the research. I never new that there was a accident during the filming.
Agreed! Will correct in upcoming follow up!
Thank you for your excellent video and tribute to Paul. Sparked my curiosity about his Army Air Corps time😊
Great video! Regardless of where there are any parts there or not. Great job finding that location.
Thanks, it was a fun search!
Also a favorite film of mine. Grew up in Yuma and knew of the crash in Buttercup Valley which I’ve crisscrossed many times, but never triangulated the exact spot like you did. Nice tribute to Paul Mantz.
Thx
Well, now I need to watch that movie. I live in Yuma and enjoy seeing videos showing the history from this area. Thanks for making the video!
It’s a great movie!
Great movie, thanks for bringing it much deserved interest.
Thank you
The video was suggested to me and I watched it with great interest. Thank you very much for this impressive documentary. For me, too, The Flight of the Phoenix was and is one of my absolute favorites. Unfortunately, the remake in no way comes close to the quality of the original - as is often the case with remakes.
Paul Mantz is surely now flying a few laps of honor in the sky with Jimmy Stewart, Hardy Krüger and the others...
Glad you enjoyed it!
Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman were Hollywood aviation, if you exclude Howard Hughes, and I don’t know why you would.
Mantz flew the Fairchild (?) in the incredible uncut scene from “Only Angels Have Wings” where he lands on a mesa. The cinematography from that flight has never been matched in movie history.
I saw Frank Tallman, prosthetic leg and all, do aerobatics in his iconic Grumman Duck at Reno Air Races. Both of these guys were legends.
Thanks for the great info!
Interesting video. Thanks for explaining. One of my, and my fathers (Dennis Reginald Pritchard) favourite films, he was a pilot, ex RAF, from Biggin Hill, Kent.
Very cool!
I have hade tis movie in every form there could be.Jimmy was my favorite older actor back in the days.And me and my dad watched this many times together.The re-make was not even worth buying and was quite stupid and un believeable.Ive seen this 65 version over 100 times and to this day still tops my list of favorites.I am almost sure this was featured on Family Classics with Fraisier Thomas.years ago on Froday nights.Thanks for posting William.!
My pleasure! Thank you!
Thanks for the video. I always wondered how Paul Mantz put the phoenix together but also flew it and I never saw a video of the crash. He definitely was one very smart individual and his death was a real loss. Thanks again. Oh and I subscribed to your channel.
Thanks l!!!
Fascinating video. I too liked Flight of the Phoenix...I saw it probably sometime around 1971-72 as a teenager. I also lived in Yuma from July of 1992 to October of 1993 and visited the Algodones Dunes a couple of times from Interstate 8. I found ti a very inspiring movie as, at the time, I probably needed to watch something inspiring as a wayward teenager. During the time I lived in Yuma I worked for Arizona State Parks. We removed parts from a F4 Phantom crash in a project in conjunction with the US Bureau of Land Management in the Gibraltar Wilderness Area outside of Parker AZ. It involved pack mules and a climb up a slope accessible from a paved road. You might want to look for it. My understanding is that the Marine Corps airlifted what was left of the fuselage after we did what we could by manual labor. If I remember correctly the plane was from NAS Yuma and the pilot ejected but was killed when his parachute wrapped around the vertical stabilizer.
Thanks for that!
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures NCAS Yuma might have records of that crash. I haven't been up in that area for years. Gibraltar Wilderness is not exactly what one who is more familiar with California or Colorado Wilderness might expect.
As a boy in mid-late 1960s the father of neighborhood kids was a firefighter at Nevada Test Site. He told us kids about a gang of them each with bucket in hand combing the desert for bits of meat after fatal aircraft mishaps. Not for identification but to keep the critters from a free meal. Respect includes.
The Bogie version Sahara was filmed in those dunes too.
Thanks!!
I’d never heard of Paul Mantz. Now I have, and I’m better for it. Fascinating man, thanks for sharing that.
My pleasure!
Wow Fantastic video bill.....amazing film watched it several times over the years.....still remember how spellbound I was first time I saw it many many years ago.
I remember seeing the note at the end of the film mentioning that somebody had lost there live making the film and did wonder how.
Very Very Sad.
The line....You behave as if stupidity was a virtue.....what an amazing line.
Thank you for your video.....and merry Christmas from the UK.
Thanks Nick!
Paul was an amazing pilot. The aerial footage is incorrect though. Paul did crash-land the B-17 in 12 O'Clock High. The Beechcraft D-18(color footage) was Frank Tallman, a good friend of Pauls, in It's a Mad,Mad, Mad, Mad World. Nice documentary.
Thanks for the correction.
Fantastic, thanks for going out there. Thy must have scooped up all the parts.I certainly thought there would be more.
Yes, there is not much left.
Liked, Subscribed and shared !
Paul Mantz's story is amazing sir and thank you for sharing !
Los Algadones is a great town as well !
Thx
My father was on the film crew. He knew both Paul Mantz as well as Frank Tallman. Frank was the lead stunt pilot on "Catch 22" filmed in San Carlos, Mexico. I was cast as an extra while my dad was in the art department. I was 12 years old at the time.
How cool is that!
The second part you found at 6:02 looks a lot like a removable baffle from a four stroke (motorcycle) exhaust.
Yep
Great video! As for the comments about the air filter... 😂
Watched that movie as a kid, had no idea of the crash. Thank you, next time I watch it will be special 👍👍
Thanks
Very interesting to see your interest in this crash. I was at an airport in California as a kid and saw this strange aircraft so my dad and I went to get a closer look. That’s when we met Paul. He was painting the plane and told us it was for a movie. He went on to say he was the pilot and did not like the airplane because it was nose heavy. To solve this issue they poured concrete in the tail. When I saw the movie I was sad not to see the plane land and later found out he was killed in a crash landing. I will always remember my father telling me “ that’s a Corsair and that’s a P51 and I don’t know what that is. Let’s go see”
Thanks for that great personal account!!
As a boy growing up in Warwickshire, England, in the sixties, obsessed by aviation, I loved that film, and as a Stuart I had to like Jimmy Stewart (even though his surname was spelt the 'wrong' -- i.e. unroyal -- way) and thought his strange accent funny but appealing. Thanks for reminding me of a gem of that great era of cinema.
Thanks
William...I love this concept of history. I often do so myself around the San Diego Area....Thanks
Thank you!
Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne. "Flight of the Phoenix", "Island in the Sky". My Top-4 favorites! 😉
Thank you for this video, William! Quite fascinating...
Glad you enjoyed it!
Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz were both innovators in their field. I knew that Paul died in the filming of FoTP, but I’d never seen the actual crash footage.
First of all, this was a great video. I was near there the day it happened, I was working my last day for L.M. McLaren Produce Co in a melon field with
a bunch of Mexican Bracero`s. At the end of the day on the way back to Yuma our bus passed a flatbed truck with the remains of a plane on it and we
heard later someone was killed doing a stunt for a movie. I also remember hearing the temperature out at Gordons Well that day was 126 degrees. On
the next day I headed for the U.S. Coast Guard boot-camp & did not see the film with Jimmy Stewart and cast for several years later. R.I.P. Paul Mantz.
Thanks for sharing!
Not sure why you didn't take a metal detector. In that desert parts of wreckage are likely covered up with sand.
Don’t have one!
Mantz was the one that flew the plane following the train in the opening sequences of the movie, Bad at Blackrock. What is seen in the finished movie, is him flying forward, and then the footage reversed. A technological innovation in 1954
Great info!
I too, am a fan of the movie, Flight of the Phoenix (the original, mind you). I did a book report on Paul Mantz in the 8th grade, many years ago, and learned he had died in the production of this movie. He and Frank Tallman were renowned for their flying and formed a company to do aerial photography and stunt flying, TallMantz Aviation. Frank Tallman was also killed in an aviation accident in 1978.
Great detail!
Very interesting. I Love that movie, and re-watch it every few years to introduce a friend or relative to it and just to enjoy. I watched about 1/2 of the re-make and shut it off. Not even close to the epic classic I grew up with. Sad about Paul Mantz. I was unaware. With some years and a good GPR (ground penetrating radar) I think you could find the Phoenix, but what a monumental task.
Thanks! I agree, the original is much better. Ground penetrating radar!! Great idea! I will need a sponsor.
Dam ,you are into this. How lucky you be with the resources to fund your passions,God speed!
I appreciate the comment!
wow. didnt know the story behind the movie. and all the real stunts in the biggest movies.. wow. thanks for your hard work and travels.
You’re welcome!
Yes, a part is from the exhaust silencer of an old ATC or ATV
Yep!
I remember being a little puzzled by the ending, when there was no landing, just the guys coming over a little hill cheering. Then I saw the end credits and realized it was a plan B. Sad.
So right!
Great job! Love your search for the crash site.
FYI, You might want to re-edit the part about Mantz doing the fluing scenes in "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. His partner, Frank Tallman flew sll those stunts.
You are absolutely right, my apologies!
I work on aircraft and have built and helped build 4 aircraft, those parts you found were not aircraft parts - the pipe looked like part of some sort of land vehicle exhaust
Hard to be absolutely sure. That is why I qualified it at the end. The motorcycle baffle for sure is not from the plane. The other part could be as part of their custom work!
I remember seeing _Flight of The Phoenix_ in a Phoenix Arizona theater in the year 1966.
👍
It was written in the book about Paul Mantz that the stunt man who was seated behind Mantz knew something really bad was happening so he released his own seatbelt and instantly piledrived head first into the sand, breaking his shoulder blade, but surviving the accident. It is the stuntman falling seen in the films.
Yes
Love that movie. It's a great 'Watch Again' movie. Great yet sad story. Thanks for sharing.
I loved that film as a child, its so sad to hear that someone lost their life during the making of the film. My other favourite childhood film was 'Ice cold in Alex'
Thanks for watching!
Well I liked your Video ! No A I and I am so glad ! You seem to have a lot of respect for one of my favorite movies ! I like the way you spoke About Paul Mantz . The Accident clips seem diferent to any that I have seen before ! Thank you too for asking for subscrition likes at the end of your presentation ! So,... I subscribed and liked ! Waiting for your next Video Thank you !
Thanks so much for the feedback and support!
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures Merry Christmas and Thanks again !
Just a great movie. I was a kid when I first saw this and was very moved by the remembrance of Paul Mantz in the credits.
👍
Thank you. Great biography of the famous stuntman Paul Mantz.
You’re welcome! I appreciate you watching.
Flight of the Phoenix is one of my favorite old movies. This was very interesting!
Thanks for that!
Surely the film crew who watched and filmed him crash, knew where the crash happened so THEY knew where the wreckage was. What am I missing here?
I could not find any detailed info!
You might have mentioned Frank Tallman, the other half of TallMantz Aviation. He too did some notable work, and died in a plane crash, as well, tho not on a movie set. "The story" has it that Frank was supposed to have flown the Phoenix, but hurt his leg in a go-cart crash, which resulted in infection and the partial loss of one leg. Nevertheless, he still flew. Those two will never be replaced, ever again. I agree, the remake was nowhere nearly as interesting as the original movie.
I am going to do a follow up to this. Need to correct some of my mistakes!
@@WilliamBerryDesertAdventures The Go-Kart story is Frank Tallman was pushing his son who was in the Go-Kart, and slipped in the driveway(?) and went down. Tallman was hospitalized when the knee/leg became infected. Paul Mantz stepped in and did nearly all the flight testing of the Phoenix and all of the filming.
A number of years ago, on the internet, was transcripts from Paul Mantz to his personal secretary from the June/July 1965 time span. At the time of the accident, the Phoenix, after all the investigations were complete, was of no use to Frank Tallman, the co-owner of Movieland of the Air Museum at the Orange County Airport. It was written that a sizeable deep hole was dug at the area of the accident and the Phoenix was dumped in and buried. A person would need a very powerful metal detector to find the Phoenix at the probable depth that it currently is in. I too would like to find it also but the truth is the Phoenix is so deep it will never be found. I lived a short distance for Movieland of the Air in the 1960s and on my various trips to the Museum, there was zero evidence of any materials from the crash had been stored at the Museum. Now, all this may be internet here say, but as it was written and released to the internet, the story passes the logic test. All we have to do is dig down about 20 feet in Buttercup Valley.
Very interesting. I will have to back and see if O can find depression.
Aluminum wings plywood fuselage buried and the engine with a mashed cowl no prop was at Steward Davis - Saw it there when they went out of business. At auction Steward wouldn't sell his Ascott Raceway painting to my Dad (Not for sell at any price) and the engine went to a guy rebuilding a war bird about 1982
this was a cool video, thanks for telling this story.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Good to see other techs quickly see at 6;05 recognized the dirt bike exhaust baffle insert from 20 years ago.
Retired tech for Honda, also restoring crashed WWII aircraft,, including fully restored B-25.
Darn right, we'd create a new ship from nothing but scrap and make it fly.
Ive spent many years in that desert on motorcycle exploring it, to finding hidden perfect spring mountain water.
We camped near it quite often. Coyotes always harrassed us at night.
And I wish I knew where it was today. 40 yrs later, details fade. Tried google earth, but too much has changed.
As for finding parts, surely a metal detector is at hand.
Those sands have covered and uncovered anything by tons of moving sand. Clearly exposing baffle.
If camping, beware of viscous shinook winds that can nearly flip your vehicle as if hit by a train.
Tough mission for sure.
Best of luck, and makes me wonder how I was notified of this video.
Screensho saved to show parts dept the baffle, where a poster of it might find the owner who is probably losing sleep as to where the hell he lost it.
It was law, to have them in place, and park ranger could arrest them.
Cheers
Yep! They got it right!
I knew about the stunt pilot who died but did not know his history. Thanks for the memories.
Cheers
Thanks , I loved the film, the fatal crash and Paul Mantz was credited at the end, very sad. Hated the remake.
Thanks!