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, his rate of descent at 90 mph exceeded the plane's structural capacity. The modest impact of the touchdown, coupled with the sudden drag caused by the aircraft's cobbled skid/wheel landing gear, caused the boom section behind the wings to fail, propelling the nose section forward, with the P-1 breaking up violently, killing Paul Mantz instantly. Stuntman Billy Rose, also on board, was thrown clear and survived with a broken shoulder and pelvis.
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 assumed that Mantz may have been impaired by alcohol consumption. But due to the area they were in, there was a delay in the toxicology report, in which the blood alcohol content (b.a.c.) can read incorrectly higher.
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 poor but necessary stand-in. 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.
Read more about this topic: Tallmantz Phoenix P-1
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