There were dozens of folks who worked for Tallmantz Aviation from its inception in 1961. This page will try to document those individuals…who they were and any experiences they might have had through the years. We need names and photos and stories. So if you or someone you know was on the payroll, or have something to contribute, please let us know. Or, use the comment section at the bottom of the page, or the Tallmantz Guestbook.
Jim Appleby was an ex-USAF pilot that came to Tallmantz in the mid-1960s. He started by flying the Waco for the Movieland of the Air’s pennies-a-pound flights and was later instrumental in flying the Tallmantz B-17. He also flew in numerous film projects including Catch-22. He was also well known for the construction of accurate World War I replica aircraft from his base at Flabob Airport near Riverside, California.
Tallmantz pilot flew B-25s and other types on various projects.
Tallmantz pilot flew copilot on B-25s and also aircraft for various projects.
Tallmantz pilot flew B-25s in Catch 22 and other projects; went on to do additional film flying with Tallmantz for several projects.
Long-time mechanic and flight engineer for Tallmantz Aviation.
Cort Johnston served Mantz well from the mid-1940s through the late 1950s as both a mechanic and as his B-25 flight engineer. One telling of the story (Dwiggins) has Johnston being the guy who converted B-25H N1203 from a bomber to a well-equipped camera platform. He also served as flight engineer on most of the 1950s B-25 Cinerama, Circarama, and other significant film assignments. Details about his later years with Mantz are sparse. The photo at left was taken during the filming of The Top of World with Mantz in 1952.
Paul Mantz secretary who came to Tallmantz with Mantz and remained until Tallmantz ceased operation in 1986. Marchak’s name surfaces several times in accounts of Mantz and Tallmantz. She was in Yuma, Arizona, in July 1965 when Mantz was killed filming The Flight of the Phoenix. Eventually she married Tallmantz B-25 pilot Frank Pine. Her sister, Ruth Marchak, eventually married Frank Tallman, becoming ‘Boots’ Tallman in the process. Martha and Ruth were the ones who ended up selling Tallmantz to an investor in 1986, cutting all prior ties with the historic company. Marchak got a name check on Tallmantz B-25N camera ship N9451Z, which carried the name Marty under the pilot’s window in honor of her.
Tallmantz pilot involved in many of the non-film projects for Tallmantz flying B-25s; also flew a B-25 in Catch-22. He worked for Tallmantz from approximately 1968 until 1977. Thomas Mooney was killed on April 5, 1978 in an accident while flying a Grumman Goose for Antilles Air Boats near St. Thomas in the Carribean. Though he and the other pilot were killed, all seven passengers survived.
Another Mantz pilot for which there is little information. It is known that he helped Mantz in the mid-1950s with flying his TBM air tanker during early tests, and as late as 1966 was still flying for Tallmantz.
Frank Pine went to work for Mantz in 1959 as, initially, an air tanker pilot for Mantz’s tanker operations. Pine had earlier experience as a TBM tanker pilot based on his earlier flying with the U.S. Navy. He knew Mantz and began working for him on occasion until 1959 when Mantz hired him as a B-25 tanker pilot to go to Venezuela with Jim Thompson to assist in fighting a massive forest fire. Through the years, he segued from a Mantz pilot to the main Tallmantz B-25 cameraship pilot. Pine was on site in Yuma in July 1965 for some of the air-to-air filming done with Mantz for The Flight of the Phoenix, for which Mantz was later killed filming another sequence for the same film. Pine eventually became the Tallmantz general manager until Tallman’s 1978 death in a plane crash. He then became company president until he passed, at the age of 65, in 1984 from a heart attack. After his death, the surviving principals of Tallmantz began to work to sell the company to outside investors, something that was accomplished by 1986.
Walter was Frank’s brother who became involved with Tallmantz after Tallman’s 1978 death. Flew copilot on Tallmantz B-25s and a Navion on several projects. Walter Pine was the last president of Tallmantz Aviation after Frank’s 1984 death.
Art Scholl worked with Tallmantz Aviation through many projects in the early 1960s. He later started his own company based at Flabob Airport near Riverside, California, and was killed before the cameras during the filming of Top Gun in 1985.
Bob Siemieniewicz was a mechanic and flight engineer for both Paul Mantz and Tallmantz Aviation. He started with Mantz by at least 1960 when he flew with Frank Pine and Jim Thompson in a pair of B-25s to fight forest fires in Venezuela. And, he was still with Tallmantz in the early 1970s. No photos of him have yet surfaced.
Tallmantz pilot who also flew in Catch-22..
Sister of Martha Marchak and later wife of Frank Tallman. She was instrumental in the running of Tallmantz, especially after her husband’s 1978 death and, along with her sister Martha Marchak and others, sold the company to a new owner in 1986.
One can find Carroll Wright’s name involved in many of Mantz’s 1950s and Tallmantz’s 1960s projects. He was the chief mechanic for Paul Mantz beginning in 1945, and continuously worked for Mantz and, later, Tallmantz until the company closed up in early 1986. Wright started his job with Mantz at his Burbank facility, moving to Orange County when Mantz moved his operation there. Wright was was AAF mechanic on Guam during World War II before going to work with Mantz. He was intimately involved in the 1956 filming of The Spirit of St. Louis, spending six months on that project in various locations. In 1967, he was also deeply involved in the building of a Spirit of St. Louis replica for Tallmantz to participate in the 40th anniversary of that historic flight. As an ‘additional duty,’ he also spent time working on Mantz’s yacht, the Pez Espada, docked at the Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Harbor, fine tuning the engines. Wright’s family also enjoyed time on that yacht as the Mantz and Tallmantz operations were largely a family affair. l
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