Paul Mantz's Flightarama Aeronautical Museum
There is very little information available about Paul Mantz’ Flightarama Aeronautical Museum, other than the February 1961 Milo Peltzer photo taken at Orange County Airport (seen above from Warbirds International, November/December 1987 issue).
In May 1951, Paul Mantz leased several acres at the southeastern corner of a sleepy Orange County Airport near Santa Ana. At that time, he announced that he would shift his Paul Mantz Air Services from Burbank to his new facility. Significant in the announced move was Mantz’s stated intention to open an air museum to display his collection, agreeing to pay 10 percent of the gross revenues to Orange County as part of the lease agreement. Whether he was pressured by the county to open a museum to fulfill his lease arrangement, or just because he wanted to display some of his collection to the public, has been lost to history. Probably both were true.
However, in naming the museum “Flightarama,” Mantz was no doubt capitalizing on his well-known involvement in the Cinerama filming he had one in the 1950s.
The only unearthed information about the museum is noted below, and indicates it was opened probably in early 1960 and it displayed only a few aircraft, possibly as little as five. The museum was short-lived, being supplanted in 1963 by the Movieland of the Air facility.
Aviation photographer and historian Milo Peltzer remembers bicycling from Anaheim to Orange County Airport as a teenager to visit the museum at least in June 1960 and February 1961, and recalls several of the aircraft on display in the small hangar that housed the museum.
From the American Airman Journal, December 1960 (Volume III, No. 14) comes this report written by Mauno A. Salo about Flightarama:
Paul Mantz’s Standard J-1, 1918 trainer replica with 180 Hispano, taking off the Orange County Airport, Calif. Note wooden struts support landing gear, plus 5 plies of 1/8″ spruce.
This Standard has been flying demonstration flights on a number of Sundays, at the Orange County Airport, Santa Ana. The purpose has been to attract attention and stimulate interest in the newly opened Mantz Flightarama Aeronautical Museum located there at the airport. The museum has the following aircraft on exhibit: Fokker D-7, Nieuport 28, Spad VII, “Spirit of St. Louis” replica, Boeing 100 fighter, and a Lockheed Vega.
In front of the museum is the famous Mantz P-51 Bendix Race winner mounted on jacks with gear retracted. There is also the only known Lockheed Orion parked outside, as well as the complete fuselage of a Jenny. It is my understanding that more of these kites will be flown in the future.
Notable is the display of one of Mantz’s famous P-51Cs, NX1204, in a flight mode with the gear retracted. Not too fancy, the airplane is just on standard aircraft jacks.
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