Aero Vintage Books

Scroll down to post #51160 on this page:

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/show ... &page=2558

Does the story and fate of this Ford Tri-Motor sound accurate? I don't see a Tin Goose on your master list.

Eventually Gil purchased NC7121 from Goodsell, then sold it to Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz of Tallmantz Aviation in SoCal who used it in the movies, including some of the few actual flying sequences in "Only Angels Have Wings" with Cary Grant. It was eventually scrapped by Tallmantz. Family legend has it that Uncle Gil taught Paul Mantz how to spin the Tri-Motor.

I have not come across any Trimotor in the Mantz/Tallman/Tallmantz inventory, not to say it was not there. But, if so, I think it pre-dated Tallman and Tallmantz and would have been a Mantz airplane and probably gone before 1961. It bears some investigation and I might just order the FAA registration history on this airplane and see what it says. Thanks for the head's up and yet another mini research project.

I found a reference, the reliable John Underwood, that says NC7121 was with Columbia Pictures 1938-1939, then to Mantz in 1939. It was used for 'joyriding and sightseeing trips locally on barnstorming tours" while based at Union Air Terminal (Burbank). He reports that Mantz scrapped the Trimotor in late 1941 after a mishap. Another source shows the registration cancelled in October 1941, so that matches up." Only Angels Have Wings" was produced by Columbia Pictures with dates of filming 20 December 1938 - 24 March 1939, so that also matches up.

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Tallmantz LEASED a Ford Trimoter NC8407 for the Jerry Lewis comedy 'The Family Jewels' in 1964

https://www.aerovintage.com/forum/viewt ... f=4&t=4776

JD