. The story:
"Hollywood Pilot" p-207. "Mantz cheated fate... while flying his Lockheed 12 camera plane over Southern Californias' turbulent San Gabriel mountains in formation with a DC-3, shooting a scene for 'Terry and the Pirates'.
Jim Thompson, at the controls of the DC-3, suddenly hit a downdraft. At the same time Mantz's ship bounced up, it's port propeller chewing seven feet off Thompson's right wing. Thompson managed to fly the DC-3 to a safe landing at Palmdale, while Mantz, his engine shaking badly, eased the Lockheed 12 back to his home base at Burbank"
. 01 The DC-3 image is a screen cap from the TV series (video, Public Domain Mark 1.0...no known copyright restrictions)
. 02 The Lockheed 12 image is a JD Davis photo (SNA-Mantz 1958, re-registered with Amelia Earhart's N16020 from her Lockheed 10. Mantz' Lockheed 12 previous to 1958 was N60775.
. 03 Terry Lee and co-pilot/sidekick Charles C. Charles, "Hotshot Charlie", launching in the "Dragon Lady's" DC-3.
. Whatever became of Lockheed 12 N16020 ?
Aug 9, 1961 Mantz sold to a group of Lockheed test pilots. Mantz had owned 1946-61.
Dec 16, 1961 the aircraft crashed on Mt. Tierfort (40-mi N. E. Barstow, CA) on Fort Irwin. Collided with terain attempting a night single-engine emergency landing at Bicycle Lake AAF, aircraft destroyed, two fatalities.
