Aero Vintage Books

Slots into was written in my B-25 News page in 2014:


Mantz B-25 Fate Finally Established: The fate of the B-25H that Hollywood Pilot Paul Mantz used for two decades to establish himself as the king of aerial filming had finally been determined with some certainty. Two years after it was sold by Tallmantz Aviation, B-25H 43-4346 (N1203) crashed near Santa Marta, Colombia, on September 4, 1976, and was presumably very badly damaged or destroyed. At least one person aboard the aircraft when it crashed was killed. At that time, Santa Marta was the center of the Colombian marijuana industry and a small air force of rag tag aircraft were used to smuggle 'Colombian Gold' north to the U.S. All indications would suggest that this B-25H was used as part of that effort.
As a quick recap, Paul Mantz obtained the B-25 in 1946 when he bought up a field of surplus airplanes at Stillwater, Oklahoma. He had most scrapped, but saved, among others, the B-25H and two P-51Cs, registered as NX1202 (P-51C), N1203 (B-25H), and NX1204 (P-51C). The B-25H was developed into a useful cameraship, particularly when the nose compartment was modified to accept the three bulky cameras of the Cinerama film process.



It was used extensively through the 1950s and early 1960s to film numerous Cinerama features and a number of Walt Disney CircleVision projects, as well as countless other Hollywood productions. Mantz and, later, Tallmantz, continued to utilize the B-25H but early 1970s, the tired B-25H was replaced by Tallmantz TB-25N 44-30493 (N9451Z). N1203 was let out to pasture, as it were According to the FAA registration file, it was sold by Tallmantz to Howard Stucky and Lawrence Leang of Moundridge, Kansas, in July 1975. It was sold in March 1976 to Leroy Sansom, of Burbank, California, then transferred immediately back to Stucky and Leang. It was, that same month, then sold to Vicki Meller, also of Burbank, California. Nothing is known of any of these owners and what would be appear to be a confusing series of owners over a short time.

In 1976, the airplane was observed operating from Van Nuys airport with most of its Tallmantz markings intact, save for the name "Talisman Aviation" inscribed on the nose. Then, it disappeared from sight, with rumors abounding that it was being used for drug smuggling and crashed in Colombia.

Well, it turns out the rumors were at least partly true. It did crash at Santa Marta, Columbia, on the north coast of the country, on September 4, 1976. The source of this information are unclassified State Department cables that have surfaced through the WikiLeaks website. I'm not a big fan of WikiLeaks or the process of exposing state secrets, but for what it is worth, the fate of this B-25 is now pretty much nailed down.

The salient points of the first cable, sent September 17, 1976, was recorded as having been sent directly to the registered owner of the B-25, Vicki Meller, and requests:

DEPARTMENT OF STATE IS ATTEMPTING TO LOCATE THE OWNER OF AIRCRAFT B-25 REGISTRATION NO. N-1203 WHICH WAS REPORTED CRASHED IN SANTA MARTA, COLUMBIA SEPTEMBER 4 AND THE NEXT- OF-KIN OF A VICTIM OF THE CRASH EDDIE ISSAIC.
So, based on this, we have a crash victim named Eddie Issaic. Spelling might not be correct of his last name, but that is the content of the cable.

A second pertinent cable was sent four days later, and gives additional information:

1. DEPARTMENT CONTACTED MILTON STOLLACK WHO STATED HE AND MELLER SOLD AIRCRAFT B-25 TO JOHN GOODSON, ANHAUSER CORPO- RATION, N.Y. IN JULY 1976 AND DOES NOT KNOW EDDIE ISSAIC. FAA HAS NO RECORD OF TRANSFER OF AIRCRAFT TO NEW OWNER AND IS CHECKING FURTHER.
2. DEPARTMENT UNABLE TO LOCATE ANHAUSER CORPORATION, N.Y. AND ANHAUSER BUSCH (ONLY SIMILAR NAMED CORPORATION LISTED IN N.Y. DIRECTORY) KNOWS NOTHING OF GOODSON OR B-25.

3. DEPARTMENT WILL KEEP POST INFORMED IF ANY FURTHER INFO BECOMES AVAILABLE.

From this, we learn that apparently Milton Stollack owned N1203 with Meller, and he states they sold the B-25H to John Goodson of Anhauser Corp. in July 1976. As noted, no record of this sale was processed to the FAA.

Stollack is, presumably, the same Milt Stollack who, as an air tanker pilot, was killed in a 2002 PB4Y-2 air tanker accident in Colorado.

An internet search of what was going on in the Santa Marta region of Colombia during this period in the 1970s reveals a thriving drug smuggling industry using a variety of aircraft to move marijuana from Colombia to the U.S., flying from unimproved airstrips in the remote mountains in the area. It doesn't take much of a stretch to presume N1203 was lost being used as such, with the loss of at least one crewman on board at the time.

Such an internet search has uncovered nothing of Eddie Issaic or John Goodson, and little of Vicki Meller other than her name was listed as the registered owner of two B-25s at the time, N1203 and TB-25N 44-30535 (N9462Z). We shall await further details of the accident and what became of the remains of this historic B-25. Thanks to Bryan Oliver for uncovering this little tidbit of information and passing it along.