Selected Photos
After the museum closed in the late 1960s, the F-107, F-101, and other IFSM exhibits were dragged out the southern end of the airport overlooking Bristol Road where they were left until reclaimed by the USAF. The Vampires on the right had been Paul Mantz airplanes. Phil Brown photo
International Flight and Space Museum
Frank Tallman and Paul Mantz incorporated the International Flight and Space Museum in August 1962 as an non-profit museum to allow Tallmantz to obtain display aircraft from the U.S. government on loan. The museum was set up as an adjunct facility to the Movieland of the Air and was a fenced-in outdoor display area located adjacent to Campus Road just south of the Tallmantz hangars. The non-profit museum was a used to obtain a significant number of military aircraft for display, including the B-50 fuselage of the Lucky Lady II, a North American YF-107A, a stubby McDonnell XF-85 fighter, and a selection of missiles and rockets. The museum was also instrumental in arranging the loan of a USAF B-17G, initially slated to be s/n 44-83316 from Norton AFB, but later replaced by s/n 44-83525. What was unusual about this arrangement is that the USAF authorized the museum to actually operate the aircraft for movie and display purposes. Tallmantz eventually obtained title to the B-17G in a trade deal with the Air Force Museum.
By the late 1960s, the museum had largely been abandoned as a viable operation. The former display area was occupied by ex-Catch-22 B-25s being held in storage for sale, and many of the military-loaned aircraft were hauled off to the south end of the airport for storage and were eventually reduced to derelicts. Within a few years most had be reclaimed by the government and sent on to other facilities, many, including the B-50 fuselage, going to Planes of Fame at Chino.