The 1963 film It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World was a bit of a screwball comedy for the average filmgoer, but for aviation enthusiasts it features some significant flying scenes and enduring demonstrations of precision flying. Two such memorable demonstrations involved a Beech 18 flying through a highway-side billboard and an airport hangar. I’ve documented the history of that Tallmantz Beech 18, N63158, in some detail here, including it’s use by Frank Tallman for those two scenes in the film.

However, a bit more information about that second stunt, the Twin Beech through the hangar, has surfaced that I think warrants a bit of detail here, so here we go. Besides some fill-in details about filming that scene, what also is presented here is new information that Paul Mantz flew a Stearman through the hangar a month before Tallman flew the Twin Beech through. All in the name of cinema.

One does not, or at least one should not, go about flying airplanes through hangars without a bit of preparation. And such is the case with the scene shot for Mad Mad World. Who came up with the idea of flying through the hangar is a mystery to me…whether it was in the original script or if it was suggested by Frank Tallman or Paul Mantz when discussions of specifics began are details that are yet to be uncovered. I suspect, though, that it was the latter, and the pair of aviators probably were already aware of the perfect hangar to use…the one located at the Sonoma County Airport at Santa Rosa in the wine country of northern California.

Known locally as the ‘Butler Hangar,’ the large open-at-both-ends hangar was built by the Army circa 1943 for use at what was then the Santa Rosa Army Airfield. By 1962, it was used primarily for aircraft storage, but its situation was good for the film sequence. Not ideal, though, for at the east end of the hangar was a row of large eucalyptus trees that would present a challenge requiring a dramatic climb over the trees upon exiting the hangar.

In October 1962, the location was scouted by William Mull, location manager for Stanley Kramer Productions, and Paul Mantz. Finding it satisfactory, Mull secured permission for two through-the-hangar flights from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Monday, October 8. The arrangements provided for Mantz to first fly a biplane through the hangar to film the “cinerama background scenes” to be used as a backdrop for cockpit shots showing actors Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett. Later, the Twin Beech, built by Beech as an Army AT-11, was to be flown through the hangar for the exterior shots. Mull promised sufficient insurance ($1 million worth) to the county and reimbursement for the owners of the aircraft stored in the hangar to be moved out for the period of filming. The county also received a $250 fee for the use of the hangar.

Mantz was not a stranger to flying through hangars. He did so at least twice, probably several times more as there seems to be a particular fascination with such things by movie audiences. One of his first ‘stunts’ he flew before Hollywood cameras occurred in 1931 when he flew his Travel Air biplane through a hangar at the Bishop (California) airport for Air Mail, and again in 1957 when he flew a J-1 Standard through one for a scene in Wings of Eagles.

So, come Monday, October 22, Mantz was at the Sonoma County Airport with a Stearman biplane (as yet unidentified) ready to fly at 10:00 that morning. A group of film technicians from the production company were also on hand. Thirteen parked airplanes were moved from the hangar to clear it out for the scene. Cameras were rigged on the Stearman facing both forward and aft. Foggy conditions on the field delayed the flight, though, and Mantz did not take off until 2:30 in the afternoon. Mantz made one preliminary pass over the hangar before coming back around and setting up the shot, approaching the hangar with wheels just three feet off the taxiway. He went though the hangar and then pulled up dramatically to clear the trees and power lines. That was all it took. Mantz evidently got all that was needed on the single run, and everyone packed up and went home. The resulting footage shows up clearly in the film, with the dramatic footage of the zoom climb at the end quite obvious.

Seven weeks later, on Tuesday, December 4, 1962, the Tallmantz and film teams were back at the Sonoma County Airport. The production company’s 10-man crew arrived in a chartered American DC-3 with cameras and other equipment. Frank Tallman arrived flying the star of the scene, AT-11 N63158, and Paul Mantz drove up from San Francisco. Discussions and plans ensued, and, the cameras were positioned. After all was judged correct, Tallman departed in the Twin Beech and made two low passes along the planned flight path for the scene, no doubt figuring camera angles, wind direction and speed, and looking at the looming obstacles at the east end of the hangar. Once he was satisfied, he positioned himself west of the airport heading for the hangar. With the cameras rolling, he deftly centered the Twin Beech through the hangar and then made the dramatic but required pull up to clear the trees and power line obstacles. That completed the filming…one take was all it took. Tallman came back around and landed.

The local newspaper account told that Tallman’s next stunt for the film would require him to fly through a Coca Cola billboard (which he did just two weeks later, on December 19). The paper quoted Tallman as not worrying about the billboard flight: “That will be a cinch. This (the hanger stunt) as about as tough a stunt as I care to do.” Curiously, he later said the same thing about the billboard stunt.

For the record, the arched hangar was reported to be 130 feet wide (at its base), 160 feet long, and 30 feet high at the center of the arch. The Beech AT-11 has a wingspan of about 48 feet, so Tallman technically had a “generous” 41 feet of room at each wing tip to help account for crosswind changes entering and exiting the hangar. Seeing the completed shot, it looks a lot closer than that but Tallman makes it look easy.

And, here is a summation of the flying scenes in the film including the ‘through the hangar’ scene. If you have 2 hours and 23 minutes of spare time, seeing the film is worth the time, certainly for the flying scenes but also for a look at the somewhat more innocent world of 1963.