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...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 9:18 am
by JDDavis2
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...N1203 appeared in front of the cameras in the Cinerama Production, "Seven Wonders of the World" (1956).

...Photo'd from TBM N9394H (with the 3-in-1 Cinerama cam)...and an in-flight interior sequence (with a single-lens cam) featuring Paul Mantz and Cinerama Producer/Narrator Lowell Thomas.

...JD

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 8:00 pm
by aerovin2
JD,

Thanks for making these available. I doubt in few, if any, have seen that film so it's great to see these scenes. I'm planning on adding all four to my Tallmantz Photo Gallery. I wonder if there are any photos out there of the Cinerama cameras mounted on the TBM.

Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Tue Oct 13, 2015 9:16 am
by JDDavis2
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Examples of the aerial sequences Mantz' crew shot can be seen in the Cinerama trailers on youtube

....flying under bridges, low thru canyons, spectacular scenery...


Trailer for "This is Cinerama" (1952 remastered 2011)... (this video has been removed) Here's a newer one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrzjdlyZCD8

"This is Cinerama" 2017 trailer for the restored version


Trailer for Cinerama's "Seven Wonders of the World" (1956 Remastered 2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e360zRfLKQ


Trailer for Cinerama's "The Best of Cinerama" (1963 Remastered 2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOFIEtmc86w

. JD
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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Thu Feb 04, 2016 5:46 am
by JDDavis2
In "Cinerama Adventure" (documentary 2002) they used cropped clips of N1203 from "Seven Wonders of the World" (1956) for the lead-in to the volcano sequence.

"The effervescent Paul Mantz took off one morning to get a Cinerama shot of a volcano. When they came back I thought the crew looked a little pale. Yes, they had photographed the volcano. Paul had flown round the rim twice and then said, 'Look out, boys, I'm going in,' and he had dived right into the center of it" ....Bill Lipscomb, Cinerama screenwriter, who was with them in the Congo, quote in "Seven wonders of the world", the BOOK by Lowell Thomas (1956).

"We dove into the crater...I'll tell ya', it was the hairiest thing I've ever been through in my life"...James Morrison, Cinerama assistant director, interview in "Cinerama Adventure"

...and Morrison in 'Air and Space Magazine', August 2011..."suddenly, over the edge of the left engine and through the spinning prop, I saw a crater yawn, spewing blue smoke; the airplane banked, plunging into the smoke. Roiling lava fire came ever closer and sulfur fumes filled the cabin. Mantz pulled the bomber into an aching turn. I could no longer force my head to look down. Against gravity’s pull I peered up and saw blue sky above the volcano’s rim. I coughed...An engine coughed in reply...up we went, just over the rim, into sunshine."

"Above & Beyond: Mantz Versus the Volcano, Filming for Cinerama with a fearless flyer"
For full article...google search: "Above & Beyond: Mantz Versus the Volcano"

Mantz on flying into the crater of an active volcano:

"I figured I'd do it by going in fast enough so I could climb out if they quit. I was over three hundred when I went into the crater.
Lost an engine for a few turns, No oxygen down there."

“I’ll Put on One Hell of a Show”, Theodore Taylor & James Atwater
The Saturday Evening Post, October 9, 1965

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Mon Feb 08, 2016 9:22 am
by aerovin2
Thanks for adding to this post. i will need to read that article....

Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:56 pm
by JDDavis2
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"Cinerama nose" ... the original configuration...

Used filming the first Cinerama "This is Cinerama" (released 1952)

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 11:31 am
by aerovin2
Interesting to see how that camera nose evolved. from 1952 to 1970. Several questions come to mind: how much of the original standard greenhouse nose ended up in the final configuration. The final version as flown on N1203 differed from that carried on N1042B, which was 'final state' design I think constructed on specifications by Potter Aviation at Burbank for Tallmantz. The camera nose from N1203 was mounted on N9451Z when N1203 was sold by Tallmantz. N9451Z went to the NMUSAF program in a trade; one wonders what happened to the camera nose.

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2017 8:58 pm
by JDDavis2
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...1954 version...

...JD

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sat Aug 12, 2017 1:39 am
by FoCoB17G
I find this very fascinating! Thanks for the posts!

Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Thu Aug 24, 2017 12:46 pm
by JDDavis2
... N1203 map and flags evolution ...
... Dates unknown ... the rows of flags unfinished ...
image sources: SDASM "no known copyright restrictions"
snappygoat public domain images

... JD

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2018 8:12 am
by aerovin2
Screen capture from the aborted TV series Catch-22 shot in November and December 1972. As can be seen, the airplane got a coat of, most likely, water soluble paint for its role as a VIP transport in the scene. The pilot episode was shot at the El Mirage airport in the desert north of California. One other Tallmantz B-25 was used in the filming, as well as a P-40. No air-to-air filming was apparently done for the TV series which consisted on the one unsold pilot episode that did air one time in May 1973. This filming would be the swan song for N1203 as Tallmantz sold it two years later. I've linked a YouTube video of the pilot episode off my January 2018 B-25 News page: http://www.aerovintage.com/b25news18.htm

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:29 am
by JDDavis2
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... The P-40 looks like TP-40N N923 " # 71 " ...
JD

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Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Sun Jan 14, 2018 10:46 am
by aerovin2
Re: scrolling photos. I'm just posting using the IMG link. I wondered how you guys were posting the photos that do scroll. In my experience, using the linking URL tool as available on the page just presents the photos.

Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Fri Jan 19, 2018 12:04 am
by 05564
Fascinating stuff. I never knew there was another pilot for " Catch-22". Now there may be another one, GREAT. Tallman had some big gonads to fly into that volcano. Can't get enough of these B-25's. :D

Re: ...N1203 in front of the camera...

Posted: Tue Jan 23, 2018 9:28 pm
by terveurn
and then there was the classic movie "Them"

them.JPG