It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Beech 18
The Tallmantz Twin Beech is best known for the spectacular scene in the 1963 film It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World where it flies through a billboard, as well as for several other notable scenes in the same film.
The Tallmantz Twin Beech was, specifically, USAAF AT-11 42-37444 (msn 4037) with the civil registration of N63158. The airplane was purchased by Tallmantz Aviation on May 28, 1962, and sold, along with much of the Tallmantz Collection, to the Rosen-Novak Auto Co. on February 18, 1966. After one later sale, it appears the airframe was scrapped at Ontario, California, by 1970 or so.
AAF History of AT-11 42-37444
AT-11 42-37444 was built at the Beech factory at Wichita and delivered to the AAF on August 24, 1943. It was initally assigned to the 2509th Base Unit at Big Springs Army Air Field in Texas, serving as a trainer for bombardiers with the 2528th Base Unit. In December, it was reassigned to Midland Army Air Field in Texas, also for use as a trainer. It was deemed excess to AAF needs and transferred to the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) for disposal in January 1946, It’s last notation on the AAF record card shows it assigned to the RFC at Dallas, Texas.
Sale by the War Assets Administration and first Civil Uses for N63158
AT-11 42-37444 was sold by the War Assets Administration to Northrop and Petty Aircraft of Los Angeles, California, on March 8, 1946, for the princely sum of $3000.10. It was issued the civil registration of N63158 on May 21, 1946.
In August 1947, Northrop and Petty Aircraft converted the AT-11 from military configuration to a civilian airplane. The military equipment such as the turret dome and bomb bay were removed. The AT-11 circular fuselage windows were replaced by standard Beech cabin windows, presumably based on the civil Beech 18. The plexiglass windows in the AT-11 snub nose section were replaced by metal skin. Five passenger seats were installed in the cabin, and a radio rack was fabricated and installed on the right side of the fuselage aft of the lavatory compartment. It was issued an “NC” airworthiness certificate, indicating conformance with a manufacturer’s type certificate, in this case Type Certificate A-2-582 as issued by the CAA and applicable to Army AT-11s and Navy SNB-1s to convert to a civil standard.
It was then sold to the Rhoades Bros and Shofner, of Los Angles, in October 1947 for $18,000, with registration issued on November 5, 1947. In April 1949, a 45-gallon North American O-47 fuel tank was installed in the nose compartment and plumbed into the aircraft fuel system.
On August 6, 1952, it was sold to Wes Durston, of Las Vegas, Nevada.
On August 12, 1954, it was sold to J.E. Haddock, Ltd., of Pasadena, California.
Twin Beech N63158 as seen in 1954. Note that the standard AT-11 nose glass has been replaced with aluminum panels. (William T. Larkins photo as found at WIX: http://www.warbirdregistry.org/c45registry/at11-4237444.html )
In 1955, the fabric-covered wing flaps were modified as metal-covered flaps.
It was sold to Louis R. Furlong of Long Beach, California, on February 17, 1958, for $10,000. In June 1959, a standard C-45 nose section replaced the AT-11 snub nose. It was offered for sale by Nagel Aircraft in this May 15, 1960, advertisement (first item) in the Los Angeles Times:
It was subsequently sold to Raymond Deicer & Engineering Co., Inc., of Huntington Park, California, on December 1, 1960, for $9,500.
On March 19, 1962, it was sold to The Air Oasis Co. of Long Beach, California.
Tallmantz Aviation Obtains N63158 for Mad Mad World
Finally, on May 28, 1962, it was sold to Tallmantz Aviation.
In July 1962, Tallmantz moved the airplane over to nearby Chino Airport to have some work done. The contracts for the filming of It’s A Mad Mad Mad Mad World must have been in place because some preparatory work was done in the first weeks of July to beef up the leading edges of the wings and tail and the prop spinners for the planned billboard scene. According to Gary Hoisington, this work was done by his father, Supe Hoisington, and probably consisted of filling in behind those areas with foam or balsa wood to provide a backing to the otherwise hollow areas of the airframe. After that work was done, Aero Crop Corp, a local crop dusting and air tanker operator, added two modifications to the airframe. A standard-size Beech cabin window was installed on the right side of the aft fuselage in place of the small round window. (Thus, the right side of the fuselage cabin had four standard cabin windows and the left side had three with the fuselage entry door being windowless. A further aft small circular cabin window was retained.) In addition, a Grimes anti-collision light was installed on the aft upper fuselage top just forward of the empennage.
As an aside, Supe Hoisington was later a partner in forming the famed Aero Sport company at Chino. Another of the Aero Sport partners was E.G. Morrison, one of the principals of Aero Crop at Chino. Frank Pine, who later became the primary Tallmantz B-25 camera pilot, was a TBM tanker pilot at Aero Crop before he moved to Tallmantz. It was a tight little group.
Tallmantz Aviation and Filming It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World
As has become obvious in the telling of this story, Tallmantz Aviation did all the aviation filming for the 1963 film It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, and that included some great sequences with an old Standard J-1 (N2826D) as well a the lengthy segments using N63158.
As a recap, the plot of the film finds two characters, played by Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney, racing others in a large group of people to a hidden stash of money. The convince a pilot, played by Jim Backus, to fly them so as to beat everyone else to the prize. After takeoff from an (as yet) unidentified desert airport and cruising along, the pilot, already intoxicated, goes to the back of the plane to mix some more drinks leaving Rooney and Hackett in the cockpit. The pilot is knocked out by the unskilled Hackett flying the airplane, and the chaotic pair try to fly the airplane to a safe landing. In the process, the airplane demonstrates some extreme flying that includes flying through a billboard, flying through a hangar, buzzing a control tower and airport, and finally making a very exaggerated landing and then taxiing into the glass wall of a restaurant.
The airport buzzing and landing scenes were filmed at the (since closed) Rancho Conejo airport located at Thousand Oaks, west of Van Nuys and east of Camarillo, California. Frank Tallman flew all the sequences, though he had partner Paul Mantz on hand for the planning and Mantz standing by for most of the flying. The flying scenes are all very nicely viewable with this YouTube clip:
Filming the Air-to-Air Mad Mad World Scenes
The first sequences filmed using the Twin Beech were those of the air-to-air shots at low altitude in what appears to be rural areas of eastern Orange County and the desert area around Palm Springs. These sequences had Tallman flying extreme maneuvers rolling, climbing, and diving the Twin Beech, and were filmed from Tallmantz B-25N cameraship N1042B on November 30, 1962. Paul Mantz and Frank Pine flew the B-25 with Tallman following along in N63158.
Filming the Mad Mad World Through-The-Hangar Scene at Santa Rosa
Another sequence filmed with the Twin Beech were the “through the hangar” shot filmed at the what is now the Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, on December 3, 1962. Paul Mantz and Frank Tallman flew N63158 from Orange County to Santa Rosa that day for the filming. The old World War II-era hangar is open on each end but, as can be seen in the film sequence, has a pair of imposing eucalyptus trees not far from the east end of the hangar, requiring a significant pull-up after clearing the hangar. With Mantz, who had his own “through the hangar” filming experiences earlier in his career, standing by, Tallman performed the stunt after three practice approaches just skimming the roof of the hangar. It is a quick sequence in the film but demonstrates some great planning and flying by Tallman.
Filming the Mad Mad World Scenes at the Rancho Canejo Airport
The airport and control tower filming was done around the Rancho Canejo airport, probably between the Santa Rosa filming and the billboard sequence filmed on December 19. Most of the filming at Rancho Canejo was ground-to-air, with the close buzzing of the studio-built control tower and exaggerated flying in the local area. Some air-to-air or air-to ground filming may have been done also, though, as a Tallmantz B-25 camera ship can be seen in the background on the ramp at the airport in one of the sequences. After the airport buzzing and a terrible landing, the Twin Beech taxis across the ramp and into the glass wall of an airport restaurant, hidden cables jerking the airplane to a stop before it goes further into the building. A good ground shot of Hackett and Rooney exiting the airplane and running away nice details of N63158.
Frank Tallman Flying the Spectacular Mad Mad World Billboard Scene
The final and most spectacular use of the Twin Beech in the film is the aforementioned billboard shot. It is a very brief scene but, as Tallman later noted, it was probably the most dangerous filming sequence he flew in his career.
Several accounts of filming the scene state that a windshield section from a BT-13 was rigged into the interior cockpit of the Twin Beech to provide additional protection for Tallman flying the airplane through the billboard.
From some good sleuthing, the location of the billboard for the filming has been determined to be where Interstate 405 and the Laguna Freeway (State Highway 133) currently intersect. Back then it was just the rural Laguna Canyon road and the billboard was set up adjacent to the highway. There were scant feet to spare with the wingspan of the Twin Beech and the width of the sign. The composition of the actual sign has been documented as several different materials, but it would appear it was Styrofoam with a painted covering that turned out to be more durable than expected. Tallmantz Aviation was involved in the construction of the sign and a crew helped install it at the chosen location. Tallman flew the sequence on Wednesday, December 19, 1962, departing from nearby Orange County Airport. It appears the pass was made from north to south through the billboard, which Tallman hit perfectly in the center, with the Twin Beech then bursting through the sign as planned.
The events that occurred after his flying through the billboard produced two versions of the story of Tallman’s return to Orange County Airport.
The generally accepted story as told by Tallman and others from Tallmantz, has the harder-than-expected sign doing extensive damage to the aircraft, with parts of the wing leading edges crushed, the cockpit glass shattered, cowlings leading edges and propeller spinners damaged, and Styrofoam and balsa wood pieces lodged in both cowlings. The right engine suffered the worst, with intakes for the engine and oil cooler blocked. The right engine quickly maxed out on temperature and was smoking and barely running as Tallman limped the short distance back to Orange County. Shortly before touchdown he had to feather the right propeller as the engine failed. James Rodgers, an employee at the time of Tallmantz at the time, remembered this version.
Another version of the story, as related by Supe Hoisington through his son Gary, is that the airplane was slightly damaged and both engines were running fine upon arrival at Orange County Airport and a normal landing was accomplished. Hoisington, through his business dealings, had known and worked with Mantz, Tallman, and Pine for many years.
In any event, Tallmantz definitely presented a substantial bill to the film producers for damage to the Twin Beech after that scene was shot. I’ll leave it to the readers to decide the actual events, though I suspect it lies somewhere in between the two versions of the story.
Post Mad Mad World Use of N63158 by Tallmantz Aviation
Subsequently, N63158 was repaired and put back into service by Tallmantz Aviation, It was used for local transportation for the company for the next several years, and remained in the Movieland of the Air Museum display area as seen in this 1964 photo:
The Beech 18 series, including the AT-11, had wing spar corrosion issues that were identified as early as its World War II service, and suffered several wing failure accidents through the 1950s and early 1960s. The FAA issued a series of airworthiness directives, better knows as ADs in the industry. AD 64-21-1 was issued in September 1964 and applied to the the AT-11 model, including N63158. It required X-ray or magnetic particle inspection of various spar and landing gear truss components. If cracks were found, then reinforcement plates could be welded into place.
These inspections were required immediately and after each 500 hours of flight time. Probably at some point in 1965, N63158 was flown from Orange County to the Lockheed Air Services (LAS) ramp at nearby Ontario Airport for the required spar inspection. Whatever was determined in the inspection convinced Tallmantz Aviation that it was not worth the cost to do a repair and the airplane was grounded and left at Ontario Airport.
Sale of the Mad Mad World Twin Beech to Rosen-Novak Auto Company in 1966
Come February 18, 1966, a large portion of the Tallmantz Aviation aircraft and parts collection was sold to the Rosen-Novak Auto Company of Omaha, Nebraska. As detailed elsewhere on this site, the sale was made to satisfy settlement of the Paul Mantz estate and legal issues that surrounded the July 1965 accident during the filming of The Flight of the Phoenix. Included in the aircraft sale was Beech N63158, still parked at Ontario.
Richard Vartanian, owner of Aircraft Component Equipment Supplies, picks up the story at this point. As per a 2010 account by Vartanian, Elmer Woods of Rosen-Novak contacted him probably about 1969 or 1970, about wanting to get rid of N63158 and seeing if Vartanian was interested in purchasing it for parts. Vartanian did purchase the airframe, primarily for the firewall-forward components of engines, propellers, and accessories. Vartanian notes that “it was not economically feasible to invest in the mandatory Spar issue modifications, costing more that the airplane was worth, both then and into the foreseeable future.” A bill of sale or registration change application was never filed with the FAA as the airplane was not airworthy and was destined for scrapping.
The End of the Road for the Mad Mad World Twin Beech
According to Vartanian, he had his crew remove the two firewall forward packages and “made a deal with Don Mitchell for him and his crew to scrap it and keep what he wanted. Don and two of his helpers started scrapping. Somehow in the process the airplane ignited and burned to the ground. I was not there, so I have no idea as to what actually occurred, but I was told that one of Don’s guys tripped and set off a chain reaction. Don ended up with nothing. The Ontario Airport Fire Department should have this fire in their records, as they did arrive on scene.”
The date of the fire has not been determined but it was probably around 1970. In record clearing, the FAA sent an inquiry to Vartanian in July 1974 as it understood that his company now owned N63158. Vartanian’s response was that the aircraft had been totally destroyed and the registration number was thus cancelled.
And, so ended the Mad Mad World Beech 18.
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