American aviator (1919?1978)
Frank Tallman
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Frank_Tallman.png) |
Born
| (
1919-04-17
)
April 17, 1919
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Died
| April 15, 1978
(1978-04-15)
(aged 58)
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Nationality
| American
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Occupation
| Stunt pilot
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Frank Gifford Tallman
III (April 17, 1919 in
East Orange, New Jersey
? April 15, 1978 in
Santiago Peak
,
Trabuco Canyon, California
) was a
stunt pilot
who worked in
Hollywood
during the 1960s and 1970s. He was the son of Frank Gifford Tallman, Jr. (1894 ? 1952) and Inez Evelyn Foster (1894 ? 1982).
Early life
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Tallman had a twin sister named Elizabeth. When Elizabeth was about 7, she died of a combination of pneumonia and measles. That same year Frank's sister Prudence was born. He also had one brother, Foster. Frank Tallman's father had been a military pilot during
World War I
. Tallman took his first plane ride in his father's lap at the age of five. As a teenager he took flying lessons and became a pilot. When
World War II
started, Tallman tried to enter the military as a pilot, but his application was declined due to his lack of the required two years of college. He worked for a time as a civilian pilot instructor and later in the war was able to join the U.S. Navy when they relaxed their education requirements. Tallman remained stateside until the end of the war.
Postwar
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Tallman remained in the
United States Navy Reserve
after the war and started a business in
Illinois
. He acquired a collection of pre-1920 aircraft and supplemented the collection with surplus World War II aircraft and more pre-war aircraft as he was able.
In the late 1950s he moved his business and aircraft to southern
California
and began to do work for the entertainment business. He also performed in
air shows
around the country.
[1]
Tallmantz Aviation
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]
A
FG-1D Corsair
that was formerly owned by Tallman. He acquired the aircraft in 1959 from the salvage yard of an aluminium smelting company.
[2]
In 1961, Tallman formed Tallmantz Aviation with stunt pilot
Paul Mantz
. Based at Orange County Airport (now
John Wayne Airport
) in southern California, they provided pilots, camera planes, and a small fleet of antique and historic aircraft, along with background models of aircraft and ships, for movie and television productions. Mantz was killed in 1965 while flying a cobbled-together aircraft, the
Tallmantz Phoenix P-1
, designed with the assistance of
Otto Timm
, representing the fictional type built by oil explorers of pieces of their crashed
Fairchild C-82 Packet
downed in the North African desert in
The Flight of the Phoenix
(1965).
Tallman injured his leg in a go-cart accident with his small son in the driveway of their home, which meant Mantz had to fly the Phoenix. Tallman was hospitalized. Infection set in and most of the leg was amputated. Tallman taught himself to fly with one leg, reportedly preferring to fly some planes without the
prosthetic leg
he used for walking. As an
amputee
, he eventually regained his airman
medical certificate
and ratings in propeller multi- and single-engine, jet, and rotary aircraft.
Film credits
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Tallman performed the stunt flying in the 1963 chase movie
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
, including the flight in a
Beechcraft Model 18
through a
Coca-Cola
billboard. He also contributed to
The Carpetbaggers
(1964),
The Wrecking Crew
(1969), and
The Thousand Plane Raid
(also 1969).
He served as the flying supervisor for
Catch-22
in 1970 and was personally involved in locating and acquiring the 18 or so flyable
film unit B-25s
appearing in the film. Tallman flew the dramatic night shots of the
Milo Minderbinder
Air Force
B-25
bombing its own base just over the heads of actors
Jon Voight
and
Martin Sheen
.
In 1971, Tallman flew a
Grumman J2F-6 Duck
amphibian
he restored in
Murphy's War
.
[3]
Also in 1971 Tallmantz Aviation provided the aerial camera footage for an episode of Columbo entitled "Ransom For A Dead Man". In 1973 he flew in
Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
and piloted a
Stearman
cropduster in
Charley Varrick
along with the television pilot films
Death Race
and
San Francisco International Airport
. He was aerial supervisor for
The Great Waldo Pepper
in which he performed barnstorming stunts. When the controls failed in his World War I aircraft replica, the plane went out of control and struck power lines. Tallman suffered a head injury. He also flew in
Lucky Lady
in 1975. Tallman served as aerial coordinator and pilot for the television series
Baa Baa Black Sheep
(1976?1979). He also flew in the six-episode TV series
Spencer's Pilots
,
starring
Gene Evans
, and the television film,
Amelia Earhart
, both in 1976.
In 1973, Tallman recounted his experiences rebuilding and flying vintage aircraft in the book
Flying the Old Planes
.
His last film projects were
The Cat from Outer Space
,
Capricorn One
, and
1941
, all in 1978.
Death
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]
On Saturday 15 April 1978, Tallman was making a routine ferry flight in a twin-engine
Piper Aztec
from
Santa Monica Airport
, California, to
Phoenix, Arizona
under
visual flight rules
when he continued the flight into deteriorating weather, a lowering ceiling and rain. He struck the side of
Santiago Peak
in the
Santa Ana Mountains
near
Trabuco Canyon
at cruising altitude, and died in the ensuing crash.
[4]
Following Tallman's death, his historic collection of movie warplanes and camera planes was sold. Many were purchased by entrepreneur
Kermit Weeks
and went on display at his
Fantasy of Flight
museum in Polk City, Florida. A
Silver Line
ship's model was donated to the
Los Angeles Maritime Museum
.
He was survived by his second wife, "Boots," and children Gail and Frank.
See also
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Notes and references
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External links
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