Paul Mantz

[exhaustgases]

Wow ! I was reading that he had bought something like 475 surplus war birds after the war, and kept 12 and sold the rest for scrap. Just wow.

[JohnB]

That's where he got his racing Mustangs and B-25 camera ships.

And by some accounts got most of his money back when it was realized there was still gas in some of them. It was said at the time he had the 9th largest "air force" in the world.

[Craig59]

Yep, great accounting of the episode in his biography, Hollywood Pilot. He even tried to convince one of the major studios to purchase a variety for their own use in films. No such luck!

[JohnB]

To read more about Mantz, I can recommend a chapter in Men of the Contrail Country, an anthology by Ed Mack Miller, a UAL training captain and part time freelance aviation author.

Miller wrote for many periodicals back in the day and was well known. He said Mantz had heard about him but didn't quite believe a senior captain would do freelance writing. At the end of an interview, he asked to see Miller's licence and was impressed that all his ratings were, in fact, real.
Miller said it was the first time anyone asked to see his license.

[sledge39]

.
List of the 475 aircraft

"February 1946 Mantz Purchase of 475 Aircraft (.pdf File)"

http://www.aerovintage.com/mantz_rfc.pdf

[Chris Brame]

Several of the B-17s were combat veterans as well. Per my edited copy of David Osborne's notes:

41-24396 Ass 419BS/301BG Westover 8/7/42; Chelveston 9/8/42 THE RELUCTANT GREMLIN; tran Tafaraoui 26/11/42; Maison Blanche 5/12/42; Biskra 16/12/42; Ain M'Lila 17/1/43; St Donat 6/3/43; Oudna 6/8/43 {52m}; tran 346BS/99BG Tortorella 14/11/43 {28m}; RetUS Rome Fd 28/4/44 w/Maj P. O'Carroll, original pilot who took it home for war bond tour; RFC Searcy Fd 31/7/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. EIGHT BALL.

41-24421 Ass 92BG Bangor 4/7/42; c/l Dow Fd, w/Alvin Podwojski 15/7/42, rep; 341BS/97BG Polebrook 8/42; Maison Blanche 17/11/42; Tafaraoui 22/11/42; Biskra 25/12/42; Chateau-du-Rhumel 8/2/43; Pont-du-Fahs 1/8/43; Depienne 15/8/43; 347BS/99BG Oudna 14/11/43 {16m}; depot 3/44; 483BG Tortorella 31/3/44; RetUS Homestead 24/6/44; RFC Stillwater 4/10/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. WONGO.

41-24577 Ass 358BS/303BG [VK-D] Bangor 14/10/42; Molesworth 16/10/42; in landing accident w/Ira Baldwin 26/4/43; slated to RAF 100 Group, but retained by 803BS ATD (American Training Detachment) before completing 48 missions without an abort or any crewman injured and RetUS Newark 10/2/44 for war bond tour (first a/c to complete 25m in UK). RFC Searcey Fd 7/8/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. HELL'S ANGELS.

41-24605 Ass 359BS/303BG [BN-R] Bangor 22/9/42; Molesworth 22/10/42; First 8AF a/c to complete 50, then 75 missions- 27/3/44. 1 BAD Burtonwood 5/6/44; RFC Searcy Fd 19/7/45, Sold to Paul Mantz, resold for use as gas station display; fuselage later buried as landfill Oklahoma City, OK. KNOCK-OUT DROPPER.

41-24614 Ass 364BS/305BG [JJ-R/A] Bangor 10/9/42; Grafton Underwood 25/10/42; tran 1 BAD Burtonwood 4/5/44; RetUS La Junta 14/6/44; RFC Searcey Fd, 31/7/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. "WE THE PEOPLE".

41-24616 Ass 422BS/305BG [JJ-U/K] Presque 19/10/42; Grafton Underwood 25/10/42; tran 2 SAD Warton 3/12/43; 1 BAD Burtonwood 21/3/44; RetUS Keesler 4/5/44; RFC Stillwater 24/9/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. SAM'S LITTLE HELPER.

42-5264 Del Denver 2/11/42; Saline 15/12/42; Ass 358BS/303BG [VK-J] Molesworth 1/2/43; landing accident w/Bob O’Connor 31/5/43; b/d over Oschersleben 11/1/44 w/John Henderson, cp-Walter Ames, n-Warren Wiggins, b-Woody Monkres, ettg-Stan Moody, ro-Bob King, btg-Ed Ruppel, wg-Bill Simpkins (8RTD); wg-Bob Jeffrey{wia-died base hospital}, tg-Ralph Burkart (2KIA-rocket hit stabiliser); on return aircraft f/l at 2AD Watton, Nfk; RetUS Amarillo 3/4/44; RFC Stillwater 24/9/45. YANKEE DOODLE DANDY. Sold to Paul Mantz.

42-5725 Del Tulsa 6/10/42; Wayne 26/11/42; New Castle 24/12/42; Salina 9/1/43; West Palm Beach 17/1/43; Ass 365BS/305BG [XK-P] Chelveston 1/2/43 FLAPPER; tran 532BS/381BG [VE-C] Ridgewell 22/8/43; RetUS Homestead 13/7/44; Tinker 24/7/44; Patterson 26/8/44; Williams 19/3/45; La Junta 26/3/45; Searcey Fd 31/7/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. THIS IS IT!.

42-5881 Del Long Beach 17/4/43; Smoky Hill 28/4/43; Tinker 6/5/43; Lincoln 18/5/43; Dow Fd 23/5/43; Ass 332BS/94BG [XM-GH] Earls Colne 27/5/43; Rougham 13/6/43; RetUS Grenier 23/12/44; Patterson 16/3/45; RFC Stillwater 4/10/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

42-29632 Del Cheyenne 23/1/43; Salina 5/3/43; Smoky Hill 14/3/43; Nashville 8/4/43; Ass 422BS/305BG [JJ-N] Chelveston 23/6/43; tran 545BS/384BG [JD-K] Grafton Underwood 8/10/43; 2 BAD Lt Staughton 4/4/44; RetUS 7/6/44; Rome 20/8/44; Williams 15/11/44; La Junta 1/4/45; RFC Searcey Fd 4/8/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. CASED ACE.

42-29749 Del Cheyenne 15/2/43; Salina 5/3/43; Ass 511BS/351BG [DS-Y] Polebrook 28/5/43; then 509BS [RQ-Z]; 2 SAD Lt Staughton 5/4/44; {37m} RetUS 7/6/44; Tinker 6/7/44; RFC Stillwater 2/10/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. BELLE OF THE BAYOUS.

42-29795 Del Cheyenne 19/2/43; Will Rogers 5/3/43; Ass 368BS/306BG Thurleigh 20/4/43; tran 427BS/303BG [GN-O] Molesworth 25/9/43; 1 BAD Burtonwood 5/4/44, an F-model fitted with a chin turret; RetUS 29/5/44; RFC Stillwater 4/10/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. THE FLYING BITCH.

42-29837 Del Cheyenne 24/2/43; Gore 9/3/43; Duncan 31/3/43; Ass 324BS/91BG [DF-A] Bassingbourn 7/6/43; trans AFSC 6/4/44 then MTO (Italy & N. Africa); RetUS Tinker 11/6/44; Patterson 23/2/45; RFC Searcey Fd 27/7/45. Sold to Paul Mantz. LADY LUCK.

42-29947 Del Cheyenne 17/3/43; Walla Walla 28/3/43; Smoky Hill 13/4/43; Selfridge 4/5/43; Dow Fd 6/5/43; Ass 100BG Podington 8/5/43; Thorpe Abbotts 9/6/43; tran 322BS/91BG Bassingbourn 6/7/43; {60+m} 303BG (as HQ hack) Molesworth 27/7/43; RetUS Bradley Fd 12/7/45; RFC Cincinnati 16/7/45. (Searcy Fd?) Sold to Paul Mantz. WABASH CANNONBALL.

42-29975 Del Cheyenne 23/3/43; Smoky Hill 3/4/43; Memphis 12/4/43; Dow Fd 16/4/43; Ass 337BS/96BG Grafton Underwood 21/4/43 RUM BOOGIE 3rd; Andrews Fd 13/5/43; Snetterton 12/6/43; tran 326BS/92BG [JW-F] Alconbury 23/7/43; 1 BAD Burtonwood 13/6/44; RetUS Homestead 26/7/44; Tinker 6/8/44; RFC Stillwater 4/10/45. Sold to Paul Mantz.

[exhaustgases]

Yeah what a waste of aircraft. I'd like to know what a B17 would bring in for scrap in those days? I wonder if he ever kicked himself for that? I'm guessing some of the scrap dealers didn't scrap them all? Many times with a full vehicle of any sort it and or the parts have many times the value that the total scrap value. I need a time machine.

[old iron]

These early collectors with real vision, which would include Garber, Mantz, Maloney, Tallichet, Reinert had a smorgasbord of aircraft in front of them, with few resources. They had to pick-and-choose. No doubt the money Mantz received from the scrappers subsidized some of what was retained.

It is easy for us now to lament that this combat veteran or that early- or now-rare type was not preserved, but it is amazing what actually did survive in the US and nowhere else. These men were true visionaries, even if their perspective was different from ours. At that time, Mantz and others likely placed more value on aircraft that could easily be made airworthy and so the more war-worn aircraft were given up. Combat veterans were then common, and I am sure Mantz was later incredulous even in his own lifetime that these would become so rare.

For Paul Garber and the staff that supported the National Air Museum collections, there was not yet a good historical perspective, so emphasis was often on the late-war types (Do.335, Ar.234, Ju.388) to include aircraft of historically mundane histories (Bv.155, Ba.349, Ho.229), while more significant types (Me.110, Ju.87, Ju.88) were lost. For the Japanese aircraft, even less general knowledge was available, and nearly all the more significant types (Kate, Val, Betty, Tojo) are now only preserved as fragments.

It is easy in hindsight to lament some of these decisions, but even if a time machine could take us back so that we could have personally engaged in those discussions, the results may not have been much different. More modern technologies and aircraft in better condition that could be more easily flown or displayed would still have won out. They did not have a lot of resources and needed to justify their accessions to management and sponsors, and some old war-beaten crate did not mean much at the time.