Warbird Information Exchange

Hello to all,
I have been an avid warbird freak since I was a kid in the early 1970's.In those days,Air Classics magazine was THE source for warbird info{it was in my opinion a much better and more informative mag in those days but thats just my opinion)There have been a number of articles over the years that have stood out in my memory for one reason or another and I will ask you guys for info if you have it.The first one I want to know about concerns the story surrounding the buildup and then flying and filming of the B-25 fleet for the film"Catch-22".It told the story of how Frank Tallman and co.scoured all over the U.S. to find,Purchase and make flyable all of the B-25s used in the movie.They scrounged up exec transport conversions,bug sprayers,abandoned derelicts and any other airframes they could find.They then resurrected them to flyable(semi-flyable)status and then flew them to a dirt airfield in Mexico.It is an amazing story that I still find hard to believe.One result of this effort is that most flying B-25s today exist because of this endevour,do they not?From what I understand ,A very large amount of film was used during filming but only a very small fraction of this footage actually made it to the big screen.What ever became of this unused film?Tora Tora Tora was another film of that era that used a large amount of actual aircraft and you see the footage being recycled in numerous other war films(Midway, for instance)I dont remember any other usage of Catch-22 footage,do you?I would sure like to see this footage if it still exists.anyone know if it does exist? just wonderin Thanks, Tim..

All of them were flyable or they couldn't have flown to Mexico. All of them flew back except the one that was destroyed on site. The runway was 6000x200 and paved.

See December 1972 Air Classics "Frank Tallman and the Filming of Catch-22" by James Farmer and September 1980 Air Classics "Hollywood Mitchells" by yours truly. Also a good bit about the filming of the movie in the book "B-25 Mitchell in Civl Service" with the assist of Stoney (see above).

Dear Mr.Stoney,
What I meant by "semi flyable"was in reference to the patched together condition of some of the aircraft.also 1972 was quite a long time ago so I guess that I was wrong about the fields condition.it sounds like you know quite a bit about the catch 22 filming ,going by Mr.Aerovins post.Did you have some thing to do with the filming or flying?It was quite an impressive achievement .do you know anything about the plane that was flown into the female dummy on the floating platform and then jammed the controls,i.e what kind of plane,pilot,outcome?thanks for your answer to my post.
...........................Tim...............................................................
p.s.my name didnt appear on my original post because I got booted offline
mid-post and my name was erased when i came back online..oops!

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

I was one of 17 co-pilots. The dummy was a male, the plane was an L-5, the pilot was Frank Tallman and the elevator controls were jammed by a hand off the dummy. Frank got back on the ground in one piece.

Dear Stoney,
Wow! I am honored to be communicating with someone who was there.It must have been one hell of an adventure!.I was 11 yrs old in 1972 and was totally captivated by the story.Once again my memory is a little off , I could have sworn the dummy was said to be female,oh well.If you dont mind me asking,how were you connected to Mr.Tallman?I read all that I could find about Frank Tallman after reading about the "catch-22" airforce.I learned about his relationship with the Great Paul Mantz and Tallmantz aviation,then I saw his performance flying his Grumman Duck at the Mojave air races in 1974,all I could say was WOW! He became and remains one of my heros.(I have talked to some who had nothing nice to say about him)Have you ever written about your experiences relating to Catch -22?If not maybe, you shouldIf you have,where can I find it? Tim

_________________
"WHAT ME WORRY?"

Yes, yes!! Stories please! I, too, was 11 in '72 and was hooked for life during the mass take-off scene. I'd love to hear more about the experience of working with that many warbirds in what had to have been one incredible setting.

Hope you don't mind our tugging at your shirt-tail, but that film (and Battle of Britain) set my course as a Warbird enthusiast very early on.

_________________
It's still the same old story : The 'Eighth' gets all the glory : And yet someone must die : The odds are always too d@mned high : As flak goes by...

I wrote years ago for EAA Warbirds magazine, I'll see if I can find it.

That same L-5 won best Liason at Oshkosh a couple of years ago and is an absolutely gorgeious restoration by Tab-Air

Stoney,

Do you have any photos of the location filming? Any with the L-5, even in the background?