05/31/2009. Remarks by Johan Visschedijk: "Produced by North American at Inglewood, California as a B-25H, this aircraft was delivered to the USAAF in March 1944, s/n 43-4643. Subsequently it was converted into a TB-25H trainer, but declared surplus in October 1945. It was sold to Paul Mantz on May 28, 1946, registered NX1203 and was gradually converted into a cinema camera ship, that was usually flown by Mantz. By the time the picture was taken, Mantz had flown the aircraft to over 100 nations, as shown by the country flags.

Mantz and camera pilot Frank Tallman merged their companies into Tallmantz Aviation Inc. in November 1961. Flying the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 for shots for thefeature "The Flight of the Phoenix" on July 8, 1965, Mantz was killed when the Phoenix crash-landed. His B-25 soldiered on with Tallmantz for another decade, to be sold in July 1975, after being fitted with a B-25J nose. Being resold a number of times the aircraft disappeared in 1976 and its fate is unknown."

Read the remarks on page 9497.