Hanging from the rafters of the Museum, in the Barnstorming exhibit, is a Standard J-1 airplane that has a famous background. This particular plane, serial #1598, was built in 1917 and purchased as Army surplus in 1920 by B.A. Bower of Knoxville, Tennessee. In August 1955, Mr. Bower sold the plane to Paul Mantz who registered it as an “experimental” plane for use in motion pictures.

Paul Mantz (1903-1965) was an aviator, movie stunt pilot, and air-racing pilot (he won the Bendix Trophy in three consecutive years, 1946-1948). He began his career as a movie stunt pilot in 1931, and through the years, had acquired an enormous fleet of airplanes he would contract to fly in Hollywood movies.

Paul Mantz

#1568 at the Chino Air Show, 1961.

This Standard J-1 airplane (registered in 1955 as N2826D) has appeared notably in two movies. During the latter half of 1962, it was filmed in a scene with Sid Caesar and Edie Adams in the hit comedy movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. Frank Tallman was the pilot. Click here for look at that scene:

The other famous movie the Museum’s Standard J-1 appeared in was The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), starring Jimmy Stewart. Bud Gurney was working on the set as an aerial stunt consultant. He took his first plane ride in April 1922 along with his friend, Charles Lindbergh. Their flight instructor was Otto Timm. Bud later joined a flying circus and barnstormed as a parachutist and aerial performer, while Lindbergh also barnstormed for a while, then flew Air Mail, and later made the first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

#1568 painted up as Lindbergh’s barnstorming plane.

Their friendship and barnstorming days were featured as a scene in the movie, so Lindbergh came out to visit Bud and watch the scenes being shot at Irvine Ranch. Two Standard J-1s from Mantz’s fleet were used, one painted as Lindbergh’s plane and the other as Gurney’s plane. When the filming finished that day, Bud and Charles flew the planes back to their hangars at the Orange County Airport. Bud explained in a letter to the Museum, “We traded ships. . . Lindbergh wanted to avoid any possible photographers who might be waiting there for him. They were there, but I was flying the ‘Daredevil Lindbergh’ airplane. Slim taxied right up to the hangar while they focused their cameras on me. I guess you are safe in saying that Lindbergh flew that ship you have.” Click here for the barnstorming scene from the movie:

When the plane was not “working” in the movies, it was on display at the Tallmantz Aviation Museum located at the Orange County Airport. In 1967, #1598 was sold to the Larsen Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and in 1978 it was sold to the San Diego Air & Space Museum, where it is on display as part of the aircraft collection.

#1598 painted in vintage WWI colors at Tallmantz Aviation Museum, Orange County Airport.

#1598 in flight.