LAST EDITED ON Dec-13-04 AT 08:28 PM (CST) Hi Bill,
I used to eat my lunch sitting on the wing of NX1204 at Tallmantz when I pumped gas there in high school and college. She was old and corroded but I still liked it.
Here is a bit of info on the airplane;
NX 1204 was bought at the same time as NX 1202 and they were flown to Glendale and modified to wet wing racers for the Bendix Trophy race. Neither airplane was ever flown in the Thompson.
NX1202 #46 was flown by Mantz to victory in 1946 and 1947. NX1202 was painted red with white stripe and numbers as most people are familiar. At that time NX 1204 #60 was painted with a red wing but a natural metal fuse and tail. In 47 it was a red wing and a GULP yellow fuse and tail!
The 1948 race saw Mantz sponsored by Glen McCarthy and Paul switched airplanes to NX1204. They were both painted grey with green markings with black pin stripes. The airplanes were named after McCarthy's hotels and the team was made up of Mantz' NX1204 was # 46 now, "The Latin American", NX1202 was #60 now , "The Houstonian" and Eddie Lunkun in his modified P-51D #33 was the "Texan".
In 1949 NX1204 was flown by Stan Reaver and NX1202 flown by Fish Salmon. The red and white scheme was back in 1949 and was the most like the finish on NX1204 as seen at the Tallmantz Museum.
After the races NX 1204 was relegated to old airplane and was flown from Cleveland to Glendale and eventually to Orange County. It was a billboard for the museum and sat outside for years. It got very corroded and was in poor shape.
Charles Blair bought NX 1202 in 1950 and flew his Polar and Atlantic flights, retiring it and presenting it to the Smithsonian.
In 1980 or so, my one time bosses "Boots" Tallman, Frank's widow and Frank Pine, Frank's partner, sold off the Tallmantz Movieland of the Air Collection to Kermit Weeks and NX1204 went to Art Teeters for restoration to military stock. By contrast the Smithsonian curator Robert Mikesh tried to restore NX 1202 to as near perfect specs as flown over the North Pole and Atlantic. Therefor NX 1202 will be most like the Bendix racer.
Both airplanes were Dallas C models and came with dorsal fins. Kermit made his look like a B and has the current military paint job.
The books to have for photos of these airplanes are the late Birch Matthews' "Mustang, The Racing Thoroughbred" and "Wet Wings and Drop Tanks". They have a lot of good pics and color galleries. Plus Birch was a real enthusiast and raceplane lover. They are good books for research and the stories.
Study the pictures of the airplanes in the years of racing and notice all the variations. Pick one you like and make a cool looking model.
Chris...
Picture is of Dad at the Tallmantz auction to settle Paul Mantz' estate, 1968.
Steve
