The Flight of the Phoenix

DVD cover

Movie (1965)

Starring:
James Stewart (Frank Towns)
Richard Attenborough (Lew Moran)
Peter Finch (Captain Harris)
Hardy Krüger (Heinrich Dorfmann)
Ernest Borgnine (Trucker Cobb)
George Kennedy (Bellamy)

A twin-engined C-82 Packet cargo plane flying from Jaghbub to Benghazi in Libya, encounters difficulties in the Sahara desert when a sandstorm destroys the right engine and threatens the left one, forcing a crash landing.

With no functioning radio to call for help, the survivor's chances of being rescued are slim because the storm has blown them too far off course. Meanwhile a passenger on the aircraft, an engineer, has the idea to build a new aircraft from the wreckage using the remaining servicable engine, tail section and wings.

Fairchild C-82A Packet

The C-82A Packet used for the flying scenes was in the livery of the ficticous "ArabCo" oil company but carried no visible aircraft registration numbers

The actual aircraft 'N6887C' was supplied by Steward-Davies Inc. Long Beach, California

A sandstorm is reponsible for the failure of one engine.

Tallmantz Phoenix P-1

The flying Phoenix aircraft constructed by Tallmantz and registered 'N93082'

A famous racing/stunt/movie pilot and collector of warplanes, Paul Mantz piloted the Tallmantz Phoenix P-1 during the initial flying scene, as the machine that was "made of the wreckage".

The non-flying Phoenix, made from part of a Fairchild R4Q-1 Flying Boxcar, and used for ground scenes

North American O-47A

A disguised North American O-47A was used to depict the Phoenix for the later flying scenes. The actual aircraft's retractacted undercarrage is just visible on the underside of the wings.

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See also

• The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) at IMDb
• The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) at Wikipedia