In 1961, Tallman formed Tallmantz Aviation with stunt pilot
Paul Mantz. Based at Orange County Airport (now
John Wayne Airport) in southern California, they provided pilots, camera planes, and a small fleet of antique and historic aircraft, along with background models of aircraft and ships, for movie and television productions. Mantz was killed in 1965 while flying a cobbled-together aircraft, the
Tallmantz Phoenix P-1, designed with the assistance of
Otto Timm, representing the fictional type built by oil explorers of pieces of their crashed
Fairchild C-82 Packet downed in the North African desert in
The Flight of the Phoenix.
Tallman injured his leg in a go-cart accident with his small son in the driveway of their home, which meant Mantz had to fly the Phoenix. Tallman was hospitalized. Infection set in and most of the leg was amputated. Tallman taught himself to fly with one leg, reportedly preferring to fly some planes without the
prosthetic leg he used for walking. As an
amputee, he eventually regained his airman
medical certificate and ratings in propeller multi- and single-engine, jet, and rotary aircraft.