THE BLUE ANGELS "Walking the Blues" 1961
THE BLUE ANGELS was an American syndicated series about the U.S. Navy's aerial exhibition team. The show follows the four man unit as it goes through training, active service and flying displays. The pilots are played by, Don Gordon, Morgan Jones, Michael Galloway and Warner Jones while their commanding officer is played by Dennis Cross. The series ran for a total of 39 episodes during 1960-61.
This episode is the 16th of the production run.
Pilots, Don Gordon, Michael Galloway and Warner Jones are being sent out on a desert survival course. They are given one canteen of water, a knife, a compass and a revolver. They are dropped in the middle of nowhere, given a compass heading and told to hike it the 50 miles back to civilization.
Matters quickly go sour when one of the men, Jones, twists an ankle. They bind up the ankle as best they can and continue. Then pilot Gordon has the misfortune of tripping over a cactus. This requires more first aid before the group can continue.
The three men come up on an abandoned airfield and assume they are lost as there was no mention of an airfield in the briefing. They look around the tumble down hanger for something useful. What they find is a radio with Eastern Bloc type dials etc. What the hell is that doing out here? Their questions are soon answered when two men with automatics step out of the shadows. The two men, Stewart Bradley and Bobby Hoy, disarm the pilots and begin querying them about how they ended up at the abandoned base. From the foreign accents and the radio the pilots figure they are Soviet spies. Needless to say they clam up and refuse to talk.
The two suspected spy types then work over the three pilots leaving more than a few bruises. The pilots are nearing the end of their tether from heat exhaustion and lack of water. They are tied up and tossed in a corner of the empty hanger.
One of the men manages to get free and jumps one of the spies. There is a quick dust-up with all three pilots piling on. They grab the man's gun and start firing. The weapon though turns out to be loaded with blanks. An U.S. Airforce plane now lands outside and their commanding officer, Dennis Cross exits.
It seems the whole thing was a test by the Air Force to see how the men could withstand torture and enemy questioning. The three pilots are flown back home and debriefed by an Air Force psychologist. The three pilots are not amused with the test, but now understand why it was done.
The episode was written, directed and produced by Sam Gallu.
This was the first episode of the series that I have found. It is an interesting bit of "Red Scare" era television. I still recall as a kid in first and second grade doing the "duck and cover" drills.
Interesting how often Bobby Hoy shows up in various small television and film roles. The stuntman, turned actor had bits in over 200 films and TV episodes. These include bits in, THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY, SPARTACUS, RIVER OF NO RETURN, TO HELL AND BACK, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE MOLE PEOPLE and THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES.
THE BLUE ANGELS was an American syndicated series about the U.S. Navy's aerial exhibition team. The show follows the four man unit as it goes through training, active service and flying displays. The pilots are played by, Don Gordon, Morgan Jones, Michael Galloway and Warner Jones while their commanding officer is played by Dennis Cross. The series ran for a total of 39 episodes during 1960-61.
This episode is the 16th of the production run.
Pilots, Don Gordon, Michael Galloway and Warner Jones are being sent out on a desert survival course. They are given one canteen of water, a knife, a compass and a revolver. They are dropped in the middle of nowhere, given a compass heading and told to hike it the 50 miles back to civilization.
Matters quickly go sour when one of the men, Jones, twists an ankle. They bind up the ankle as best they can and continue. Then pilot Gordon has the misfortune of tripping over a cactus. This requires more first aid before the group can continue.
The three men come up on an abandoned airfield and assume they are lost as there was no mention of an airfield in the briefing. They look around the tumble down hanger for something useful. What they find is a radio with Eastern Bloc type dials etc. What the hell is that doing out here? Their questions are soon answered when two men with automatics step out of the shadows. The two men, Stewart Bradley and Bobby Hoy, disarm the pilots and begin querying them about how they ended up at the abandoned base. From the foreign accents and the radio the pilots figure they are Soviet spies. Needless to say they clam up and refuse to talk.
The two suspected spy types then work over the three pilots leaving more than a few bruises. The pilots are nearing the end of their tether from heat exhaustion and lack of water. They are tied up and tossed in a corner of the empty hanger.
One of the men manages to get free and jumps one of the spies. There is a quick dust-up with all three pilots piling on. They grab the man's gun and start firing. The weapon though turns out to be loaded with blanks. An U.S. Airforce plane now lands outside and their commanding officer, Dennis Cross exits.
It seems the whole thing was a test by the Air Force to see how the men could withstand torture and enemy questioning. The three pilots are flown back home and debriefed by an Air Force psychologist. The three pilots are not amused with the test, but now understand why it was done.
The episode was written, directed and produced by Sam Gallu.
This was the first episode of the series that I have found. It is an interesting bit of "Red Scare" era television. I still recall as a kid in first and second grade doing the "duck and cover" drills.
Interesting how often Bobby Hoy shows up in various small television and film roles. The stuntman, turned actor had bits in over 200 films and TV episodes. These include bits in, THE DEVIL'S DOORWAY, SPARTACUS, RIVER OF NO RETURN, TO HELL AND BACK, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, THE MOLE PEOPLE and THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES.