Sky King!

VWGhiaBob

VWGhiaBob

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VWGhiaBob
Anyone else old enough to remember the TV series Sky King (I'm ALMOST old enough)? It's about a sheriff who flies a twin (Beechcraft????) to catch the bad guys.

I got a DVD pack as a gift, and what a hoot! The first episode had an engine out sequence (not a special effect!) and a landing in a lake bed. How cool is that? It's amazing to see the old black and white digitally-restored (but still mediocre quality) plane shots. Looks like it was filmed near Palm Springs....not sure.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=sky king
 
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VWGhiaBob said:
Anyone else old enough to remember the TV series Sky King (I'm ALMOST old enough)? It's about a sheriff who flies a twin (Beechcraft????) to catch the bad guys.

I got a DVD pack as a gift, and what a hoot! The first episode had an engine out sequence (not a special effect!) and a landing in a lake bed. How cool is that? The acting is pretty bad, but it's amazing to see the old black and white digitally-restored (but still mediocre quality) plane shots. Looks like it was filmed near Palm Springs....not sure.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=sky king
Click to expand...

"Songbird" was a Cessna 310. Ted would go crazy if he read Skyking flew a Beechcraft.:)
 
I loved Sky King! Thanks for bringing back the memory.
 
Watched it religiously as a kid. Maybe that's why I'm a pilot today.
 
DrMack said:
Watched it religiously as a kid. Maybe that's why I'm a pilot today.
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For me, no "maybe" about it.

Indeed, it was my wife tiring of me saying that I've wanted to fly ever since seeing Sky King that led her to buy me a set of 3 flying lessons for my birthday 24 years ago, so I could "get it out of my system."
 
I was thinkin that the twin in Sky King was a T-50.
 

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I love that show.

But what are we subjected to now? I was watching some airplane repo show the other day, and the repo man got into the plane (either a bus jet or a large twin, I forgot) only to find that the avionics were missing. He checked the avionics logs, which oddly were being carried in the plane, and found that an on-the-field avionics shop had pulled the avionics. Repo guy goes to the avionics shop, and tells avionics guy that he committed a felony for pulling them out.

So repo guy just HAS to get the plane moved that night, so he is willing to risk life and limb by flying without avionics, but fortunately he brought his handy pocket Garmin Nuvi-like automotive GPS in order to navigate to the other airport, even though it just has roads on the map.

Seriously? Was this filmed before the iPad and ForeFlight was invented? Is that what it takes to suck in the ignorant TV consumer?

My IQ took a double digit hit just for watching that stupid show.

I'd love to see something like Sky King again.
 
Definitely a Cessna 310...has the nose wheel ALL the way forward and the wing tip tanks. T-50's a tail dragger, no? Maybe earlier versions of the show had a different plane?
 
N747JB said:
It was originally a T-50, then a 310! Or so I'm told, I'm too young to remember it on TV.:D not by much.;)
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Yep. Started with a Bamboo Bomber and switched to a 310 (one of several IIRC) part way through the series. And yes I'm old enough to have watched the original series and young enough to still remember it. I don't recall that Sky was a Sheriff though, I thought he was a rancher and the Sheriff was his friend. I remember one episode where he dropped some big rocks on a bad guy who was in a small boat, sinking the boat. In another he chewed out Penny (his niece who was a primary character in the series) for starting an engine and using the propwash to dry her hair (seems like that would make a mess of the hair).
 
Lance, probably right about the Sheriff part. I've only watched 1 episode so far, and probably got it wrong. That and the Beechcraft. Argghhh!!!!
 
VWGhiaBob said:
Anyone else old enough to remember the TV series Sky King (I'm ALMOST old enough)? It's about a sheriff who flies a twin (Beechcraft????) to catch the bad guys.

I got a DVD pack as a gift, and what a hoot! The first episode had an engine out sequence (not a special effect!) and a landing in a lake bed. How cool is that? It's amazing to see the old black and white digitally-restored (but still mediocre quality) plane shots. Looks like it was filmed near Palm Springs....not sure.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=sky king
Click to expand...

He wasn't a sheriff, just a rancher.
You can still watch it if you do Netflix. They have it on DVD. :D
 
I wasn't going to brag, but WTH:
Not only am I old enough to remember Sky King (I watched EVERY episode as a kid), In 1965 met Kirby Grant, and I was kissed by Penny.
Gloria Winters was more beautiful in person than she was on TV! Kirby Grant was a real gentleman.
 
American Flyers used to have all the episodes on their website but no longer. Guess the copyright cops caught up with them. However, "somebody" did download them all when they were still up.
 
Out of the clear blue of the western sky... Saw every episode. Yes, I think he flew a Cessna T 50 to start then a 310 B. Was not the sheriff, just a rancher. If I recall correctly the radio program ended around 1954 and TV started around the same time. Long, long time ago.
 
Does anybody remember an episode that included a T/W Bellanca?
 
How about penny she was a major character in the series show started with a t50 then upgraded to a 310
 
When we bought a TV in 1952, it came with a Sky King ranch -- cardboard cuts-outs, but extremely elaborate with the characters, ranch house, barn, fences, airplane, horses, etc. But we were so far away from any big city we could only get one station (those were the days), and that station didn't carry Sky King.

The Sky King ranch did not come with an explanation of who or what the show was about, so it wasn't until the episodes were (briefly) posted on the Internet that I learned all about it -- saw a bunch of episodes before it was taken down.

Some of the episodes are available on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0KEblrgf0g
 
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gismo said:
Yep. Started with a Bamboo Bomber and switched to a 310 (one of several IIRC) part way through the series. And yes I'm old enough to have watched the original series and young enough to still remember it. I don't recall that Sky was a Sheriff though, I thought he was a rancher and the Sheriff was his friend. I remember one episode where he dropped some big rocks on a bad guy who was in a small boat, sinking the boat. In another he chewed out Penny (his niece who was a primary character in the series) for starting an engine and using the propwash to dry her hair (seems like that would make a mess of the hair).
Click to expand...

Watched it religiously every Saturday morning....hooked me on flying as a little kid. Thanks, Sky King!
 
I'm old enough to remember the series, but there was no TV at our house and I worked every Saturday anyway.
 
We have a few of the episodes and love watching them, but I haven't been able to bring myself to paying $250+ for the whole series. Maybe one day...

And yes, he started with a T-50 and then moved up to the 310. Penny was also a pilot, and there were a bunch of other planes featured in the series. It's a great show to watch.

One of the twin Cessna members was a personal friend of Kirby Grant's and flew him around some (in a 310) in his later years.
 
Pilawt said:
There was also a nephew named "Clipper" in a few episodes. He flew a C-170.
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I also remember one episode when he was flying the T-50.
 
Sure I'm old enough, but it wasn't a twin Beech, it was a Cessna 310 he named Songbird and his nieces name was Penny. In very early episodes, he flew a Bamboo Bomber.

At the age of five or six, in about 1954 or 1955, I sent off cereal box tops and received in the mail a rubber stamp with my name and address and the logo of the Sky King Ranch or something like that. I sure wish I still had it.
 
I think I recall penny flying a 182 in the series a few times.could be mistaken.
 
There were three Songbirds all Cessnas, a T-50, a 310B and lastly a 310D.
 
I remember the episode where they needed something one of the villans was carrying in his shirt pocket. They planned a scheme to do a negative G pushover so the paper they needed would float out of the bad guys pocket and I thing Penny could grab it.

Loved that show!!!!! Then there was 12 O'clock high.
 
tmyers said:
I remember the episode where they needed something one of the villans was carrying in his shirt pocket. They planned a scheme to do a negative G pushover so the paper they needed would float out of the bad guys pocket and I thing Penny could grab it.
Click to expand...
For a small, 1 sheriff town, they seem to have a lot of crime in that show :D
 
My favorite episode was then Sky heard the songbird start up and when he ran to see what was up, Penny had started the engines and was using the prop wash to dry her hair :)
 
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