Ice Pilots, Flying Wild Alaska, and Airplane Repo immediately come to mind, and each has featured general aviation airplanes in a starring role. However, turn the clock back a few years and TV and movie star pilots were nothing new in the post-World War II American landscape. Academy Award winner Jimmy Stewart was a decorated WWII bomber pilot and starred in a series of aviation-themed movies after the war, most notably 1957’s Spirit of St. Louis. 

Meanwhile, on the small screen, the Golden Age of Television was in full swing. Arthur Godfrey, a star of both radio and TV and an accomplished pilot, regularly featured his flying exploits with Eastern Airlines and Captain Eddie Rickenbacker on the radio and later television. And, of course, who can forget Milton Caniff’s comic strip “Steve Canyon,”  the mythical lieutenant colonel  who seemingly flew every aircraft in the Air Force inventory, brought right into your living room by the magic of TV. 

Along with these military-themed shows, over the next few decades several weekly television series leveraged the allure of the small single- and twin-engine planes of the time to create drama, comedy, and hopefully strong ratings. As we will see, some did, and some did not. 

‘Out of a Clear Blue of the Western Sky Comes…SKY KING!’

The first and arguably most successful of these aviation-themed adventures was the weekly series Sky King. 

This adaptation of a 15-minute radio serial featured the adventures of Arizona rancher Schuyler King, a former naval aviator-turned-rancher, and his air racer niece Penny. But the real star of this children’s show was their trusty Cessna Twin, the Songbird, that flew into your living room each week from the Flying Crown Ranch. 

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When most people think of the Songbird, they see the beautiful 1957 Cessna 310B, N5348A. However, this particular airplane was only one of several aircraft used in the filming of the series from its inception in 1951 to its final episode in 1959. 

So, let’s talk about the two Cessnas that proudly carried the Songbird legacy and a few of the extras found hanging around the set. 

The Original Songbird, the Cessna T-50 Bobcat

In fact, the Songbird twin that appeared in the first 39 episodes of Sky King was a Cessna T-50 Bobcat, owned and operated by aviation film legend Paul Mantz. 

The T-50, or “Bamboo Bomber” as it was often called, was produced from 1939-44. To conserve strategic materials for the war effort, the T-50 was constructed of wood, fabric, and steel tubes, hence the nickname. More than 5,000 were built for service with the Army Air Corps and the Royal Canadian Air Force. Bobcats trained pilots, navigators, and bombardiers, as well as performing liaison and passenger-carrying duties. The military designation for this versatile aircraft was the AT-17 or UC-78. The particular aircraft used in the series was originally an Army Air Corps UC-78 purchased as surplus and registered under a civilian type certificate as a T-50, N67832. 

The little Bobcat was the perfect aircraft type to operate out of Sky King’s Flying Crown Ranch. From there, it would land on some backcountry strip or country road to catch the bad guys or rescue Penny from the clutches of some new villain. Its taildragger configuration featured partially retractable landing gear,  a sturdy spruce spar, fixed tailwheel, and a roomy cabin with large windows. The big windows made filming those close-up shots of Sky and Penny much easier. Power was supplied by two 245  hp Jacobs 7-cylinder radials. Sky could count on a cruise speed of around 170 mph, a stall speed of around 65 mph, and for those backcountry emergency takeoffs, a takeoff run of 650 feet. 

Of course, Sky (played by Kirby Grant) and Penny (portrayed as his teenage niece for nine years by Gloria Winters) did not actually fly the Songbird. That chore fell to Mantz and the professional Hollywood pilots he employed. This original Songbird was featured in the first 39 episodes, filmed between ’51 and ’56, and soldiered on in the role until it began to show its age. By then, Cessna had a new twin-engine plane on the horizon it wanted to promote. 

Songbird No. 2, the Cessna 310B 

The Songbird that many of us remember from our childhood was the elegant Cessna 310. However, this was not just any 310. 

Cessna, eager to promote its new twin, loaned the second production Cessna 310B, N5348A, to the production company and provided a company pilot to fly it. This original version of the 310 was unique in many respects. It featured the straight vertical tail common to Cessna singles at the time, two Continental O-470-M engines with large extractor tube exhausts, and two large 51-gallon tip tanks in which all the aircraft fuel was carried.

The theory at the time was that keeping the fuel as far away from the occupants as possible was a good thing. The new 310B cruised at a bit over 200 mph, could range out nearly 900 nm from the Flying Crown, and in its distinctive Songbird paint livery looked the part. This particular 310B was featured in the final 32 episodes of Sky King from 1956-59. Of course, both Songbirds lived on in endless Saturday morning reruns for the next 30 years, many which can still be found on YouTube.  

And the Rest of the Songbirds

First, a word about Hollywood TV production. The Flying Crown Ranch, located in the mythical town of Grover, Arizona, was actually a film location in Apple Valley, California. And the two Songbirds were not the only ones required for filming. Two additional T-50 Bobcats, plentiful in postwar 1950s America, were used for additional scenes inside the cockpit and on the ground. 

Once the 310 became the star of the show, Cessna provided a 310 fuselage section, with the windows removed, for interior filming. When the original Cessna 310 was destroyed in an accident in 1962, a Cessna 310D became the public appearance stand-in for the series, which was still in syndication. If you watch the series, you can see each of these Songbirds at work. 

The good news is that the final Cessna 310D used for publicity photos and personal appearances, a Cessna 310D named Songbird III, is still flying and appears regularly at EAA AirVenture in July at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and airshows around the country.  No worries that Songbird III has a swept tail and an upgraded paint scheme. It keeps the spirit of Sky and Penny alive for a new generation. 

The New Bob Cummings Show

Just as Sky King was wrapping up production, another of Hollywood’s most accomplished pilots, Robert Cummings, combined his vocation, acting, and his avocation, flying, in a TV series. The New Bob Cummings Show featured Cummings’ personal airplanes, including the revolutionary Aerocar I, considered one of the world’s first practical flying cars.

Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1910. Cummingssoloed an airplane in 1927 and was active in the Civil Air Patrol during WWII.

Legend has it that when CFIs were officially licensed, Cummings held flight instructor certificate No. 1. In the 1950s, with his movie career beginning to fade a bit,  Cummings shortened his name to Bob and began a successful career on television. His most successful series, aptly titled The Bob Cummings Show, was on the air from 1954-59 to good reviews.

Returning to the small screen in 1961, his next series, The New Bob Cummings Show, combined his love of aviation with the light comedy roles that had made him famous.  

The Aerocar

The star of the show was none other than Moulton “Molt” Taylor’s unique Aerocar. 

The premise for the series was that Cummings portrayed a professional charter pilot who flew the Aerocar in and out of a series of personal adventures. The Aerocar in question, N102D, was the last Aerocar I of the four manufactured and was Cummings’ personal airplane.

In addition to the four Aerocar I models, an additional Aerocar II and Aerocar III (modified from an Aerocar I) brought the total production to five, or six, depending on how you count. Aerocar N102D is in private hands today and is reputed to be the only one maintained in flying condition. It was most recently on public display at the Kissimmee Air Museum in Florida, until it closed its doors in 2021. However, each of the Aerocars survived, and most are on display at various aviation museums around the country. 

Cummings’ Aerocar I was the only example to feature the more powerful Lycoming O-360, the remainder featuring the O-320, which gave it a little better performance. The transition from airplane to car, and vice versa, is an orderly yet complex one. In the air, the Aerocar features a strutted monoplane wing and pusher propeller driven by a long driveshaft. The Aerocar climbs at 600 feet per minute, cruises at nearly 90 mph, and has a theoretical 12,000-feet service ceiling.

On the road, the 4-cylinder-opposed Lycoming is mated to a three-speed transmission and can propel the little two-seater to 60 mph. However, the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) left much to be desired, both then and now.

The Aerocar featured a compact two-seat cabin and motorcycle fenders. Once on the ground, the wings would fold back against the tail boom, and the propeller shaft disconnected from the rear of the car, the socket being covered by the license plate.

With the wings and tail converted into a roadable trailer, the pilot turned driver could either leave them parked at the airport or trailer them along with the car to the next destination—a handy feature if the ceiling and visibility closed in unexpectedly.  Advertising materials of the time boasted a transition from car to airplane of five minutes. While the transition process is simple, a little more time spent in the transition might provide more  peace of mind.  

Sadly, The New Bob Cummings Show lasted only one season and was canceled in 1962. However, the star of the show was the world’s only certified flying car. Taylor Aerocar advertisements of the period proudly proclaimed, “featured on The New Bob Cummings Show.”   

Wings

Arguably one of the most successful aviation-themed TV series, Wings enjoyed a successful eight-season run from 1990-97. 

The comedy featured actors Tim Daly, Steven Webber, and Crystal Bernard, and was based on a fictional airline, Sandpiper Air, based at the equally fictional Tom Nevers Field on Massachusetts’ Nantucket Island. 

The airline’s single aircraft was a venerable 1981 Cessna 402C, N121PB. Sandpiper Air was loosely based on a series of charter and scheduled airlines using this general aviation workhorse, the most recognizable of which may be Provincetown-Boston Airlines (PBA) and Cape Air. 

The 402 series was designed as an unpressurized, reliable, and relatively inexpensive to purchase and operate light twin. It comes in two flavors, the Utiliner is a more spartan 10-passenger people hauler, and the Businessliner sported a plusher interior more suited to private or corporate ownership. The C model sported two 235 hp Continentals and traded the tip tanks of earlier models for longer wings. More than 1,500 were built from 1966-85. 

The 402 series remains an excellent step-up airplane for multiengine-rated pilots, and when operated single pilot on medium-length legs, it has become a workhorse around the world. A 10-seat cabin mock-up (with the windows removed for filming) provided a roomy setting for some of the most memorable moments of the show.

It was only fitting that the aircraft used in the flying scenes during the show was eventually sold to Cape Air and soldiered on carrying many happy passengers to Nantucket and other East Coast destinations, just the way it had on Wings.  

And Then There Was The Tim Conway Show

Not all TV series featuring likable characters and a classic airplane were created equal. In fact, Wings was not the first show to feature a GA twin serving as a one-horse airline. 

Twenty years before the debut of Wings, multiple Emmy Award winning comedian Tim Conway premiered on what seemed a surefire-hit show centered around two happy-go-lucky pilots making a living flying people and cargo. The Tim Conway Show was the home of Triple A Airlines and featured a single Beechcraft 18, named Lucky Linda. It paired Conway with future McHale’s Navy costar Joe Flynn. 

The comedy was slapstick, and the flying scenes featured frantic takeoffs, bounced landings, and incredibly smoky engine starts thanks to the Twin Beech’s radial engines. While Conway and Flynn went on to greener pastures, blessedly The Tim Conway Show did not. It premiered in January 1970, lasted a scant 13 episodes, and was off the air by the end of June of the same year.  

Flying Wild Alaska

These days, reality TV series feature daring pilots, usually flying well north of the 49th parallel, and serving as the link between civilization and the isolated villages of the north country.

One stands out for its use of an iconic general aviation aircraft. Flying Wild Alaska ran for two seasons (2011-2012) and featured the exploits of the Tweto family, especially Jim Tweto, the chief operating officer of Era Alaska, and his youngest daughter and reality TV series regular, Ariel Tweto. 

The series, set in and around Unalakleet, Alaska, often featured the workhorse of the Era fleet, the Cessna 207 Skywagon, and Jim Tweto’s personal tundra tire/ski-equipped Cessna 185. 

The Skywagon is pretty much a flying SUV. It seats seven and is similar in capability to the Cherokee Six. However, its high-wing configuration allows for greater clearance between snowbanks and on unprepared airstrips.

With fixed landing gear, an immense cargo door, and a stretched nose that contained an additional baggage compartment, the 207 is sort of an ultimate Cessna 172, and well suited for the rugged conditions. Powered by a 300 hp Continental, the production run spanned more than 600 examples. The Cessna 185 remains a backcountry favorite that’s able to get in and out of incredibly short landing strips and sandbars.

As a sad footnote, the aviation community lost Jim Tweto in 2023 in the crash of his beloved Cessna 185. 

So, there you have it. Several TV series attempted to show the drama, excitement, and good humor that each of us has found in GA—some successfully, some not so much. From the many Songbirds, to the unique and wonderful Aerocar, and each of the others, the airplanes played a leading role. In this age of computer-generated imaging (CGI), superheroes, and rom-coms, we will just have to settle for binge watching Ice Pilots. However, if you search on YouTube for 1950s aviation TV, you may hear: “Out of a clear blue of the western sky comes…SKY KING!” 

This feature first appeared in the Summer 2024 Ultimate Issue print edition.

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They adorn the tops of bookcases, and photographs, paintings, and prints are framed on the wall. They range from the Graf Zeppelin to the Zeppelin NT, and  are kitbuilt. So imagine how impressed I was by the scratch-built model of the LZ-130 Graf Zeppelin II hanging from the ceiling of the EAA Aviation Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

The airship, done in 1:36 scale, was crafted by John Mellberg of Menasha, Wisconsin. Mellberg says his interest in aviation began early in life, thanks to his father who built and flew radio-controlled aircraft. Mellberg’s dad spent 17 years building a model of the Spirit of St. Louis, as Charles Lindbergh was one of his heroes. That model, flown 25 times before it was retired, is hanging in the EAA museum near the gift shop.

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Mellberg, who had a career creating models for General Motors, began the zeppelin project by doing research. His fascination was triggered in childhood by a photograph of the Graf Zeppelin II, the sistership to the Hindenburg. He has a fond memory of getting a Hawk Model plastic kit of the D-LZ127 Graf Zeppelin for Christmas in 1955. 

“I promptly built it,” he said.

Among the other airships he has built are a D-LZ127, which sits in a display case at the EAA museum, a tissue/stick model of the LZ126, the ship given to the U.S. Navy as part of reparations from World War I by Germany, and other plastic-kit models of the Goodyear Blimp, the Navy K-Airships, and tabletop models of the two Graf zeppelins, the Hindenburg and the British R-100.

The Graf II

“My model of the D-LZ130 Graf Zeppelin II was built as a flying model, and it is built to a scale of 1:36 because when I was considering its size, I was advised that the model would need at least 150 cubic feet interior volume for helium to provide lift to deem the model airworthy,” Mellberg said. “The 1:36 scale would give me 156 cubic feet of volume and would lift 9-plus pounds of model structure.” The model did not fly beyond being hung from the ceiling of museums.

The model weighs 8.5 pounds. As there was no kit for something that large, Mellberg had to create his own plans, and for that he needed to do research in his spare time.

“I began thinking about the model while working at General Motors Styling in the late 1960s, and I utilized the GM research library over my lunch hour to go through old Scientific American magazine albums to find the many articles they had written about the zeppelins and their technology to gain further insights,” he said. “I started making my 1:36 scale drawings in 1972, based on a ‘side-view’ drawing of the Hindenburg that was in a book I got from Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH that was printed honoring the 50th anniversary of the LZ. The drawing was roughly 6 inches long, and I enlarged it with a drafting divider tool to the 1:36 scale of my planned model.”

Today research is easily done with the click of a mouse and Google search. Back then, it was done by writing letters that could be painfully slow. Mellberg wrote to the LZ requesting drawings. 

“Eventually, they sent me blueprints that were of a larger size that I used to cross-check that which I had already drawn,” he said.

Once he had the drawings, he began building the more detailed and tedious parts of the airship from Vacuform plastic, such as the control car, four engine cars, two landing wheel assemblies, and the 12 gas vent hoods that were atop the hull.

Most of the model is made from balsa wood. If you have ever worked with it, you know that it can be unforgiving—measure twice, and cut once carefully.

The bulk of the build took place in Mellberg’s garage, which was space limited, so he decided to construct the hull in three sections. The model has 48 ring frames for the bulkheads, from nose to tail.

“I also built the 36 longitudinals, which ran through all the bulkheads from nose to tail, and the fabrication of the cruciform tail fins,” he said. “Each section was built on a vertical column/fixture using a cross-hatch scaffold arrangement, which could be removed when each section was completed. Then each section was lifted over and off the column/fixture, and the next section began.”

To facilitate the process, as Mellberg crafted the components, he put them in numbered bags, similar to the way mass-produced kits are done. These were then assembled in half sections where each segment butted up against the next.

“I placed and glued a U-shaped, three-ply aircraft plywood gusset at 1/64-inch thick for reinforcement, and a place for all the longitudinal sticks to fit during the assembly process,” he said, noting that he also drilled out lightening holes with a stainless-steel tube with a knife edge on the drill ends to reduce the weight of the model.

Building the assembly column and fixture jig was no small effort: It consisted of a tower 8 feet tall and took about eight hours to build.

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Like many experimental aircraft builders, Mellberg realized he didn’t have the space to perform the final assembly. Like so many builders, he opted to move the project out to the airport.

“Dick Wagner of Wag-Aero [in Lyons, Wisconsin] offered his hangar for the final assembly,” Mellberg said.

A small army of aircraft modelers were recruited to help with the application of the outer fabric covering and painting.

“The skin is aircraft Dacron that could be ironed on to the balsa skeletal structure, and then stretched tight using a heat gun, and then sprayed with a metallic silver coat of paint,” Mellburg said.

The model was finished in October 1989. In the museum there is a sign thanking all those who helped it along its 17-year journey. Mentioned are the Mellberg family along with Klaus Brink, Eric Brothers, Franklin Buckley, Robert Deschamps, Harold Dick, Chris Fenger, Arthus Forester, Mark Forss, Bill Kerka, Earl Kiernan, Hans Georg Knausel, William  Kramer, Ed Kurek, Daniel Maust, Bauken Noack, Benjamin Page, Vladimir Pavlecka, Bob Petak, Dick Pop, Douglas Robinson, Mike Robson, Admiral C.E. Rosendahl, George Schroeder, Dave Schrubbe, David Smith, Max Spielberg, Joe Stanton, Hendrick Stoops, F.W. Von Meister, Captain Hans Von Schiller, Elisabeth Pletch Von Schiller, Ralph Warner, Bernard Weisbrod, Richard Wagner, and the Wagner Foundation volunteer team,  Bud, Dave, Ernie, and Earl, Bill Walsh, and Hepburn Walker.

Mellberg estimated the model required more than $1,000 in materials but said the cost was not terribly painful because, like the build process, it was spread over 17 years.

In 1989 the model was put on display at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (KMKE)  at the Mitchell Gallery of Flight Museum. In 2019 the Mitchell gallery was relocated to a smaller space. 

“The model was placed in storage, later to be given to the EAA’s Aviation Museum in March of 2020,” Mellberg said.

Bonus Display

The EAA museum hung the Graf airship from the ceiling in the main gallery near other historical aircraft. Along with a 1:36 scale model of a Douglas DC-3 nearby, it represents the beginning of commercial air travel. 

The DC-3 was also used for commercial travel in the 1930s, and sometimes it worked with the airships. 

The model was built out of aluminized paper by Bob Lutz. It wears the livery of American Airlines, which used DC-3s to carry passengers to and from New York City when the Hindenburg, the sister ship to the Graf II, arrived and departed from Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey.

The last trip of the Hindenburg—and its violent demise—put an end to airship travel, and Graf II never saw passenger use. The LZ-130 and  its namesake LZ-127 were both scrapped in 1940, and the zeppelin factory was taken over by the Nazis for the war effort.

The post The Labor of Love That Gave a ‘Graf Zeppelin II’ Model Lift appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Before one gets too far ahead of oneself, however, one must take a step back to evaluate the available options from a higher level. In my case, I had reached a point where I had become deeply entrenched in the intricacies of various types. How much heavier a metalized Cessna 120/140 wing is compared to the original fabric-covered wing, for example (around 50 to 75 pounds), and how much it might cost to replace all the fabric on a Stinson 108 (as much as $45,000 to $50,000 when it’s all said and done).

As I was navigating all the various pitfalls and little-known lore of several types, it occurred to me that perhaps I should first back up and determine whether I preferred tandem seating, in which one occupant sits in front of the other, or side-by-side seating. Similarly, it occurred to me that I hadn’t put much thought into whether I preferred yokes or sticks. I had become buried in specification lists and budget sheets, shopping with my brain and ignoring some of the less tangible preferences that aren’t as easily quantifiable in rows and columns.

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Looking at my list of contenders, they ran the gamut. Some had two seats, one had three, and others had four. Some had sticks, others had yokes. And sure enough, tandem and side-by-side seating were both represented in my list of potential candidates—like the SOCATA Rallye that features side-by-side seating and sticks.

So, pausing my investigation into the minutia of various types, I took a broader look at these more fundamental decisions to be made. I began by considering my experiences flying aircraft with tandem seating configurations. Looking at the list of all the types I’ve ever flown—a list well worth maintaining, perhaps inside the back cover of your logbook—I picked out those with tandem seating and reflected upon my experiences.

From the simple Piper J-3 Cub to the Aeronca Champ to the supremely capable Aviat Husky, I recalled the combination of strengths and weaknesses inherent in that configuration. Each was a relative pain to get into and out of. A lack of flexibility and multiple winter layers could make this a real chore. 

Each provided outstanding visibility, so long as you were seated in the front. I definitely did not enjoy flying from the back seat of the J-3, for example. With another person seated up front, I might as well have been flying the Spirit of St. Louis, with zero forward visibility and an extremely claustrophobic cabin. If I was to pursue a type with this seating, I’d insist upon one that allows solo flight from the front seat.

Among the less-quantifiable benefits to tandem seating was the placement of seats along the fuselage centerline. As a friend of mine once observed, the throttle is in your left hand, the stick in your right, and some point between your eyes is the roll center. You may only have 65 horsepower on tap, but when banking into your turn to final, you might as well be flying your own Mustang or Spitfire.

But thinking back, I never really found the stick to feel as natural as a yoke. This might be the result of the law of primacy, as I’d done all of my primary training in Cessna 152s, but it might also have been a preference for using my left hand to control the aircraft and my right hand to control the throttle. One way to get to the bottom of this was to seek out a type where you manipulate the stick with your left hand and the throttle with your right.

I was fortunate to locate a Piper PA-16 Clipper for rent about an hour away in rural Wisconsin. The Clipper is rare in that it pairs control sticks with side-by-side seating and a single throttle control mounted in the center. The person in the left seat manipulates the stick with their left hand and the throttle with their right.

The Clipper had many admirable qualities. The relatively large ailerons provided a snappy roll rate, and it was fun to fly. But once again, the stick just didn’t feel as natural to me as yokes. This might have been a function of my relatively broad shoulders; my arms and hands naturally fell farther outboard of centerline, farther away from a centrally-mounted stick. 

I left the little FBO nearly $200 poorer, but with some useful insight into the yoke versus stick debate. And by determining that my preference was for yokes, this also meant that, by default, my preference was also for side-by-side seating. While sticks can be found in both tandem and side-by-side cockpits, there are, to my knowledge, no light general aviation types that combine tandem seating with two yokes. The Champion 402 Lancer comes close, with a yoke up front and a stick in back, but as a twin with fixed-pitch props and an inability to maintain altitude on one engine, this type was best forgotten.

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