Sky King
Encyclopedia
Sky King is a 1940s and 1950s American radio
and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona
rancher and aircraft
pilot
Schuyler (or Skyler) "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life person, Jack Cones, the Flying Constable
of Twentynine Palms during the 1930s.
Although it had strong cowboy
show elements, King always captured criminals and even spies and found lost hikers using his plane.
King's personal plane was called the Songbird. Though he changed from one plane to another over the course of the series, the later plane was not given a number (i.e., Songbird II), but was simply known as Songbird.
He and his niece, Penny (and sometimes Clipper, his nephew) lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the (fictitious) town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, who Sky trusted to fly the Songbird.
The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert
.
, first aired in 1946. Several actors played the part of Sky, including Earl Nightingale
and John Reed King
.
Like many radio shows of the day there were many "radio premiums
" offered to listeners. On November 2, 1947 in the episode titled "Mountain Detour" the Sky King Secret Signalscope was used. Listeners were advised to get their own for only 15 cents and the inner seal from a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter (produced by sponsor Derby Foods). The Signalscope included a glow-in-the-dark signaling device, whistle, magnifying glass and Sky King's private code. With the Signalscope you could also see around corners and trees. The premiums were innovative, such as the Sky King Spy-Detecto Writer, which had a "decoder" (cipher disk
), magnifying glass, measuring scale, and printing mechanism in a single package slightly over 2 inches long. Other notable premiums included the Magni-Glo Writing Ring, which had a luminous element, a secret compartment, a magnifier, and a ballpoint pen all in the crownpiece of a "fits any finger" ring.
The radio show ran until 1954, being aired simultaneously with the television version.
as Sky King and Gloria Winters
as his teen-aged niece Penny. Other regular characters included his nephew Clipper, played by Ron Hagerthy
, and Mitch the sheriff, played by Ewing Mitchell. Unlike many "lawman-acquaintance" characters on other shows, Mitch was competent, intelligent and skilled. He was always coming to Sky for help, due to friendship and recognizing the utility of Sky's flying skills. Other recurring characters included Jim Bell, the ranch foreman, played by Chubby Johnson
as well as Sheriff Hollister played by Monte Blue
and Bob Carey played by Norman Ollestad.
Many of the storylines would parallel those used in such dramatic potboilers as Adventures of Superman
with the supporting cast repeatedly finding themselves in near death situations and the hero rescuing them with seconds to spare. Penny was particularly adroit at falling into the hands of spies, bank robbers (the best place to hide stolen loot was apparently in the Arizona desert) and other n'er-do-wells.
Like most television cowboy heroes of the time, Sky never killed the villains, even though one episode had him shooting a machine gun into his own stolen plane.
Largely a show for children, although it sometimes aired in primetime, Sky King became an icon in the aviation community. Many pilots, including American astronauts, who grew up watching Sky King name him as an influence.
Though plot lines were often simplistic, Grant was able to bring a casual, natural treatment of technical details which led to a level of believability not found in other television series involving aviation or life in the American West. Likewise, villains and other characters were usually shown as intelligent and believable, rather than as two-dimensional. The writing was generally well above the standard for contemporary half-hour programs, though sometimes the acting was not.
The later episodes of the television show were notable for the dramatic opening with an air-to-air shot of the sleek, second Songbird banking sharply away from the camera and its engines roaring, while the announcer proclaimed "Out of the blue of the Western sky comes — Sky King!" The short credit roll which followed was equally dramatic, with the Songbird swooping at the camera across El Mirage Dry Lake, California, then pulling up into a steep climb as it went away. The end title featured a musical theme, with the credits superimposed over an air-to-air shot of the Songbird, cruising at altitude for several moments then banking to the left and turning away (similar to the opening shot).
The show also featured low-level flying, especially with the later Songbird. Many shots showed the Cessna "down amongst the rocks and the trees", a way to show the speed of the plane as the desert flashed by in the background.
between September 16, 1951, and October 26, 1952. These episodes were rebroadcast on ABC's
Saturday morning lineup the following year November 8, 1952, until September 21, 1953, when it made its prime-time debut on ABC's Monday night lineup. It then aired twice-a-week in August and September 1954, before ABC canceled it. New episodes were produced when the show went into syndication in 1955. The last new episode, "Mickey's Birthday", aired March 8, 1959. After that, the show turned up on the Saturday schedule, in reruns that played for several years.
began airing reruns of the show on early Saturday afternoons (at 12 pm Eastern/Pacific times; late Saturday mornings at 11 am Central/Mountain times) on October 3, 1959, and continued to do so until September 3, 1966.
All 72 episodes of the series have been released on DVD in North America.
and flown by employees of his Paul Mantz Aerial Services for filming of the flying sequences. At least two other T-50s are known to have been used for on-ground and in-the-cockpit scenes.
The best-known Songbird was a twin-engine Cessna 310
B. The airplane used was the second production 310B (N5348A), which was provided by Cessna at no cost to the producers and piloted by Cessna's national sales manager for the 310, Bill Fergusson. Fergusson got the job after the motion picture pilot already selected was deemed unqualified to land the airplane at some of the off-airport sites required. Some months after a library of stock footage had been compiled, additional sequences were filmed using a different airplane. The original 310B was eventually destroyed in a 1962 crash at Delano, California, that killed its owner-pilot. Cockpit sequences were filmed using the static test fuselage, also provided by Cessna.
A byproduct of the use of the Cessna 310 as Sky King's Songbird was the name becoming attached to the 310 series. Cessna has never given the 310 a type name (though most Cessnas are given such names, e.g., the Cessna 180 "Skywagon"), but because of their use in Sky King, 310s have become known as "Songbirds" within the aviation community.
A unique introduction featured the triangular Nabisco logo flying across the screen, accompanied by the sound of the Songbird flying past. Nabisco included plastic figures of characters from the show and the Songbird in packages of Wheat Honeys and Rice Honeys breakfast cereal
s.
Though set in Arizona, the series was filmed in the high desert of California. The ranch house used for exterior shots of the Flying Crown Ranch is an actual home in Apple Valley, California
, although it has been extensively remodeled since its use as headquarters of the "Flying Crown Ranch." Other locations were shot in and around Apple Valley and the nearby San Bernardino Mountains
, George Air Force Base
and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
. Interior filming was done at the General Service studio.
While expensive for a kids' show, most of the budget went into aircraft, vehicles and sets. This meant that some standard production methods had to be abandoned, giving the series a more realistic look. For instance, in some shots, pilot Bill Fergusson actually did taxi the 310B rather than the more common (but time-consuming, thus costly) method of simulating movement by towing or dolly shots.
The budget issue also forced the frequent reuse of stock footage, sometimes flipped over to show planes banking the opposite direction, thus sometimes letters and numbers were seen in mirror-image.
The black-and-white film masked the actual paint scheme of the Cessna 310B, which was done in a rich multi-color pattern of Coronado Yellow, Sierra Gold and White, with a gold interior.
The show was filmed and shown during three periods as sponsors changed: 1951-52 (Derby Foods), 1955–56 and 1957-62 (Nabisco, though the copyright notices continued to name Derby Foods). It continued in syndication for years afterward, and was a staple on Saturday morning television into the mid-1960s.
Nabisco sold rights to the series to Grant in 1959. In later years, Grant considered bringing back the series and even a "Sky King" theme park, but nothing ever happened on either of these projects. At least one writer has boilerplated
a "Sky King" film, but none has been produced.
.
The Cessna T-50 used in the first episodes of the series was provided by Paul Mantz
Air Services and flown by several pilots, and the Cessna 310B used in later episodes was provided at no cost by Cessna and flown by Cessna employee Bill Fergusson. In the article "310 B Goes To Hollywood", Mr. Bill Fergusson from the Cessna Corp. recalls how Kirby Grant flew the 310B like a real pro in no time. Thus, he was referring to the transition from the T-50 to the 310 B. The newspaper article can be found at Kae Vee's Place.
Numerous references to Grant's flying skills came from co-workers, personal friends, and historian Kent Volgamore, who wrote the book for the Sky King DVDs. Volgamore clearly states Grant was a pilot, and started his flying career in a Waco 1929.
Airport Journals January 2006 interview with Gloria Winters. Winters stated that both Grant and her late husband were pilots. She stated twice in the interview that Kirby Grant was a pilot and that her husband was a crop duster.
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
and television adventure series. The title character is Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
rancher and aircraft
Fixed-wing aircraft
A fixed-wing aircraft is an aircraft capable of flight using wings that generate lift due to the vehicle's forward airspeed. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft in which wings rotate about a fixed mast and ornithopters in which lift is generated by flapping wings.A powered...
pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
Schuyler (or Skyler) "Sky" King. The series was likely based on a true-life person, Jack Cones, the Flying Constable
Constable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
of Twentynine Palms during the 1930s.
Although it had strong cowboy
Cowboy
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of...
show elements, King always captured criminals and even spies and found lost hikers using his plane.
King's personal plane was called the Songbird. Though he changed from one plane to another over the course of the series, the later plane was not given a number (i.e., Songbird II), but was simply known as Songbird.
He and his niece, Penny (and sometimes Clipper, his nephew) lived on the Flying Crown Ranch, near the (fictitious) town of Grover, Arizona. Penny and Clipper were also pilots, though still relatively inexperienced and looking to their uncle for guidance and mentoring. Penny was an accomplished air racer and rated multi-engine pilot, who Sky trusted to fly the Songbird.
The musical score was largely the work of Herschel Burke Gilbert
Herschel Burke Gilbert
Herschel Burke Gilbert was a prolific orchestrator, musical supervisor and composer of film scores as well as television scores and theme songs, including the themes for The Rifleman , Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater and The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor...
.
Radio
The radio show, based on a radio story by Roy Winsor, was the brainchild of Robert Morris Burtt and Wilfred Gibbs Moore, who also created Captain MidnightCaptain Midnight
Captain Midnight is a U.S. adventure franchise first broadcast as a radio serial from 1938 to 1949. Sponsored by the Skelly Oil Company, the radio program was the creation of radio scripters Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M...
, first aired in 1946. Several actors played the part of Sky, including Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale
Earl Nightingale was an American motivational speaker and author, known as the "Dean of Personal Development." He was the voice in the early 1950s of Sky King, the hero of a radio adventure series, and was a WGN radio show host from 1950 to 1956...
and John Reed King
John Reed King
John Reed King was a famous radio and television game show host who hosted numerous game shows during the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s....
.
Like many radio shows of the day there were many "radio premiums
Radio Premiums
During the time that radio programs were the dominant medium in the United States, some programs advertised "souvenirs" of the various shows, which were sometimes called radio premiums...
" offered to listeners. On November 2, 1947 in the episode titled "Mountain Detour" the Sky King Secret Signalscope was used. Listeners were advised to get their own for only 15 cents and the inner seal from a jar of Peter Pan Peanut Butter (produced by sponsor Derby Foods). The Signalscope included a glow-in-the-dark signaling device, whistle, magnifying glass and Sky King's private code. With the Signalscope you could also see around corners and trees. The premiums were innovative, such as the Sky King Spy-Detecto Writer, which had a "decoder" (cipher disk
Cipher disk
A cipher disk is an enciphering and deciphering tool developed in 1470 by the Italian architect and author Leon Battista Alberti. He constructed a device, consisting of two concentric circular plates mounted one on top of the other...
), magnifying glass, measuring scale, and printing mechanism in a single package slightly over 2 inches long. Other notable premiums included the Magni-Glo Writing Ring, which had a luminous element, a secret compartment, a magnifier, and a ballpoint pen all in the crownpiece of a "fits any finger" ring.
The radio show ran until 1954, being aired simultaneously with the television version.
Television
The television version stars Kirby GrantKirby Grant
Kirby Grant, , was a long-time B movie and television actor. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King....
as Sky King and Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters
Gloria Winters was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s-1960s American television series Sky King.-Early life and career:Gloria Winters grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, but later moved to Hollywood...
as his teen-aged niece Penny. Other regular characters included his nephew Clipper, played by Ron Hagerthy
Ron Hagerthy
Ronald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
, and Mitch the sheriff, played by Ewing Mitchell. Unlike many "lawman-acquaintance" characters on other shows, Mitch was competent, intelligent and skilled. He was always coming to Sky for help, due to friendship and recognizing the utility of Sky's flying skills. Other recurring characters included Jim Bell, the ranch foreman, played by Chubby Johnson
Chubby Johnson
Chubby Johnson was an American movie and television supporting character actor with a genial demeanor and warm country-accented voice perfect for westerns...
as well as Sheriff Hollister played by Monte Blue
Monte Blue
Monte Blue was a movie actor who began his career as a romantic leading man in the silent film era, and later progressed to character roles....
and Bob Carey played by Norman Ollestad.
Many of the storylines would parallel those used in such dramatic potboilers as Adventures of Superman
Adventures of Superman (TV series)
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts created in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The show is the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California...
with the supporting cast repeatedly finding themselves in near death situations and the hero rescuing them with seconds to spare. Penny was particularly adroit at falling into the hands of spies, bank robbers (the best place to hide stolen loot was apparently in the Arizona desert) and other n'er-do-wells.
Like most television cowboy heroes of the time, Sky never killed the villains, even though one episode had him shooting a machine gun into his own stolen plane.
Largely a show for children, although it sometimes aired in primetime, Sky King became an icon in the aviation community. Many pilots, including American astronauts, who grew up watching Sky King name him as an influence.
Though plot lines were often simplistic, Grant was able to bring a casual, natural treatment of technical details which led to a level of believability not found in other television series involving aviation or life in the American West. Likewise, villains and other characters were usually shown as intelligent and believable, rather than as two-dimensional. The writing was generally well above the standard for contemporary half-hour programs, though sometimes the acting was not.
The later episodes of the television show were notable for the dramatic opening with an air-to-air shot of the sleek, second Songbird banking sharply away from the camera and its engines roaring, while the announcer proclaimed "Out of the blue of the Western sky comes — Sky King!" The short credit roll which followed was equally dramatic, with the Songbird swooping at the camera across El Mirage Dry Lake, California, then pulling up into a steep climb as it went away. The end title featured a musical theme, with the credits superimposed over an air-to-air shot of the Songbird, cruising at altitude for several moments then banking to the left and turning away (similar to the opening shot).
The show also featured low-level flying, especially with the later Songbird. Many shots showed the Cessna "down amongst the rocks and the trees", a way to show the speed of the plane as the desert flashed by in the background.
Regular cast
- Kirby GrantKirby GrantKirby Grant, , was a long-time B movie and television actor. He is mostly remembered for playing the title role in the television series Sky King....
as Schuyler "Sky" King - Gloria WintersGloria WintersGloria Winters was an actress most remembered for having portrayed the well-mannered niece, Penny King, in the 1950s-1960s American television series Sky King.-Early life and career:Gloria Winters grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, but later moved to Hollywood...
as Penny - Ewing Mitchell as Sheriff "Mitch" Mitchell
- Ron HagerthyRon HagerthyRonald F. "Ron" Hagerthy is a former American actor known primarily for his guest-starring and supporting roles on television westerns. In 1952, he portrayed Clipper King in the modern western series, Sky King, with Kirby Grant in the title role of Clipper's uncle, Schuyler "Sky" King, pilot of...
as Clipper
Notable guest stars
- James BrownJames Brown (Rin Tin Tin)James E. Brown was an American film and TV actor best known for his role as Lieutenant Ripley "Rip" Masters in all 166 episodes of the 1954-1959 ABC Western television series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin....
as Matt Reynolds in "The Man Who Forgot" (1952) - Jill St. JohnJill St. JohnJill St. John is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Tiffany Case, the lead Bond girl in Diamonds Are Forever.-Early life:...
(as Jill Oppenheim) as Gretchen Gluckman in "Two-Gun Penny" (1952) - Ed HintonEd Hinton (actor)Edgar Latimer Hinton, Jr., known as Ed Hinton and sometimes as Edward Hinton , was an American actor known particularly for guest-starring roles on television westerns...
as Red O'Brian in "Danger at the Sawmill" (1958) - I. Stanford JolleyI. Stanford JolleyIsaac Stanford Jolley, Sr., known as I. Stanford Jolley was a prolific American character actor of film and television, primarily in western roles as cowboys, law-enforcement officers, or villains...
, four episodes (1956–1958) - Gregg PalmerGregg PalmerGregg Palmer, originally Palmer Lee is an American actor, known primarily for his prolific work in television westerns...
as Frank Kinnard in "The Runaway" (1958)
Scheduling and cancellation
The television show began airing on Sunday afternoons on NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
between September 16, 1951, and October 26, 1952. These episodes were rebroadcast on ABC's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Saturday morning lineup the following year November 8, 1952, until September 21, 1953, when it made its prime-time debut on ABC's Monday night lineup. It then aired twice-a-week in August and September 1954, before ABC canceled it. New episodes were produced when the show went into syndication in 1955. The last new episode, "Mickey's Birthday", aired March 8, 1959. After that, the show turned up on the Saturday schedule, in reruns that played for several years.
Syndication and DVD release
CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
began airing reruns of the show on early Saturday afternoons (at 12 pm Eastern/Pacific times; late Saturday mornings at 11 am Central/Mountain times) on October 3, 1959, and continued to do so until September 3, 1966.
All 72 episodes of the series have been released on DVD in North America.
Production notes
At the beginning of the television series, Sky flew a Cessna T-50 twin-engine "Bamboo Bomber." The plane, a World War II surplus UC-78B, was owned by legendary Hollywood pilot Paul MantzPaul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.-Early years:...
and flown by employees of his Paul Mantz Aerial Services for filming of the flying sequences. At least two other T-50s are known to have been used for on-ground and in-the-cockpit scenes.
The best-known Songbird was a twin-engine Cessna 310
Cessna 310
The Cessna 310 is an American six-seat, low-wing, twin-engined monoplane that was produced by Cessna between 1954 and 1980. It was the first twin-engined aircraft that Cessna put into production after World War II.-Development:...
B. The airplane used was the second production 310B (N5348A), which was provided by Cessna at no cost to the producers and piloted by Cessna's national sales manager for the 310, Bill Fergusson. Fergusson got the job after the motion picture pilot already selected was deemed unqualified to land the airplane at some of the off-airport sites required. Some months after a library of stock footage had been compiled, additional sequences were filmed using a different airplane. The original 310B was eventually destroyed in a 1962 crash at Delano, California, that killed its owner-pilot. Cockpit sequences were filmed using the static test fuselage, also provided by Cessna.
A byproduct of the use of the Cessna 310 as Sky King's Songbird was the name becoming attached to the 310 series. Cessna has never given the 310 a type name (though most Cessnas are given such names, e.g., the Cessna 180 "Skywagon"), but because of their use in Sky King, 310s have become known as "Songbirds" within the aviation community.
A unique introduction featured the triangular Nabisco logo flying across the screen, accompanied by the sound of the Songbird flying past. Nabisco included plastic figures of characters from the show and the Songbird in packages of Wheat Honeys and Rice Honeys breakfast cereal
Breakfast cereal
A breakfast cereal is a food made from processed grains that is often, but not always, eaten with the first meal of the day. It is often eaten cold, usually mixed with milk , water, or yogurt, and sometimes fruit but sometimes eaten dry. Some cereals, such as oatmeal, may be served hot as porridge...
s.
Though set in Arizona, the series was filmed in the high desert of California. The ranch house used for exterior shots of the Flying Crown Ranch is an actual home in Apple Valley, California
Apple Valley, California
-Climate:*On average, the warmest month is July.*The highest recorded temperature was in 2002.*On average, the coolest month is December.*The lowest recorded temperature was in 1949.*The most precipitation on average occurs in February.-History:...
, although it has been extensively remodeled since its use as headquarters of the "Flying Crown Ranch." Other locations were shot in and around Apple Valley and the nearby San Bernardino Mountains
San Bernardino Mountains
The San Bernardino Mountains are a short transverse mountain range north and east of San Bernardino in Southern California in the United States. The mountains run for approximately 60 miles east-west on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert in southwestern San Bernardino County, north of the...
, George Air Force Base
George Air Force Base
George Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force base located within city limits, 8 miles northwest of central Victorville, California, about 75 miles northeast of Los Angeles, California. The facility was closed by the Base Realignment and Closure 1992 commission at the end of the Cold...
and Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake
- About : is part of under Commander, Navy Installation Command and is located in the Western Mojave Desert region of California, approximately north of Los Angeles. Occupying three counties – Kern, San Bernardino and Inyo – the installation’s closest neighbors are the cities of Ridgecrest,...
. Interior filming was done at the General Service studio.
While expensive for a kids' show, most of the budget went into aircraft, vehicles and sets. This meant that some standard production methods had to be abandoned, giving the series a more realistic look. For instance, in some shots, pilot Bill Fergusson actually did taxi the 310B rather than the more common (but time-consuming, thus costly) method of simulating movement by towing or dolly shots.
The budget issue also forced the frequent reuse of stock footage, sometimes flipped over to show planes banking the opposite direction, thus sometimes letters and numbers were seen in mirror-image.
The black-and-white film masked the actual paint scheme of the Cessna 310B, which was done in a rich multi-color pattern of Coronado Yellow, Sierra Gold and White, with a gold interior.
The show was filmed and shown during three periods as sponsors changed: 1951-52 (Derby Foods), 1955–56 and 1957-62 (Nabisco, though the copyright notices continued to name Derby Foods). It continued in syndication for years afterward, and was a staple on Saturday morning television into the mid-1960s.
Nabisco sold rights to the series to Grant in 1959. In later years, Grant considered bringing back the series and even a "Sky King" theme park, but nothing ever happened on either of these projects. At least one writer has boilerplated
Boilerplate (text)
Boilerplate is any text that is or can be reused in new contexts or applications without being changed much from the original. Many computer programmers often use the term boilerplate code. A legal boilerplate is a standard provision in a contract....
a "Sky King" film, but none has been produced.
Kirby Grant
On May 20, 2008, Kirby Grant, III, confirmed that his father was a pilot and that he flew with him many times. This was confirmed by e-mail to Officer Glenn E. Kresge, United States Department of Defense Police, (and by Kent Volgamore and by Guy Maher, article below). Grant, however, had been turned down for pilot training during World War II because of color blindnessColor blindness
Color blindness or color vision deficiency is the inability or decreased ability to see color, or perceive color differences, under lighting conditions when color vision is not normally impaired...
.
The Cessna T-50 used in the first episodes of the series was provided by Paul Mantz
Paul Mantz
Albert Paul Mantz was a noted air racing pilot, movie stunt pilot and consultant from the late 1930s until his death in the mid-1960s. He gained fame on two stages: Hollywood and in air races.-Early years:...
Air Services and flown by several pilots, and the Cessna 310B used in later episodes was provided at no cost by Cessna and flown by Cessna employee Bill Fergusson. In the article "310 B Goes To Hollywood", Mr. Bill Fergusson from the Cessna Corp. recalls how Kirby Grant flew the 310B like a real pro in no time. Thus, he was referring to the transition from the T-50 to the 310 B. The newspaper article can be found at Kae Vee's Place.
Numerous references to Grant's flying skills came from co-workers, personal friends, and historian Kent Volgamore, who wrote the book for the Sky King DVDs. Volgamore clearly states Grant was a pilot, and started his flying career in a Waco 1929.
Airport Journals January 2006 interview with Gloria Winters. Winters stated that both Grant and her late husband were pilots. She stated twice in the interview that Kirby Grant was a pilot and that her husband was a crop duster.