''Sky Raiders'' is a 12-episode 1941

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal ** Universal TV, a ...

film serial A serial film, film serial (or just serial), movie serial, or chapter play, is a motion picture form popular during the first half of the 20th century, consisting of a series of short subjects exhibited in consecutive order at one theater, gene ...

. The serial was directed by

Ford Beebe Ford Beebe (November 26, 1888 – November 26, 1978) was a screenwriter and Film director, director. He entered the film business as a writer around 1916 and over the next 60 years wrote and/or directed almost 200 films. He specialized in B-movi ...

and Ray Taylor. ''Sky Raiders'' stars

Donald Woods Donald James Woods (15 December 1933 – 19 August 2001) was a South African journalist and Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist. As editor of the ''Daily Dispatch'', he was known for befriending fellow activist Steve Bik ...

Billy Halop William Halop (February 11, 1920 – November 9, 1976) was an American actor. Early life Halop was born to Benjamin Cohen Halop and Lucille Elizabeth Halop on February 11, 1920. Halop came from a theatrical family; his mother was a dancer, and ...

, Robert Armstrong and

Eduardo Ciannelli Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969), was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli. Early life Ciannelli ...

. ''Sky Raiders'' has little in common with Universal’s other early-1940s espionage outings like '' Sea Raiders'' or ''

Junior G-Men ''Junior G-Men'' was an American boys club and popular culture phenomenon during the late 1930s and early 1940s that began with a radio program and culminated with films featuring the Dead End Kids. Origins After leaving the Federal Bureau of Inve ...

'', although the serial is often lumped in together as if it is part of a series.

Plot

Former

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

ace pilot Captain Bob Dayton, (

) is the owner of Sky Raiders, Inc., an aircraft company. Dayton has designed a

bombsight A bombsight is a device used by military aircraft to drop bombs accurately. Bombsights, a feature of combat aircraft since World War I, were first found on purpose-designed bomber aircraft and then moved to fighter-bombers and modern tactical ...

and a new high speed fighter aircraft, the "Sky Raider". Dayton recruits young Tim Bryant (

), a member of Air Youth of America, to help him. Nazi agent Felix Lynx (

) attempts to steal these designs for his own country. Lynx is determined to seize this valuable new aircraft, with the help of his female accomplice Innis Clair (

Jacqueline Dalya Jacqueline Dalya (August 3, 1918November 25, 1980) was an American film and stage actress who began her career in the 1940s, appearing in films and on Broadway. Biography Early life Dalya was born August 3, 1918 in New York City. Career She ap ...

) and of a criminal named John KAne who happens to be a perfect double for Dayton. All attempts, however, to steal the fighter aircraft prototype, fail. Dayton's new bombsight is being tested in Hawaii, and Lynx intercepts a

Sikorsky S-45 The Sikorsky S-45 was a proposed double-deck transoceanic flying boat originally designed in 1938 by Sikorsky Aircraft for Pan Am. The high wing monoplane featured a single-step hull with a triple-tail and was to be powered by six Wright R-33 ...

flying boat on the way to Honolulu. After it is shot down, Dayton and his secretary Mary Blake ( Kathryn Adams) who were on board, were rescued by a government cutter. Lieutenant Carry ( Robert Armstrong) and Tim meet the survivors but find that Lynx has sent his henchmen to finish the job. The foreign agents are killed when they hit an oncoming truck. Mary announces that she has become Mrs. Dayton.

Chapter titles

# Wings of Disaster! # Death Rides the Storm # The Toll of Treachery # Battle in the Clouds # The Fatal Blast # Stark Terror! # Flaming Doom # The Plunge of Peril # Torturing Trials # Flash of Fate # Terror of the Storm # Winning Warriors! _Source:

Cast

as Captain Bob Dayton / John Kane,

ace and co-owner of Sky Raiders, Inc. *

as Tim Bryant, member of the Air Youth of America * Robert Armstrong as Lieutenant Ed Carey, co-owner of Sky Raiders, Inc. *

as Felix Lynx,

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

agent * Kathryn Adams as Mary Blake, Sky Raiders, Inc.'s secretary *

as Innis Clair * Jean Fenwick as The Countess Irene *

Reed Hadley Reed Hadley (born Reed Herring, June 25, 1911 – December 11, 1974) was an American film, television and radio actor. Early life Hadley was born in Petrolia, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one ...

as Caddens, one of Lynx's henchmen * Irving Mitchell as R.S. Hinchfield * Edgar Edwards as Teal, one of Lynx's henchmen * John Holland as Hess, one of Lynx's henchmen * Roy Gordon as Major General Fletcher * Alex Callam as Captain Long * Phil Warren as Bakeman, the crackpot with gun * Bill Cody, Jr. as Jack Hurd, a young boy

Production

Many exterior shots for ''Sky Raiders'' were made at the

Grand Central Air Terminal Grand Central Airport is a former airport in Glendale, California. Also known as Grand Central Air Terminal (GCAT), the airport was an important facility for the growing Los Angeles suburb of Glendale in the 1920s and a key element in the devel ...

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

. A rare Phillips 1-B Aeroneer appears in the serial. Bob Dayton's personal aircraft is a

Fairchild 24 The Fairchild Model 24, also called the Fairchild Model 24 Argus and UC-61 Forwarder, is a four-seat, single-engine monoplane light transport aircraft designed by the Fairchild Aviation Corporation in the 1930s. It was adopted by the United Sta ...

W-9 (c/n W-101, NC18688).Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'Sky Raiders'."
''aeromovies'', October 16, 2010. Retrieved: July 11, 2019. Aerial photography was a mixture of "fairly effective combinations of process-screen shots, (obvious) model work, stock footage and actual flying work by stunt pilot Jerry Jerome." The aircraft used in ''Sky Raiders'' are: *

Bell YFM-1 Airacuda The Bell YFM-1 Airacuda was an American heavy fighter aircraft, developed by the Bell Aircraft Corporation during the mid-1930s. It was the first military aircraft produced by Bell. Originally designated the Bell Model 1, the Airacuda first fle ...

W-9, c/n W-101, NC18688, c/n 2689, NC15346 *

Fairchild Super 71 The Fairchild Super 71 was a Canadian parasol-mounted high-wing monoplane cargo aircraft built by Fairchild Aircraft Ltd. (Canada). The Super 71 was an entirely new design that was one of the first purpose-built civilian bush planes for use in re ...

c/n 646, NC9174 *

Kellett KD-1 The Kellett KD-1 was a 1930s American autogyro built by the Kellett Autogiro Company. It had the distinction of being the first practical rotary-wing aircraft used by the United States Army and inaugurated the first scheduled air-mail service us ...

Monocoupe 90 The Monocoupe 90 was a two-seat, light cabin airplane built by Donald A. Luscombe for Monocoupe Aircraft.Eden and Moeng 2002 p. 993 The first Monocoupe (Model 5) was built in an abandoned church in Davenport, Iowa, and first flew on April 1, 192 ...

c/n 526, NC192K (archive images) * Pitcairn PCA-2 Autogiro AC-35 c/n J-91, NX70 * Phillips 1-B Aeroneer, c/n 1, NX16075 *

* Spartan Executive 7W, c/n 7-W12, NC17613

Stunts

* Dave O'Brien * Tom Steele *

Ken Terrell Kenneth Jones Terrell (April 29, 1904 – March 8, 1966) was an American western and action film actor and stuntman best known for playing Joe Marcelli in the 1956 film ''Indestructible Man ''Indestructible Man'' is a 1956 American cri ...

Reception

Reviewer Hans J. Wollstein, wrote in his review of ''Sky Raiders'' for ''Allmovie'', "Universal catered to the young fans of aviation with this airborne serial, which featured a plucky kid –'Bowery Boy' Billy Halop – and plenty of 'sky riders'. Famous aviator Bob Dayton (Donald Woods) hires a bright member of the Air Youth of America, Tim (Halop), to help him finalize a hush-hush project: a new type of fighter plane and bombsight. This being 1941, plenty of enemy agents are after the invention, including the nefarious Felix Lynx (Eduardo Cianelli). It takes Dayton, Tim, and the co-owner of Sky Raiders, Inc., Lieutenant Ed Carey (Robert Armstrong) 12 breathless chapters before they are able to defeat the enemy. The final installment was quite appropriately entitled 'Winning Warriors'."Wollstein, Hans J
"Review: 'Sky Raiders'."
''allmovie.com'', 2019. Retrieved: July 11, 2019.

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* Cline, William C. "Filmography". ''In the Nick of Time''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1984. . * Farmer, James H. ''Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation'' (1st ed.). Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania: TAB Books 1984. . * Lovell, Mary S. ''The Sound of Wings: The Life of Amelia Earhart''. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989. . * Rainey, Buck. ''Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912–1956''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2010. . * Weiss, Ken and Ed Goodgold. ''To be Continued ...: A Complete Guide to Motion Picture Serials''. New York: Bonanza Books, 1973. .

External links

* * {{Ray Taylor (director) 1941 films American aviation films American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films Universal Pictures film serials Films directed by Ford Beebe Films directed by Ray Taylor 1941 adventure films American adventure films 1940s American films