''Wings of Fire'' (a.k.a. ''The Cloudburst'') is a 1967 American made-for-television action- drama film for broadcast on National Broadcasting Company ( NBC), directed by David Lowell Rich. The film starred

Suzanne Pleshette Suzanne Pleshette (January 31, 1937 – January 19, 2008) was an American theatre, film, television, and voice actress. Pleshette started her career in the theatre and began appearing in films in the late 1950s and later appeared in prominent ...

, James Farentino, Lloyd Nolan, Juliet Mills, Jeremy Slate and Ralph Bellamy. The plot concerns a female pilot wanting to become an

air racer Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a prev ...

Plot

Doug Sanborn ( Ralph Bellamy) runs a small charter company based at a regional airport. His daughter, Kitty (

), a young female pilot wants to be in the Unlimited class at the

air races The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

but her male friends stymie her ambitions. Her former boyfriend Taff Malloy ( James Farentino) has recently come back from the US Navy and a stint as a pilot in Vietnam. Now married to Lisa ( Juliet Mills), a tragic accident on their honeymoon, results in his wife's death. With Lisa's recent death, Kitty tries to console Taff but he is distraught and rebuffs her. In frustration, she seeks out Taff's rival, bad-boy pilot Hal Random ( Jeremy Slate) and runs off with him. When her father and other male friends find out about the affair, they berate Kitty and make her feel so bad she wants to kill herself. Flying her North American P-51 Mustang racing aircraft with the intention of crashing it, Kitty is followed by Taff in his

Grumman F8F Bearcat The Grumman F8F Bearcat is an American single-engine carrier-based fighter aircraft introduced in late World War II. It served during the mid-20th century in the United States Navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the air forces of other n ...

, who tries to talk her out of it. His soothing words finally make an impression and help to bring Kitty back safely.

Cast

as Kitty Sanborn * James Farentino as Taff Malloy * Lloyd Nolan as Max Clarity * Juliet Mills as Lisa * Jeremy Slate as Hal Random * Ralph Bellamy as Doug Sanborn * Gary Crosby as Scott * Jaime Sánchez as Luis Passos

Production

Although ''Wings of Fire'' was set in Florida, the actual location shooting took place at Brackett Field, La Verne/Pamona, California. The aircraft seen in the film were: Douglas C-47J Skytrain, Republic RC-3-1 Seabee,

North American P-51D Mustang Over twenty variants of the North American P-51 Mustang fighter were produced from 1940, when it first flew, to after World War II, some of which were employed also in the Korean War and in several other conflicts. Allison-engined Mustangs NA ...

, Grumman F8F Bearcat and

LeVier Cosmic Wind The LeVier Cosmic Wind was a small single engine, single seat Air racing, racing monoplane designed and built by staff of the Lockheed Corporation in 1947. It did not race successfully in the US but one won the premier cross-country competition ...

. In the opening credits, Tallmantz Aviation Inc. and Frank Tallman as technical advisor are credited with working on the film.Santoir, Christian
"Review: 'Wings of Fire'."
''Aeromovies''. Retrieved: March 13, 2017.

Reception

Film historians Jack Hardwick and Ed Schnepf in their listing of "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies", dismissed ''Wings of Fire'' as, "This is it! Our nomination for the worst air movie ever made ... Sicky story of woman pilot and returned veteran with a hangup. One P-51D and one Bearcat, that's all. In a similar review, aviation film historian Stephen Pendo considered ''Wings of Fire'', "... below-average."Pendo 1985, p. 148.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". ''The Making of the Great Aviation Films'', General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989. * Pendo, Stephen. ''Aviation in the Cinema''. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1985. .

External links

Wings of Fire
at Moviefone
Wings of Fire
at rottentomatoes {{David Lowell Rich 1967 television films 1967 films American aviation films Films set in 1967 Films shot in the United States Films set in Vietnam Vietnam War aviation films Films about the United States Navy NBC original films Films directed by David Lowell Rich 1960s American films