Black Sheep Squadron

My question still stands unanswered. Does ANYONE here know if the series released on DVD, includes the Pilot Episode???-which was actually a movie, called: The Flying Misfits.

 

Baa Baa Black Sheep (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

We had 3 channels back then. There were about 20 shows worth watching. The Night Stalker, Fantasy Island, 6 Million Dollar Man. Saturday cartoons. But Black Sheep was something else. There was no internet to get a war fix. It was called "the library". So any bits showing actual machines in combat was manna from heaven for a starved kid.

 

Many thanks for that, NOW I can feel good about ordering the two volumes available here. I never knew of a Vol 3 but did know that there were more than just 22 episodes made.

 

That about sums it up for us too, we had ABC Ch Nr 3) NBC Ch Nr 6 and CBS, Ch Nr 10.

 

Seems like there are still only 3 good channels and 100 other channels of crap still. We have our glorious governmental CRTC to thank for our inability to receive intelligent programming here.

 

In the 1970's when the show had come out, Greg Boyington and Robert Conrad came to the Naval Air Station I lived on for an airshow. Robert Conrad had learned to fly and bought a Corsair and flew it in to the show. It was on static display. They both signed autographs and photos. When the planes started flying and people left to watch I was able to talk with "Pappy" for some time. His squadron mates didn't call him Pappy, they called him "Gramps". A reporter started the whole "Pappy" thing. He was a neat guy to talk to, and as a teenager I was star struck talking with the Medal of Honor recipient. He seemed very down to earth, although a little rough around the edges in the language area. He seemed to try to control it with kids and ladies around, but things would slip by now and then when the stories got heated. I look back and think of how neat an opportunity that was at the time. He loved the Corsair, and told me he would have fought anyone in the world in that plane. He also said he was full of vinegar and probably would have been just as aggressive with a Piper Cub and a .45!!!

 

I remember watching the show back then....
through the miracle of repeats I have been able to compile an archive of the flying sequences (and some of the other scenes)
I'm not sure if I have all the sequences or not-have to check the full episode list.

 

I believe you can watch the episodes on netflix.

 

can't afford netflix

 

For those who want to wacth the episodes for free: here you go !

Baa Baa Black Sheep - Episode # 2 - 1 / 5 - YouTubenjoy the good old days.

 

[video=youtube;uu6AcuX0PQw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu6AcuX0PQw[/video]

[video=youtube;LAhi68fxe_s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAhi68fxe_s&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;1xOh_7p-Q2Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xOh_7p-Q2Y&feature=related[/video]

[video=youtube;0F_pCdtATos]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F_pCdtATos&feature=related[/video]

 

Pappy Boyington: Interview with the U.S. World War II Ace

Boyington: I had always loved the idea of flying. I used to read all of the books about the World War I fighter aces, and I built model planes, gliders and things. I went to the University of Washington and received a Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering, and I also played football and did a lot of boxing there. I was there with Bob Galer, who commanded the first fighter detachment on Guadalcanal in 1942. He was shot down several times and always made it back through Japanese lines. Of course, he was usually sober. I also flew during the Miami air races-anything to log more air time. History Net

A good interview with "Gramps".

Another excerpt - funny.....
Chennault just wanted to keep the reports active once we ran out of Jap planes to tangle with. Many of the pilots refused to fly those missions, since there was no bonus in killing a tree. Chennault threatened us with courts-martial, and that really began the tide rolling against him. We were civilian specialists working for a foreign government, not his personal command. Finally, Chennault negotiated extra money for strafing, and I volunteered.

Great stuff!!>>>>>Boyington: Well, first off we were lied to about everything. The aircraft were garbage, with spare parts a virtual unknown and the tired engines barely able to get us off the ground. Every takeoff-let alone flight-resulted in a serious pucker factor. The maps we were supposed to use were the worst I had ever seen. Whoever made the maps had either never even been to those places or was more drunk than I was when they sat down to create those worthless objects. Some points of reference were more than 100 miles off, and the magnetic declination was worthless. I remember one of the maps had a major road listed not far from a river. Flying over it, we saw that not only was there no river, but the major road turned out to be a series of paddy dikes. Go figure. The weather could also get you into trouble, and we had no meteorological reports, not like today, and not even as good as what we had during the Pacific campaign. At Kunming we had a 7,000-foot runway that seemed to never get completed, even after five years of constant work, not until our military came in well into the war. Now take into account the greatest lie of all, that the Japanese pilots were pathetic and lacked good vision. I can tell you from firsthand experience that the best men ever to fly a plane in combat were the Japanese, especially the Imperial Navy pilots. Those guys were no joke. If you screwed up you were done for, end of story. We also never had radar or a modern air warning system. However, we did have a series of visual lookouts and a system of telephone relays, and-considering the hundreds of dialects and different languages on this massive line system-things still got done. Anyway, we were ordered down to Rangoon, and I managed to get there with the squadron on February 2, 1942.

 

Theres a good reason the F4U was my first model...

 

Remember when , on the TV series, the pilot would be desperately yanking on the stick in a fight for life- while all the gauges/instruments/dials/needles never moved. ..A little disappointed.

 

Gee Popgun! You're hard to please...Lucky for us/me Black Sheep squadron has started again free to air here in Oz...Late night mind. The thing that gets on my nerves is the over the top MANLINESS of Boyington (in the series - by Conrad). I think Conrad put a little of himself in the role (small man syndrome). Cant the dude just relax for five minutes? Wear clothes that fit him? Take his bloody hands out of his pockets!? And another is the different shades of navy blue on the corsairs...The gun camera footage is not all from Corsairs either...Give me time and i'll think of some more...What i DO like about the show is the unashamed showcasing of the F4U...its in every second shot/scene...they had their priorities right.

 

Poppy (YIHNC), Ever the observant one, my friend. Pap's comments crack me up. "I was the kind of officer he would never understand." So many great lines throughout the interview. He could'a done stand up, youse know.

View attachment 16395

 

on the TV series, the pilot would be desperately yanking on the stick in a fight for life- while all the gauges/instruments/dials/needles never moved. ..

Excellent observation, i.e. I never noticed it

 

Luke...It's true...His flight suits were waaay too tight. Pulling 4 G's would prolly sever something...Like, were any chicks watching that show? Why the hair, tight suit etc?...I was ok with differing craft and colors. Just happy to see sh!t shot up....Nice pic there 56. Cheers.

 

..I used to watch that big time.....now, I watch the episodes and see how ''not good'' it was......