The Hotshot
- Episode aired Oct 18, 1965
- 49m
IMDb RATING
8.0/10
41
YOUR RATING
A lt. colonel in charge of a P-51 fighter group, harbors great anger toward Col. Gallagher when his B-17 mistakenly shoots down one of his planes in battle.A lt. colonel in charge of a P-51 fighter group, harbors great anger toward Col. Gallagher when his B-17 mistakenly shoots down one of his planes in battle.A lt. colonel in charge of a P-51 fighter group, harbors great anger toward Col. Gallagher when his B-17 mistakenly shoots down one of his planes in battle.
Gunnar Hellström
- Col. Falkenstein
- (as Gunnar Hellstrom)
Jim Jacobs
- Lt. Bobo Heath
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe doctrine of having P-51s stay with the bombers all the way to the target as their primary mission, as done during Act IV, actually lasted only a few weeks. Less than a month after the first long-ranged P-51s based in Britain became operational, General James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle took over command of the Eighth Air Force, and one of the first things he did was tell the head of Eighth Air Force Fighter Command to take down a sign at his headquarters that read "THE FIRST DUTY OF THE EIGHTH AIR FORCE FIGHTERS IS TO BRING THE BOMBERS BACK ALIVE" and replace it with one that read " THE FIRST DUTY OF THE EIGHTH AIR FORCE FIGHTERS IS TO DESTROY GERMAN FIGHTERS." As more P-51s were delivered to Eight Fighter Command until all but one of 16 the groups replaced their shorter-ranged P-38s and P-47s with P-51s, proportionately fewer fighter groups were tasked with close-escorting the bombers, with the remaining groups sent out ahead of the bombers to attack the German fighters on the ground or between their airfields and the bombers. This included some of the tactics Lieutenant Colonel Trope employed against orders. This change in doctrine actually decreased US bomber losses by 80%.
- GoofsStock footage is used of P-51s/F-51s with post-war "USAF" markings.
Featured review
Some folks just are lone wolves and not team players...the Lt. Colonel is one of them.
Up until this episode, you never saw fighter escorts for the B-17s on the show. Well, there were.... P-38s and P-47s did such duty BUT had limited range so that they couldn't follow the bombers during their entire mission. As a result, they were left unprotected and lost many bombers. Later in the war, the P-51 Mustang was the first fighter with a range long enough to escort the bombers completely. This episode is about the beginnings of such combined missions.
The General had designated that Colonel Gallagher and Lt. Colonel Troper (Warren Oates) work together to formulate tactics and coordinate the bomber/fighter combined missions. However, early on it becomes apparent that although Troper is talented, he's not exactly a team player and the sees little value in working with bomber crews. Regardless, it's the mission and orders are orders. But again and again, Troper is insubordinate and tries his best to make his fighter pilots equally resentful of the bombers. Will he succeed or will Gallagher put Troper in his place? Or, is there some other possible option?
This is a very good episode of "12 O'Clock High". I am sure some fighter pilot did resent having to guard bombers instead of racking up more victories by flying fighter-only missions. My only complaint is a common one for me....the P-51 Mustangs they showed in the episode were the wrong model. The early Mustanges had a swept back canopy and only the later D models sported the bubble canopy you see in most of the show. I say MOST because in one scene, a P-51B becomes a P-51D in mid-flight due to a sloppy use of stock footage. Although they both were Mustangs, the planes really did look radically different. Still, only nutty history lovers like me would probably notice!
The General had designated that Colonel Gallagher and Lt. Colonel Troper (Warren Oates) work together to formulate tactics and coordinate the bomber/fighter combined missions. However, early on it becomes apparent that although Troper is talented, he's not exactly a team player and the sees little value in working with bomber crews. Regardless, it's the mission and orders are orders. But again and again, Troper is insubordinate and tries his best to make his fighter pilots equally resentful of the bombers. Will he succeed or will Gallagher put Troper in his place? Or, is there some other possible option?
This is a very good episode of "12 O'Clock High". I am sure some fighter pilot did resent having to guard bombers instead of racking up more victories by flying fighter-only missions. My only complaint is a common one for me....the P-51 Mustangs they showed in the episode were the wrong model. The early Mustanges had a swept back canopy and only the later D models sported the bubble canopy you see in most of the show. I say MOST because in one scene, a P-51B becomes a P-51D in mid-flight due to a sloppy use of stock footage. Although they both were Mustangs, the planes really did look radically different. Still, only nutty history lovers like me would probably notice!
helpful•40
- planktonrules
- Sep 4, 2021
Details
- Runtime49 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
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