12 O'Clock High

Details

Release year: 1964

Storyline

A WWII bomb group commander must fill the shoes of his predecessor and get the performance rating up to snuff. He struggles with his own men, until he is able to develop pride in the group and win the men over, but at a cost to him.

Top credits

Awards

1 win & 0 nominations

Did you know

• While trying to get sponsors for this series, the producers approached the Volkswagen executives and showed them the pilot show which featured actual bombing footage from the war. During the film, one of the executives recognized the plant that was being bombed as the Volkswagen plant which had made cars for the German Army at the time. He commented, "There goes our plant", and the executives then and there decided not to sponsor the show.

• While most of the airborne footage in the series was wartime combat footage, much of it from the documentary "Memphis Belle" directed by William Wyler, the former DB-17P 44-83584 (N3713G) at Edward T. Maloney's Air Museum at Ontario, California, was brought the short distance to the former Cal-Aero Field at Chino where the 918th Bomb Group flightline sets were and used for taxiing, crew loading and unloading sequences, and as a backdrop for other filming.

• TV Guide said that the firing of Robert Lansing in 1964 generated the most letters they had received since the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.

Episodes

78 episodes – 3 seasons

User reviews

Technical specs

Sound mix

Mono

Aspect ratio

1.33 : 1

Color

Black and White, Color

FAQ

• Why has this series not been released on DVD - I would suspect it would sell very well.
• Has anyone ever counted how many times over the course of the series that the Group Commander's B-17 (always named "Picadilly Lily" with no numeral suffixes) has been shot down or crashed, or how many times Frank Savage or Joe Gallagher were wounded severely enough to earn a Purple Heart?