Episode
12 O'Clock High: The Hours Before Dawn
Overview
The 918th is assigned in top secrecy to bomb Dortmund. The only one who has the details is Savage and after being briefed by Stoneman, Crowe & Colonel Meyers he heads back to base. On the way he is caught in an air raid and is rescued by Doker Drew. Drew escorts Savage and another straggler Jennifer Heath back to Heaths place so that Savage can telephone the base. After the air raid subsides Savage & Jennifer are surprise by a wounded German flier, wearing the uniform of an Obergefrieter (Corporal). Savage recognizes the man for what he really is a German Oberst (Colonel) in the Luftwaffe. After a struggle Jennifer is wounded and Savage is forced to kill Haff.
Details
- Series
- 12 O'Clock High
- Season
- Season 1
- Episode
- Episode 8
- Air date
- 1964-11-13
Episode context
The Hours Before Dawn is Episode 8 in Season 1 of 12 O'Clock High. It aired on 1964-11-13.
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Episode 7: Decision
Major Jack Temple leads the low Squadron on a raid to bomb the flying Bomb (V2) assembly plant at Laon. His aircraft ""The Lucky Lady"" is hit and he is forced to bail out with his crew. Major Temple and 4 of his crew (Kinner, Nichols, Weinstock & Moody) are captured and taken before Oberst Alfred Hoeptner, the commander of the Laon facility. Hoeptner decides that he is going to keep the men prisoner at the factory to prevent them from being bombed. Major Temple states that it is a violation of the Geneva Convention, and Hoeptner aggress hoping that the Americans will file a protest with the Red Cross. All he needs is a little time to close down the factory and move the machinery elsewhere. Back at Archbury, Frank & Harvey are listening to Lord Haw Haw's broadcast outlining the capture of Temple and the fact that he and his men are being held at Laon. Frank and Harvey head off to the officers club, and when Harvey suggests darts, Savage comes up with the idea of pinpoint bombing the targ
Episode 9: Appointment at Liege
Major Gus Denver returns to the 918th from the States. While he was away on special instructor duty at Langley, his original crew was shot down over Liege and all were killed. Now back as a Squadron & Aircraft commander he wants to get back to bomb Liege. The 918th is ordered to bomb Masstricht at 8000 feet in a raid planned by Ed Chandler. On the mission the co-pilot, navigator & radioman die. Savage is unsure of Denver.
More episodes from this season
Episode 6: Pressure Point
Senator Clay Johnson wants to shut down the long range bombing program because of high aircraft & manpower losses. Savage argues that they just need adequate fire power and long range fighter support. Since the P-51 mustang is not yet deployed, they lack long range fighter cover. Savage wants to bomb Hamburg or Kiel using aircraft armed with 50 mm guns instead of 20 mm guns. Grounded by bad weather, Savage gets a visit from the Vicar of Archbury who asks him why he has denied permission for Eddie Pryor & April Barret to get married. Perplexed Savage says he has no such request, then speaks to Pryor who confesses he is scared of the commitment. The weather clears and on the next mission Pryor gets trapped in the Ball Turret by damage. Savage turns the mission over to Major Roberts and then he & Mewlay land the damaged plane with Pryor still trapped. The mission is a success - no casualties. Pryor marries April Barrett.
Episode 10: Interlude
After loosing his best friend Joe Farrell, Savage goes on leave ordered by General Crowe. He goes to Inverness by train then to the Isle of Dunfergus aboard the Glencoe Lass. On the train he meets a Wren officer, Ann Macrae, who is going home on leave. After several unfortunate disagreements, Frank and Ann start to get along and finally fall in love. Savage learns that she has terminal cancer and not long to live. There is nothing he can do and she dies.
Episode 5: The Climate of Doubt
General Crowe is waiting for Savage to return from a mission, he notices that when the aircraft ""High Flyer"" lands an ambulance rush out to meet it. Out gets a pretty girl dressed in a hula skirt who welcomes the crew. He questions Savage about it. Savage explains he just approved the marriage of one of the gunners, a Hawaiian nicknamed ""Pineapple"" to an English girl, Dorothy Hall. Crowe tells Savage he wants him to meet some one, and whisks him back to his hotel where Savage meets resistance leader Nicole Trouchard. Crowe wants the 918th to bomb two targets on the next mission, first the Rouen marshalling yards, the second being a Gestapo building the French Resistance wants destroyed. Crowe feels this will make the resistance feel that the Americans are true Allies and points out that they need the resistance to help with downed airmen. Crowe also reveals that he and Nicole had a brief affair in the past. Savage is concerned that his men will get hit badly on the second run, Crowe te
Episode 11: Here's to Courageous Cowards
Ross Lawrence a clerk in the Group Office stows away with Joe Morse's crew and shoots down an FW. Later Morse offers to have Lawrence transferred to a flight crew, but he refuses. Suspicious, Morse asks Sergeant Meadows to pull the file from the Ground Exec's office and finds out that Lawrence spent a year in an internment camp as a conscientious objector. Morse who has been lead pilot on too many missions is starting to crack and Savage wants him to step down voluntarily as lead pilot. On the next 2 missions they are badly hit and several of Morse's crew are wounded or killed. Needing replacements, Savage orders Lawrence to report for gunnery training, he does and is assigned to the ""Terrible Tillie"" as left waist gunner. On the next mission Wilson leads when Morse blanks out. They get to the target, and Lawrence hesitates until his friend is killed then he shoots down a fighter. At the debriefing, Major Morse recommends Wilson as the new lead pilot.
Episode 4: The Sound of Distant Thunder
Andy Lathrop is an unsophisticated Tennessee boy. Flying as Savage's lead bombardier, he saves Savage's life, gets promoted to 1st Lieutenant, and gets recommended for the DFC. On leave he meets and falls in love with Barmaid Mary Lean and asks her to marry him, she agrees. Later the pub she and her father have is destroyed during an air raid and Mary is killed. Crazed with grief he goes AWOL. He and Savage talk and he reconsiders and returns to duty a little wiser.
Episode 12: Soldiers Sometimes Kill
After losing his memory Savage is found wandering around Berkley Square south Grosvenor Street by Lieutenant Ryan. After being examined by Kaiser, he reads in the paper that Barbara Talbot was murdered in London. Later Inspector Thorne and Sergeant Padget from the CID come to see Savage, they found a lighter with a 918th crest in Barbara's flat. Savage is missing his lighter and he has no memory. He starts to retrace his steps to Redgraves Club tnen Barbara's flat. It turns out that Redgraves is a blackmailer & spy, he uses women like Barbara to lure important people into compromising situations. Frank realizes that Redgraves killed Barbara and that Padgett works for Redgraves. Frank confronts Regraves, and as Regraves is about to kill Frank, he is shot and wounded by Inspector Thorne. Next mission will be to Saarbrücken .
Episode 3: The Men and the Boys
Tom Lockridge is a copilot, on a mission the pilot is killed, and he takes over allowing the crew to bail out. His best friend Captain Wade Ritchie disobeys orders and flies cover with his B-17. Back on the ground Savage tells Ritchie he is going to charge him with disobeying an order for leaving formation. When Lockridge returns and finds this out he turns his back on the General. Savage tries to explain to Lockridge the concept of formation discipline, but he is only concerned about his friend. Ritchie draws a court martial and is reduced in rank to 1st Lieutenant. Savage speaks to Libby MacAndrews, Lockridge's girl and she and Savage both keep working on him. On the next mission Lieutenant Ritchie flies as copilot with Savage and they get hit, Lockridge now an aircraft commander realizes he can't break formation.
Episode 13: The Suspected
Reporter Clifford Moran believes that Jim Driscoll is really a convicted killer from St Louis named George Kern Turner who in 1933 when 16 years old beat his step father to death. He was sentenced to life in prison and escaped. Driscoll has now been married to Meg, Savage's former clerk for 1 year. Driscoll meets Moran at the Black Raven Pub in Chelsea and refutes Moran. Moran is later killed by falling in front of a subway train at Sloane Square Station. The next day Driscoll does not report in and Savage goes to locate him. He finds that Driscoll's wife had a baby, a son at St Stephens Hospital. It is later revealed that Moran was killed when a pick pocket tried to lift his wallet and Moran fell in front of the train. On the next mission the plane is hit and two engines are out, Lieutenant Eagan, the co-pilot is wounded. Savage orders the crew to bail. Savage can not see and Driscoll stays to help Savage land the aircraft. Driscoll admits he is Turner. Back at base, Turner is ready t
Episode 2: Follow the Leader
Savage wants the 918th to try a new technique, bombing on the leader. Instead of each bombardier sighting his own target and then making his own bomb-run, the entire group would synchronize with the lead bombardier and when he drops, the whole Group drops. Both Generals' Crowe & Pritchard are opposed to the idea but Savage presses for it. His lead crew consists of Bishop, Zimmerman & Mellon. Mellon has been recommended for the DFC for a previous mission. When his best friend the Navigator was badly wounded, Mellon stayed at his post and made the bomb run anyway. The run was successful but the friend died. Mellon is shaken and on the next mission, the entire group misses and bombs a school. Unsure whether it was faulty equipment or his error, Mellon does not want to be lead bombardier any longer. Savage pushes Mellon and they go up again and successfully bomb the target.
Episode 14: An Act of War
The group returns from a bomb run the air frame factory at Metz. The leader, Major Cobb reports complete destruction of the target, but the Intelligence officer Major Herrick says the factory is still operating. General Crowe chews Frank out and he takes a single B-17 to scout the target. He and Lieutenant Canello find out that they have been bombing a decoy area, locate the real factory but get shot down before they can return with the information. Canello is killed. Captured by angry French partisans who hate the Americans' for bombing them, Savage must fight for his life. He eventually persuades the partisans that the bomb raids are necessary.