Episode
12 O'Clock High: Back to the Drawing Board
Overview
The Dulabine Shipyard bombing mission is turned back due to overcast. On the ground in Emstad, the German commander, Oberst Erhland is frustrated that he can not attack due to fighter maintenance problems. It will be at least 5 days before the weather overcast clears. Erhland orders Hauptman Schmidt, his maintenance officer to take the time to repair his fighters (18 are in need of repair, 7 are unserviceable). Erhland also talks with his Radar Officer Hauptman Schiller. Back at the 918th's Base, General Britt is waiting and introduces Gallagher to Dr Michael Rink from the Signal Corps. He has a new airborne radar device called Bomb through Overcast (BTO) Radar. Three aircraft sortie on a test mission to bomb Duronde, the BTO performs perfectly and they get an 80% success rate over the target. Dr. Rink has a heart condition and collapses as they complete the mission and his assistant Master Sergeant Zemler has to take over. On the ground, the Germans try and figure out how the American
Details
- Series
- 12 O'Clock High
- Season
- Season 2
- Episode
- Episode 21
- Air date
- 1966-02-07
Episode context
Back to the Drawing Board is Episode 21 in Season 2 of 12 O'Clock High. It aired on 1966-02-07.
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Episode 20: The Outsider
Mission to bomb a refinery & fuel storage area at Kasendorf. A pilot from the 53rd Fighter Squadron, Lieutenant Harley Wilson hits Gallagher's plane while trying to shoot an enemy fighter. Wilson is very eager to fit in, he feels like an outsider and hitting the Colonels plane doesn't help. The young pilot has been trying to get a kill for two months. He goes to the Star & Bottle where he is snubbed by Sandy, tries to chat up Agnes the Barmaid but she is too busy, and even tries to ask out Captain Vincent not realizing she is Gallagher's date. He volunteers for the next mission, a photo recon over Kasendorf. On the Photo recon mission, Gallagher blows a jug while flying a P-51 and has to bail out. Wilson disobeys orders, breaks off & lands while being strafed by enemy fighters and saves Gallagher. He is put in for the DFC and becomes a ""hero"". Later in the Star & Bottle, he is cheered by the group and gets to talk with some Reporters (Harkness, Toley, and Barnes) The Photo Recon shows
Episode 22: Twenty-Fifth Mission
After completing On his 25th mission, Major Tom Parsons is going home. At Wing HQ General Britt is chewing out his Group Commander (Fred, Gallagher & ?). Sveringen is the production centre for the new ME-262 rocket powered fighter. They have tried to bomb several times and failed. Gallagher suggests nighttime precision bombing. Britt says the RAF have tried and failed. Gallagher suggests sending in a pathfinder to mark the target by dropping incendiaries on either side. Gallagher picks Parsons to fly the pathfinder mission; he refuses as he has completed his tour. At the officers club Parsons meets his former co-pilot Captain Cowley who has just got out of the hospital. Cowley asks about Parsons girl, Naomi. Is he taking her back to the States with him? Parsons is non-committal. Gallagher orders Cowley to fly the pathfinder mission and gets Parsons to train him. General Britt has been reviewing Parsons orders to rotate back the States; he finds that Parsons has only flown milk runs, ev
More episodes from this season
Episode 19: Which Way the Wind Blows
Due to cloud cover over the target, the 918th led by Major Fitzsimmons is unable to bomb Kiel. They abort loosing 7 planes. Back at base Gallagher makes an angry complaint to General Britt who has a solution, a new Group Weather Officer. The new officer is a woman, Captain Patricia Bates. She is a former Meteorology Professor from UIT who has a new approach to Weather Forecasting. They have dinner with her and her assistant Lieutenant Rogers. The next day Gallagher flies with her in Weather 1, a modified B-17 with only a top turret gun, built for speed. On the mission, the B-17 takes off with Rogers as Meteorologist, gets shot up and Rogers is wounded. The plane comes in on its belly, Bates is upset and wants to quit. Britt orders Gallagher to order her to fly the next mission. Gallagher tells her they need her so she flies with Captain Blodget and finds a path through the storm but the plane is iced up and has to ditch in the channel. Gallagher goes to find her, which he does. The Res
Episode 23: The Survivor
On a mission after hitting the target a bombing runs, Captain Bradovich's B-17 experiences engine trouble. Tourneau drops back to aide him. Bradovich reports him for lack of air discipline. Talks with Harvey. Goes to officers club and his co-pilot Stan Ainsley tries to get him to join in. He does not but meets Sarah instead. On the next mission, his plane is hit, and Ainsley is wounded. Bradovich orders crew bail out, they do but only Bradovich returns and the other aircraft only see one chute before the plane disappears into the clouds. They locate his crashed aircraft, two bodies, and no survivors that they can find. His new crew is Dickey, Williams, and Flight Engineer Brack. Brack has a ""head cold"" and replaced by Komansky who volunteers. In the air the crew snubs Bradovich, and Komansky understanding that Bradovich is a loner like him, chews out the crew and supports him. Back on the ground, Bradovich finds a tipsy Sarah in the Denby Lion with Lieutenant Tourneau. A drunken Tourne
Episode 18: Underground
While on a bombing raid, Gallagher realizes that he has bombed a decoy target they need to bomb 2500 yards NE of target 385. Gallagher tries to radio London but the Radio Operator is killed, the radio is destroyed and the bomber gets shot down. Gallagher parachutes into Switzerland. At the American Legation in Zurich, he is told by Wilson Sechrist that he will be interred for the duration. He can not escape nor will he be allowed to transmit information that he has. An American officer, Captain Wright asks Gallagher to meet him at the Alpenstock Restaurant. He instead meets an American business man George Richardson. Richardson tells him he will help him escape. Richardson tells him to go to the Edelweiss Garage. There he sees a German deserter escaping from German Agents. He tells Gallagher he is Sergeant Karl Weigand. He goes to find Jean Golet, and instead finds his daughter Liane. Her father has been killed by the Germans. She helps him escape. Gallagher, Liane & Weigand make their
Episode 24: Angel Babe
B-17 ""Angel Babe"" is returning from a perfect mission to Willemshaven as the Group Lead. Flight Engineer Willets explains that when ""Angel Babe"" leads they always come home safe. On the ground Major Stovall waits with a team from the Public Relations Office (PRO) who are filming & photographing the plane which has completed its 49th mission. They want to take the plane back to the US for a promotional tour as it will be the first in the Eight AF to complete 50 missions. The Flight Engineer, Technical Sergeant Willets thinks that ""Angel Babe"" is a fighter and she won't want to go home this way. The PRO team will fly on the next mission, her last and some of her crew including Willets, Harkness and the two pilots think that ""Angel Babe"" is their lucky charm. The plane blows a tire and aborts the mission. When they land Willets hits Cameraman Staff Sergeant Ben Prinzi to keep him from going back in the plane, because of the live bombs. Major Budd the PRO feels that the crew is trying to s
Episode 17: The Slaughter Pen
While trying to bomb Hamburg, the 818th is turned back by flak & fighters over area called the ""Slaughter Pen"". A new German Underground Radar Station is spotting them. Back at Archbury, General Pritchard says that all 3 of his Wings have been turned back. Gallagher says that it is not a target that can be taken from the air, it needs to a ground assault. Pritchard asks Gallagher to get cleaned up and come with him to Brincott Hall. There General Pritchard explains that Brincott Hall has been turned into a Combined Operations Commando School. It is run by British General St John Keighley. General Pritchard explains that SHAEF has approved a commando raid. Gallagher will command the mission and the Air Group, Colonel Percy Vivyan (Lord Brincott) will command the British Commando's and the overall Ground Forces, Colonel Peter Thom will command the American Paratroopers & Rangers, Captain Eddington of the Royal Navy will command the Naval Forces. A Radar Expert is also assigned to the Mis
Episode 25: Decoy
In Scotland Gallagher meets with Major General Hardy about a Ranger mission and Gallagher comes up with an air support plan. Returning from Scotland via an Air Transport B-17, they are shot down over the North Sea. Of the two man crew, Captain Tom Powell, and Staff Sergeant Johnny Miller only Powell survives along with Gallagher. They put up the radio transmitter, no luck. They find an island (Seagull Rock) to land on. A B-17 Weather Plane hears them and so does a fishing trawler. So too does a German U-Boat. Gallagher ditches his briefcase. Powell surrenders, Gallagher gets captured, and they get taken to the U-Boat.
Episode 16: Falling Star
On the way back from a mission, a mentor of Joe Gallagher's, Colonel Gus ""Pappy"" Wexler is flying as an observer. Gallagher asks Fowler to let Wexler fly in the co-pilot seat. They are attacked by ME-109's and Joe is wounded, Pappy takes over calling Gallagher ""Bernie"". At HQ General Pritchard ask Harvey Stovall's opinion of Wexler. General Britt is away in Washington and if he is not back, Pritchard will be looking for a new Wing Commander. He is thinking of Wexler or Gallagher. Gallagher is on the sick list so Wexler becomes acting Group Commander, and Gallagher the acting Wing Commander. Wexler wants things run by the book. On the next mission, he takes 3 planes and turns too early & aborts. He calls his Bob Fowler, his co-pilot ""Bernie"", and when Sandy questions him, Wexler orders him to stand down and report to the Flight Surgeon when he is back. Later in the Star & Bottle, the pilots celebrate with Wexler and he makes a good show of it. He arm wrestles Captain Banazek and wins. H
Episode 26: The Hollow Man
An escaped POW, 1st Lieutenant Wally Bolen returns to the 918th after 5 months of captivity. He is welcomed by Komansky and promoted to Captain by Gallagher. At the officer's club, they are having a welcome back party; his ""girl"" Ruth is there along with Ken Shaw, a press corps journalist and his buddy Chuck Nielson. Also there are Captains Lewis & Stewart, former fighter pilots. Bolen wants to fly again and gets checked out by Gallagher. The Group is going to be bombing Battenheim again. They will be sending a pathfinder group of 3 in at a low altitude to mark the target. Gallagher chooses Bolen as Flight Leader, and Lewis & Stuart who both have low level experience. On a practice mission, Bolen orders Lewis & Stewart to close up, Stewart flies to close and collides with Bolen's aircraft. Bolen freezes and his plane hits Lewis' plane. Stewart's B-17 crashes, the entire crew is killed and they injure a civilian, the Rector of the Archbury Church. Bolen orders his crew to bail and every
Episode 15: Target 802
On the way back from a bombing run over the Ruhr valley, bombs are accidentally dropped on Ste Monique. 1st Lieutenant Parks the bombardier is interrogated. A single bomb falls in the village square killing resistance leaders Pierre Fecamp. Two pilots hiding in St Monique escape Major Coefield from the 918th and Captain Pollard from the 511th Fighter Squadron. Pollard has fallen in love with Claudine, the woman who rescued them. She has brought her son to England, he is badly wounded and may lose his leg. Claudine hates Gallagher and is going to kill him. She goes with him to the 918th officers club and sees the pilots get drunk. Meanwhile in Ste Monique, Hauptman Bergdorf says they will not bomb because of the last mission, so now they can put in a German Radar Station. On the way to Wing HQ in Archbury, Claudine tries to kill Gallagher. General Marteen orders the 918th to bomb Ste. Monique that night. In Ste Monique, Marcel Lenoir is killed as he radios information to London.
Episode 27: Cross-Hairs on Death
A cashiered pilot slips in for another try.