CANNON TV Series B-25s,A-26, & P-51 re-run, great to watch !

[Triplane102]

I know this topic has been here in the past, but it was great to see it in re-run " A Flight Of Hawks " on MeTV last week ! "Dumbo", 2 other B-25s, A-26, & the P-51 that Cannon shoots up & "Ground Loops" ! Ahhh...good old '70's Warbird Drama !!

[Jerry O'Neill]

Great episode! I remember it fondly from the old days!

[Kyleb]

Cannon was quite the sharpshooter, knocking down a P-51 with a belt fed .50 cal shooting from the hip...

[airnutz]

No Sound, but airplanes begin at the 25 minute mark with a young Martin Sheen at the wheel of a Twin Bonanza as they approach the bad guys airfield. Closest translation I figure is the mercenary or "soldier gang"..."Die Soldnerbonde" (with umlaut)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXUYVUKqucE

[Triplane102]

Thanks for the input everyone ! The A-26 is with the War Eagles Air Museum, the P-51 ???

[airnutz]

the P-51 ???

The large vertical fin number is 78 (race #??), the closest I can freeze frame I get N74...and maybe 5. Circa 1970-71? Looks like an ID job for TJ!!

[PinecastleAAF]

William Conrad was also a fighter pilot during WW2.

[T J Johansen]

The P-51D was Richard Vartanian's 44-74978 N74978. An ex- Costa Rican AF airframe recovered by Will Martin. It later went to Wally McDonnell who incidentally furnished the A-26 in the Cannon episode.

A very stock airframe indeed which unfortunately was lost in a hangar fire in 1988, shortly after appearing at the PoF airshow at Chino. One of very few public outings over the years.'

T J

[Stoney]

Two Catch 22 B-25s in the video.

[leo]

I used to keep a tape in the VCR and would simply hit "record" when something interesting involving airplanes came on (back then the VCR had to be on for the cable to receive). I have 3 or 4 tapes of clips from Airwolf, Cannon (the one mentioned), just about every show you could imagine. 'll have to dig them out, I haven't watched them in years. I am about to be laid up for a while so a good time to do it.

[Chris Brame]

The P-51D was Richard Vartanian's 44-74978 N74978. An ex- Costa Rican AF airframe recovered by Will Martin. It later went to Wally McDonnell who incidentally furnished the A-26 in the Cannon episode.

A very stock airframe indeed which unfortunately was lost in a hangar fire in 1988, shortly after appearing at the PoF airshow at Chino. One of very few public outings over the years.'

T J

In its previous registration, fresh from Costa Rica:

[sledge39]

'Cannon' Season 1 Episode 21 'A Flight of Hawks'
Originally aired Feb 22, 1972 on CBS

Three former 'Catch 22" B-25s

Tallmantz N1203 (white with black stripe) background only
'6V' N9451Z background only
'6W' N9452Z one landing + background

N2852G Wally McDonnell's B-26, background only

N74978 Richard Vartanian's P-51 ('Race 78')
Machine gun shootout with Cannon, Wally McDonnell flying
Wally McDonnell raced "Race 78" at the "California 1000" at Mojave 13 Nov 1971.

N9971R Beech 95 Travel air, arrival at the base plus some very low passes over a bad guys vehicle

Last edited by sledge39 on Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.

[JohnB]

The Travel Air was a 1960 B95 and its n-number was cancelled in 2014 when the registration expired.

Wonder what happened to it?

That the B-25s were ex-Catch 22 doesn't come as a shock considering the time frame.

[airnutz]

Thanks guys for the refresher on the Travel Air, I had to be reminded tho it was closer in bloodline to the Bonanza. Twin Bonanza was closer in evolution and size to Queen Air and King Air. As a young learning wrench we maintained Louisiana Pacific's Baron and Queen Air in Conroe, but I'm still fuzzy at times on the civilian stuff. Thanks for the other ID's as well. I'd sure like to see that snippet tape of the various aircraft in the old shows. We always looked for that stuff...it was a running game back then and still..."name that plane".

[Triplane102]

THANK YOU ! EVERYONE ! I Knew the WIX Brain Trust would come thru !!
GREAT INFO & PIC.S Thanks Again !!!!