Adventures of the Flying Cadets

Adventures of the Flying Cadets is a 13-episode 1943 Universal film serial directed by Ray Taylor and Lewis D. Collins.^[1]

Adventures of the Flying Cadets
Directed by	Lewis D. Collins Ray Taylor
Written by	George H. Plympton Paul Huston
Story by	Morgan Cox
Produced by	Henry MacRae
Starring	Johnny Downs Robert Armstrong Bobby Jordan Ward Wood William Benedict Eduardo Ciannelli Regis Toomey Jennifer Holt
Cinematography	William A. Sickner (credited as William Sickner)
Edited by	Irving Birnbaum Carl Himm Alvin Todd Edgar Zane
Production company	Universal Pictures
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 7, 1943 (1943-09-07)
Running time	13 chapters (265 minutes)
Country	United States
Language	English

Plot

Flying students Danny Collins (Johnny Downs), "Jinx" Roberts (Bobby Jordan), "Scrapper" McKay (Ward Wood) and "Zombie" Parker (William Benedict) are suspected of a series of murders perpetrated by engineer, Arthur Galt (Robert Armstrong) operating as a Nazi agent known as the Black Hangman.^[2] He has disposed of several people who accompanied him on an expedition which located lost helium deposits in Africa.

Galt has also imprisoned the remaining members of the expedition, Professor Mason (Selmer Jackson) and his daughter Andre (Jennifer Holt). Galt plans to sell the helium to Germany through a Gestapo ring headed by Kurt von Heiger (Eduardo Ciannelli). The four students, believing Galt to be an ally, fly with him to Africa as they hope to track down Von Heiger, thinking he is the Black Hangman, and clear their own names on the charges of murder. The four are pursued to Africa by U.S. Army Intelligence officer Captain Ralph Carson (Regis Toomey).

The boys survive a tailspin and upon landing, take Galt into custody but momentarily he convinces authorities that he is innocent. When he tries to contact other Nazi agents, he is revealed to be their ring leader. The cadets are vindicated and receive Air Force Wings as they prepare to join Allied pilots going off to war.

Chapter titles

1. The Black Hangman Strikes
2. Menaced by Murderers
3. Into the Flames
4. The Door to Death
5. Crashed in a Crater
6. Rendezvous with Doom
7. Gestapo Execution
8. Masters of Treachery
9. Wings of Destruction
10. Caught in the Caves of An-Kar-Ban
11. Hostages for Treason
12. The Black Hangman Strikes Again
13. The Toll of Treason

_Source:^[3]

Cast

Johnny Downs as Cadet Danny Collins Bobby Jordan as Cadet "Jinx" Roberts Ward Wood as Cadet "Scrapper" McKay William Benedict as Cadet "Zombie" Parker Jennifer Holt as Andre Mason Eduardo Ciannelli as Kurt von Heiger, alias Corby Regis Toomey as Captain Ralph Carson Robert Armstrong as Arthur Galt/The Black Hangman

Charles Trowbridge as Maj. William Elliott Joseph Crehan as Colonel George Bolton Addison Richards as A.J. "Jack" Hill Leyland Hodgson as Captain Hartley, British Army Ian Keith as Colonel Lee Philip Van Zandt as Herman Klott/Jack Hargrove Joan Blair as Frau Klott/Mrs. Hargrove Selmer Jackson as Professor Mason

Production

Adventures of the Flying Cadets was Universal's last aviation serial. The first had been The Airmail Mystery in 1932.^[4]