Did you know the six Corsairs flown in the pilot episode of Baa Baa Black Sheep were 60 percent of the world’s airworthy Corsair population at that time?

Baa Baa Black Sheep

On Tuesday, September 21, 1976, the pilot episode “Flying Misfits” of the series that became Baa Baa Black Sheep, premiered on NBC at 9pm. President of Universal Television Frank Price had obtained the rights to legendary World War Two hero Gregory “Pappy” Boyington’s memoirs, and tasked up-and-coming writer Stephen Cannell to write a script for the two-hour pilot action thriller. Test audiences liked what they saw, and with the studio behind it, the first series was commissioned.

Even before it aired, however, the series seemed doomed to failure. Unsure where to place it in the television listings, the series provoked outrage for its storylines and visual content, which appeared to promote bad language, drinking, and womanising in an era that hadn’t yet defined the parameters of acceptable viewing. Its target audience, however, loved it for the unrivalled and dramatic sequences that featured thrilling and dynamic aerial footage of World War Two aircraft in action.

The real stars of the series

In fact, as told by Stephen Chapis in his book Poor Little Lambs: The Baa Baa Black Sheep Story, Universal set out to “cast” the real stars of the series – the aircraft. In the days when filmmakers still used real airplanes, they were forced to use whatever aircraft were available.

From P-51Ds sporting swastikas in Fighter Squadron and T-6s and SBDs dolled up as Japanese Zeros in From Here to Eternity to T-28s masquerading as Communist Yaks in Battle Hymn, realistically portraying period-correct combat aircraft was quite difficult, if not impossible.

While these indiscretions went unnoticed by the casual moviegoer, history buffs and aviation enthusiasts were left rolling their eyes. Such would not be the case in “Flying Misfits,” however, as Universal acquired an incredible collection of warbirds from both organizations and individuals.

Considering that the warbird movement was still in its adolescence in 1976, it is incredible to note that a total of 44 aircraft was used throughout the entire series. This number included 31 flyers, of which there were two camera ships, and 13 static/taxi aircraft. What follows is a summary of the 15 aircraft used in “Flying Misfits.”

From Tallmantz Aviation came a pair of Curtiss Warhawks, P-40N USAAF #44-7983 (N9950) and TP-40N USAAF #44-47923 (N923) and Tora Val N56867. From Ed Schnepf’s Challenge Publications “air force” came Tora Zero N7757 and Kate N6438D, while additional Tora replicas, Zeros N15799 and N15797, came from the then-Confederate Air Force (CAF). Reyline Aviation provided Kate N7062C, and Zero N296W came from William Childers.

Nearly 60 percent of the world’s airworthy Corsair population

To counter the seven Tora aircraft, there were six Corsairs of various models. There were four Goodvear-built FG-1Ds: BuNos. 92132 and 92106. came from David Tallichet’s collection, while the second pair, BuNos. 92629 and 92433, belonged to Texans John Stokes and Isaac “Junior” Burchinal, respectively. These visually accurate Corsairs were joined by Tom Friedkin’s newly acquired Corsair, F4U-4 BuNo. 97359, and John Schafhausen’s F4U-7 BuNo. 133710.

Chapis explains in his book;

‘As the rivet counters will quickly point out, none of these variants were operated by VMF-214 between August 1943 and January 1944. My response to this is, be thankful the series featured actual Corsair because the six Corsairs flown in the pilot episode constituted nearly 60 percent of the world’s airworthy Corsair population at that time. When you add the two additional Corsairs that appeared later in the series, that number jumps to more than 66 percent! It was a commendable feat to assemble that many Corsairs in one place at one time, regardless of the era.’

As for non-combatants and camera ships, the former included Joel Frieland’s ill-fated Douglas C-47B USAAF #45-1059 (N63250) and a brief appearance by a mystery Beechcraft C-45. The latter aircraft included at least one Bell 206 Jet ranger (N200B), the world famous Tallmantz B-25N USAAF #44-30823 (N1042B), and Tom Friedkin’s T-28A USAF #49-1587 (N28DS), which had supposedly been converted to a T-28R-2 by Hamilton Aircraft.

Poor Little Lambs: The Baa Baa Black Sheep Story is published by Key Publishing and is available to order here.

Photo credit: Universal