"Sky King" was MUST viewing when I was a kid in the 50s. Saturday mornings: "Mighty Mouse", Sky and reruns of Buster Crabbe "Flash Gordon" on WGN, I think, in Chicago. And I also remember something I liked: "Sealtest Circus" or something like that (have to do some research). After the television viewing on Saturday mornings, it was get the heck out of the house, go play baseball, baseball, baseball and other wholesome activities depending on the season. Thank God computers and smart phones weren't around. These poor kids today.

WESTERNS AND AIRPLANES, what a great combination they make! As a matter of fact, we'll even go so far as to say that this is a near perfect combination of genres. What with all of the hero-worship for the likes of such disparate men such as Charles Lindbergh ("Lucky Lindy") and Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan that had grown to a mountainous zenith of adulation during world War II, the aviator had permanently impressed his image into the American psyche.WHEN THE AIRMEN arrived in our mythological mirror world, they found that it was already the home of some other historical stock characters. The Explorer, the Colonists, the Pioneer, the Soldier and the Seaman all had their permanent residences staked out here. They had one good neighbor, so typical yet peculiar to the American over-soul. He is the Westerner; being subdivided into categories such as: Cowboy, Gunman, Lawman, Drifter, Rancher, Gambler and Outlaw.SO WITH NO particular fanfare, SKY KING appeared and with him he brought a weekly crossover of story-types. A typical SKY KING Story involved some wrong being done to some one. The main character, Schuyler "Sky" King (Mr. Kirby Grant), with the assistance of niece Penny (Gloria Winters) and (sometimes) nephew Clipper (Ron Hagerthy). To be sure that the audience was reminded that this was an Aviation/Western story, there were plenty of references to "Uncle Sky's" Flying Crown Ranch and liberal use of Sky's plane, the Songbird.SUPPORTING CAST BOASTED of so many of those nameless faces who populated the "B" Westerns and Serials for so many tears. A typical cast roll call boasted of names like: Dennis Moore, I. Stanford Jolley, Monte Blue, Chubby Johnson, Stanley Andrews ("The Old Ranger' on DEATH VALLEY DAYS), Rusty Westcoatt, Frank Richards, Glenn Strange and Sam Flint. There were even some more accomplished "A" film supporting players like: James Flavin, Pierre Watkin, Steven Geray and Buddy Baer.THE STORIES THAT were offered were pretty much standard Cowboys & Outlaws fare, with Sky and Company's getting involved and pretty much saving the day for a variety of Sheriffs as portrayed by many other familiar faces from the Cactus Circuit.IN THE RYAN household on Damen Avenue, in the West Englewood Neighborhood of Chicago, St. Theodore Catholic Parish, SKY KING was a regular. In those days, Schultz would come over to our house to watch with us. His Sister always wanted to watch OZZIE & HARRIET instead!BUT, WHERE ARE you now Uncle Sky, now that we need you the most?

Sky King came roaring into American living rooms every Saturday with action and adventure. The stories were well written for juvenile television fare. The cast usually consisted of minor character actors. Sky was played with gusto by Kirby Grant who was an ace pilot in real life. His niece, Penny, was portrayed by Gloria Winters who tended to overact but exuded a winning personality that everyone loved.This was my wife's favorite TV show when she was a child. We recently watched several episodes on DVD and were surprised at how well the shows have held up over the past fifty years. They are still entertaining, action-packed with good aerial photography for the time period. One with an ecological angle was "The Wild Man" featuring Jethro Beaudine's (Max Baer, Jr.) uncle, Buddy Baer, a mountain of a man, standing 6'5" tall. In this episode, he is falsely accused of trying to kill a driver for a logging company and stealing the payroll. It's up to Sky and Penny to prove his innocence. The loggers are out to shoot him because he has been trying to sabotage their work in order to save the homes of the woodland creatures. Penny, as usual, plays an active role in helping her Uncle Sky.

it's... SKY KING! Neeeeeeooooooowww (plane diving behind announcer's voice) I saw this show when I was a kid - around 5 yrs. old. The shows were syndicated releases shown on my local station. It was around 1959 or 1960 and the series had debuted in 1951. I don't remember much about the shows, other than Sky King wore Western Wear, Penny had blonde hair and they flew around in a plane looking for lost people and stopping baddies from doing dastardly deeds.I liked the plane, a Cessna T-50 named Songbird, but I was a little more impressed with jets at the time.Sky was friendly and Penny was "Golly-gee-whiz." It was a good show as I remember it.