Whirlybirds

Whirlybirds ran from 1957 into the Sixties, it was a syndicated show with a large children's audience. The show centered around Chuck Martin (Kenneth Tobey) and Pete (P.T.) Moore (Craig Hill), owners of 'Whirlybirds, Inc', who flew their helicopter (N975B) between Longwood Field and anywhere where they could be of help to someone in trouble.

Often the boys would be called in to help the police locate an escaped prisoner, or save some stranded fool out in the middle of nowhere. This would inevitably lead to one of the guys dangling at the end of a rope at some point in the episode. When they didn't just jump right out of the helicopter.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• whirlybirds
• whirlibirds
• helicopter
• children
• tv.television.series
• fifties
• 1950s
• 50s
• 50's

[CarolinaNIM]

I watched this show on weekday afternoons when I was in third grade or so. It apparently went to reruns just after its cancellation. I came here looking for Christmas episodes of old shows. I remember a Whirlybirds episode called Christmas in June, when a little girl named Barbara wanted the guys to take her to the North Pole to ask Santa to bring home her father, unknown to her just out of prison. Last time I saw Ken Tobey was playing a judge on an LA Law episode in the 1980s.

[MultiOmegan]

craig hill is still around made some spaghetti westerns married to teresa gimpera but i hear he's not in good health at the moment bless him.

[justlettersandnumber]

I remember an episode in which they were giving a guy a lift who complained about the noise the helicopter was making. So the pilot just flicked a switch and suddenly the aircraft went much quieter. Even as an 8-year-old, I recall thinking "Why don't they have that switch flicked ALL the time?..."

[jet310]

The predicessor to Airwolf.

[Patracat]

Like so many others here, this was my favorite t.v. show when I was a kid! Often wondered if it would ever be replayed on t.v. like Mr Ed and so many others of its time, but it has never turned up. Thanks for the memories!

[JetMechMA]

It's really really strange seeing these old shows again. There was a time, I think, when they were distant memories we thought never to be seen again. But with the digital age and the rise of the Internet, here they are. It brings back a flood of memories. Amazing.

[DaveWVideo]

"Longwood Field" was located in Verdemont, CA., north of San Bernadino. "N975B" was the fictitious registration number issued to Desilu Productions for the helicopter. These same numbers can be seen in the famous "I Love Lucy" episode where she missed the cruise ship to Europe and was lowered onto the deck of the ship from a Bell 'copter. The mock-up was the same that was used in the Whirlybirds series. Ken Tobey was a great character actor who made a lot of movies. I remember him in "Airplane."

[diddymuck]

most of the success of this show came from its rousing "to the rescue" theme song and the fact that helicopters were not that common a sight in the era of production.

[thundercloud47]

This was one of my favorite TV shows back in the day.

[MultiOmegan]

craig hill went on to make many spaghetti westerns and many films in europe.