Classic TV Western Shows - Sky King, Kirby Grant

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Sky King

9/16/1951 - 10/26/1952 NBC
11/8/1952 - 9/12/1954 ABC
From 1959-1966 reruns were shown on Saturday afternoons on CBS
Black and White - 30 minutes
Sept. 1953-Sept. 1954 Monday 8:00-8:30
Aug. 1954-Sept. 1954 Sunday 6:00-6:30

Sky King Cast

Kirby Grant as Sky King
Gloria Winters as Penny
Ron Hagerthy as Clipper
Ewing Mitchell as Mitch the Sheriff

Songbird was his Cessna 310B
Flying Crown Ranch was home

Sky King Theme Song

"Sky King" by Paul Sawtell, and Bert Shefter

Kirby Grant
From the Doug Abbott Collection

Kirby Grant as Sky King

Gloria Winters and Kirby Grant
From the Doug Abbott Collection

Songs Of The West, Vol. 4: Movie & Television Themes - CD

Western Books
Western CDs

External Links
TV Guide's Sky King Page, with TV Listings, Photos, Videos, Exclusive News and More.

Sky King Tidbits

Out of the clear blue of the western sky comes Sky King

Sky King was a former military pilot who used his airplane to patrol the skies of his Flying Crown ranch and neighboring areas. He was frequently called upon to rescue someone in distress.

SKy King was mainly a kid's show from the early Fifties, but Sky King was shown in reruns for many years which is why you recall this as appearing later.
One thing is certain. We all watched Sky King and we all wanted to be pilots.

Penny was Sky King's niece, but yes, in earlier episodes he also had a nephew, Clipper. In the earlier episodes, Sky King's plane was a Cessna T-50 twin-engine "Bamboo Bomber." The more familiar plane was Songbird, a Cessna 310B

Passings

Kirby Grant died in 1985 in an automobile accident while on his way to watch a launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger at Cape Canaveral. He was to be honored by the shuttle astronauts for his achievements in encouraging aviation and space flight.

From the Doug Abbott Collection

Kirby Grant as Sky King

Kirby Grant
From the Doug Abbott Collection

Kirby Grant
1984 Raleigh Film Festival, the year before he died
From the Bill Sasser Collection
For more like this See Stars Today

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