Black Sheep Squadron TV series

Gregory Boyington was a World War II Marine and flying ace. He was the head of Squadron 214, based in the South Pacific. Boyington was very famous for his heroics during the war and later wrote a book about his adventures called Baa Baa Black Sheep.

The book was turned into a TV series on NBC in the 1970’s and Boyington served as the technical advisor. Boyington was nicknamed Pappy by his pilots ,because he was about 35 years old when he formed the squadron. That was rather an advanced age for a WWII pilot. The series was loosely based on Pappy’s adventures fighting the Japanese.

Robert Conrad as Pappy was a skirt-chaser, rule-breaker and got into plenty of fist fights. He fought the Japanese and the higher-ups in the military. I remember this series fondly. My father was in the Navy during WWII and from what he told me, this series is pretty realistic. The squadron was based on the island of Vella La Cava.

Baa Baa Black Sheep lasted for 1 season and was then cancelled. But other series had failed, so NBC brought back the series in 1978 and renamed it Black Sheep Squadron. Some nurses also got a base on Vella La Cava and young new pilot, Jed Pruitt joined the group.

The show was not noted for guest stars but Peter Frampton was in the episode A Little Bit of England. Frampton played a coast watcher on a remote island.

Jeb Adams who played young Jeb Pruitt was the son of Conrad’s old friend, actor Nick Adams.

Jerry Bragg, one of the pilots was played by the son of Dan Blocker, star of Bonanza.

Nurse Nancy Gilmore was played by Robert Conrad’s daughter, Nancy.