The Last Flight (The Twilight Zone)

Infobox Television episode
Title = The Last Flight
Series = The Twilight Zone


Caption = Scene from "The Last Flight"
Season = 1
Episode = 18
Airdate = February 5, 1960
Production = 173-3607
Writer =Richard Matheson
Director =William Claxton
Guests =Kenneth Haigh : Flight Lt. Decker
Simon Scott : Major Wilson
Alexander Scourby : General Harper
Robert Warwick : Air Vice Marshal Alexander Mackaye
Harry Raybould : Corporal
Jerry Catron : Guard
Jack Perkins : Mechanic
Paul Baxley : Jeep driver
Music =
Episode list = List of Twilight Zone episodes
Prev = The Fever
Next = The Purple Testament

"The Last Flight" is an episode of the American television anthology series "The Twilight Zone". Part of the production was filmed on location at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. The vintage 1918 Nieuport biplane was both owned and flown by Frank Gifford Tallman, and had previously appeared in many World War I motion pictures.

Opening Narration

ynopsis

A British World War I fighter pilot (Decker) lands his Nieuport biplane on a 1959 American airbase after flying through a strange cloud. He is immediately taken into custody and questioned. After some prodding, he recounts how he was on patrol with his friend Alexander Mackaye, who was set upon by seven German aircraft. Instead of staying to help, Decker fled into the clouds, leaving him to die. He learns that Mackaye survived and went on to become a great hero in World War II, saving many lives in the Blitz. In fact, Air Vice-Marshal Mackaye is on his way to inspect the base.

Decker can't see how Mackaye could have survived the dogfight, until one of his interrogators suggests he got help. Since there were no other friendly fighters in the sector, Decker figures that it had to have been him who saved Mackaye, so he escapes to his plane and flies back through the cloud. Later, when Mackaye arrives, he is stunned when he is shown Decker's identification card. He reveals Decker did in fact save his life—at the cost of his own.

Closing Narration

Preview for Next Week's Story

References

*DeVoe, Bill. (2008). "Trivia from The Twilight Zone". Albany, GA: Bear Manor Media. ISBN 978-1593931360
*Grams, Martin. (2008). "The Twilight Zone: Unlocking the Door to a Television Classic". Churchville, MD: OTR Publishing. ISBN 978-0970331090

External links

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