Aircraft and Flying Devices of the Jonny Quest TV Series

The Jonny Quest animated TV series ran just one season of 26 episodes, from 1964-65. Even though the animation was not exceptional, the show had excellent stories, music, and background art. The series developed a strong cult following and the show remains popular to this day.

The show had some interesting aircraft and flying devices that appeared in 20 of the 26 episodes.

Episode 1. The Mystery of the Lizard Men – Top: A jet-powered seaplane searches for survivors of a fishing boat that mysteriously disappeared in the Sargasso Sea. The animation may have been inspired by the real-life Martin Seamaster. Bottom: Government agents fly in a plane to the Quest science labs and compound in Florida to ask for help. Weak animation, but it’s only on-screen for a couple of seconds as an establishing shot, and I have the feeling it was added as an afterthought.

Episode 2. Arctic Splashdown – Top: U.S. jets protect an expedition to locate an errant space probe. The design did not resemble any real-life aircraft of the time, but the F-16 Fighting Falcon, developed 10 years later in 1974, looks quite similar. Middle: An enemy power used a submarine-launched jet. I speculate the animators made the jet pink so that it wouldn’t blend in with all the white of the arctic backgrounds. Bottom: The jet-powered search seaplane is the same one used in Episode 1.

Episode 3. The Curse of Anubis – Left: The iconic Dragonfly is a supersonic transport used by the Quest team in several episodes. Right: In this episode, the team is shown as passengers, as they’d be in a commercial airliner. This inaccuracy isn’t repeated again in the other episodes.

Episode 4. Pursuit of the Po-Ho – Left: The Dragonfly takes the team to the Amazon jungle to rescue a scientist. Right: Notice that Race flies the plane. This scene is used in the opening credits for all episodes.

Episode 5. Riddle of the Gold – Top: Dr. Quest uses a VTOL jet to travel to his island laboratory. The idea may have been inspired by the experimental Short SC.1 VTOL jet. The first practical VTOL fighter jet, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, didn’t appear until a couple of years after this episode aired. Bottom: The team uses a commercial Boeing 707 to fly to India to investigate the appearance of fake gold. The image on the right correctly displays how smokey the JT3D jet engines were on takeoffs and landings.

Episode 7. Calcutta Adventure – Left: The team is in India to investigate the manufacturing of deadly nerve gas. They use a local helicopter service. The helicopter is generic but may have been loosely inspired by the real-life Sikorsky H-19. Right: The villains attack with a twin-engine, swept wing fighter that doesn’t correspond to any real-life aircraft.

Episode 8. The Robot Spy – Left: The evil Dr. Zin sends spider-like robot to a secret research facility, using a saucer-like aircraft. Right: U.S. military jets try to intercept the saucer craft. These are the same jets that are used in Episode 2.

Episode 9. Double Danger – The team uses the Dragonfly to travel to Thailand to do research on a special plant. Race is, correctly, piloting the Dragonfly, unlike Episode 3.

Episode 10. Shadow of the Condor – Top: The team is in the Dragonfly when it has an oil problem and they must make an emergency landing in the Andes mountains of Bolivia. One of the very few closeups of the Dragonfly exterior. Bottom: The crazy Baron von Frohleich flies in a World War I German Fokker D.VII and forces Race to duel him in a French-Anglo SPAD XIII.

Episode 13. A Small Matter of Pygmies – Top: Race, Jonny, and Hadji are flying in a twin-boom observation plane over the Brazilian rainforest, when they are forced down by engine trouble. The plane may have been inspired by the real-life North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco, which was under development at the time. Bottom: Dr. Quest comes to the rescue using a generic helicopter, which is not directly based on a real-life version.

Episode 15. Turu the Terrible – Left: The team discovers a crazed man who uses a trained Pteranodon named Turu to control natives who are mining on a mountain in the Amazon jungle. Benton and Race use rocket belts to fly up to the operation. Right: Rocket belts were known at the time, via the real-life Bell Aerosystems rocket belt. This is James Bond (actor Sean Connery) in “Thunderball” (1965).

Episode 16. The Fraudulent Volcano – Top: The team investigates a secret lab inside a volcano on Tahiti. They fly there using a business jet that was probably inspired by the real-life Learjet-23, which began flying in 1964. Bottom: The villains patrol the area using flying platforms. The devices may have been inspired by the real-life experimental Hiller flying platform of the late 1950s.

Episode 17. Werewolf of the Timberland – Left: The team is doing geological research in the Canada when they encounter gold smugglers. Benton and Race use a hovercraft to travel about the forests. Right: The hovercraft design may have been inspired by the real-life Avrocar joint Canadian-American military project (circa 1960).

Episode 18. Pirates from Below – Enemy agents invade the Quest island and steal a submersible tracked vehicle being developed by Benton. They force Race to drive to a secret underwater base where they have hovercraft (that are identical in design to the Quest hovercraft in Episode 17).

Episode 20. The Invisible Monster – Top: The Quest team uses a hovercraft to move material around their base of operations. The design is somewhat different than the hovercraft design in Episodes 17 and 18. The team goes to a remote jungle island to help a scientist who has accidentally created an energy monster. They use rocket belts to fly above the monster to drop paint on it to make it visible. Bottom: The team uses a VTOL jet to travel to the island.

Episode 21. The Devil’s Tower – While doing research in the African savanna, Dr. Quest learns that Klaus von Dueffel has an evil mining operation, using cavemen, on top of a nearly inaccessible plateau. The team uses a de Havilland Tiger Moth biplane to get to the plateau.

Episode 22. The Quetong Missile Mystery – Dr. Quest and team are asked to investigate toxic pollutants in a remote swamp lake in China. They use a helicopter to get from the fictional city of Quetong to the lake, where they find a rogue general who is constructing an underwater missile base. The helicopter is the same generic type that is also seen in Episodes 13 and 23.

Episode 23. The House of Seven Gargoyles – While in Norway, the Quest team discovers that an enemy power has a three-man submarine lurking nearby, in an attempt to steal an anti-gravity device. Race and Benton use a generic helicopter to spot the submarine hiding in a fjord under a huge ice shelf (bad idea, bad guys).

Episode 25. Monster in the Monastery – Dr. Quest and team are asked to investigate reports of Yetis attacking villagers in mountainous Nepal. The team uses a VTOL jet to get to the remote location. This is the same VTOL jet as seen in Episodes 20 and 26 but different from the VTOL in Episode 5.

Episode 26. The Sea Haunt – Left: The Quest team responds to a request for help from a disabled freighter in the Java Sea near Indonesia. Race lands their VTOL jet on the freighter, where they find a humanoid amphibian creature. It wrecks the VTOL. Right: After dealing with the creature, a standard seaplane rescues the team.

Opening and Closing Credits

The show has excellent opening and closing credits, with scenes pulled from several of the early episodes.

Top Left: This hovercraft scene in the closing credits was a pre-production effort when different characters were planned. Top Right: This beautiful flying platform scene in the opening credits is an enhanced version of the animation in Episode 16, “The Fraudulent Volcano”.

Bottom Left: This rocket belt scene in the closing credits was pulled from Episode 15, “Turu the Terrible” and enhanced with a detailed moonscape-like background. Bottom Right: This scene of the Dragonfly in a desert is in the closing credits. It was a pre-production test scene. Notice the logo on the tail fin, which doesn’t appear in any of the episodes.

List of Episodes

1. “The Mystery of the Lizard Men”
2. “Arctic Splashdown”
3. “The Curse of Anubis”
4. “Pursuit of the Po-Ho”
5. “Riddle of the Gold”
6. “Treasure of the Temple”
7. “Calcutta Adventure”
8. “The Robot Spy”
9. “Double Danger”
10. “Shadow of the Condor”
11. “Skull and Double Crossbones”
12. “The Dreadful Doll”
13. “A Small Matter of Pygmies”
14. “Dragons of Ashida”
15. “Turu the Terrible”
16. “The Fraudulent Volcano”
17. “Werewolf of the Timberland”
18. “Pirates from Below”
19. “Attack of the Tree People”
20. “The Invisible Monster”
21. “The Devil’s Tower”
22. “The Quetong Missile Mystery”
23. “The House of Seven Gargoyles”
24. “Terror Island”
25. “Monster in the Monastery”
26. “The Sea Haunt”