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Choice Classic Radio Detectives | Old Time Radio
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Midnite Sun Matter 05/25/1958
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Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24,7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care. Welcome to Choice Classic Radio where we bring to you the greatest old time radio shows like us on Facebook, subscribe to us on YouTube and thank you for donating@ChoiceClassicRadio.com from Hollywood. It's time now for Johnny Dollar. This is Bill Chadwick, Northwest Shorty Company. Howdy, Bill. How are things in Seattle? Not bad, Johnny, not bad. You tell me. Have you ever fallen for the spell of the Yukon? What are you trying to do? Sell me some mining stock? No, but there's a mine I'd like to have you take a look at. Up in the Yukon. Well, actually it's across the border in Alaska. It's a gold mine. A big one, sitting on top of a rich vein. Why don't you fly on out here and let me tell you about it? Why not? Shall I bring my own pick and shovel? No, no, Johnny, Huh? Just be sure you bring your Bob Bailey in. The exciting adventures of the man with the action packed expense account. America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator, yours truly, Johnny Dollar. And now act one of yours truly, Johnny Dol. Expense account. Submitted by special investigator Johnny Dollar to the Northwest Surety Company, Seattle, Washington office. Following us, an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Midnight Sun Matter Item 1164 35. Transportation to New York, then a mainliner through Chicago to Seattle. The pilot gave us a beautiful view of Mount Rainier and Puget Sound before we sat down. And at 4pm I was in Bill Chadwick at Second Avenue in Yesler way. I'm glad to see you, Johnny. It's been a long time. Yeah. Hiya, Bill. Yeah, you sit down. Okay. Now, what was that crack over the phone about bringing along a gun? Hell, the men who moil for gold are a pretty tough bunch, Johnny. And sometimes it even goes for the management of a big mining operation. Like what, for instance? Like Universal Consolidated Mining Corporation. Where's that? It's north and east of Fairbanks. Alaska. Yes, even north of Fort Yukon. That means above the Arctic Circle. And what's happened up There. The whole thing sits at the foot of a big glacier. No problem until recently. Now, through some freak of nature, that glacier is changing its course. No kidding. And from the look of things, maybe a couple of months. Maybe a couple of years, or even 10 years. Anyhow, they seem to think that glacier is going to sweep down over the mines, the town, everything. I see. In which case, our company would have to pay for the whole loss. An all coverage policy, huh? Yeah. And it's occurred to me, Johnny. Suppose they've suddenly run out of that rich vein they found up there. You mean that somehow they deliberately caused that glacier to destroy the whole operation? It's a possibility, isn't it? Well, a pretty far fetched one if you ask me. Change the course of a glacier, a few sticks of dynamite, carefully placed. Come off it, Bill. Did you ever see a glacier? Well, why should one that's been following the same path for thousands of years suddenly decide to head for a few million dollars worth of well insured property? Look, go up there and take a look, will you? Okay. How do I get there? One of the company's planes is taking off from here tomorrow morning. They have their own airplanes? Oh, sure. A lot of them. Big two engine speedcraft transports. How else do you think they get men and supplies up there? Anyway, you can go along with it. Okay, okay. Why not? Who knows? Maybe I'll strike it rich, come back loaded with nuggets. Item two, 31 bucks each for my room at the Benjamin Franklin and the night on the town the following morning. Well, I suppose I should have wondered why a big cargo plane should take off from a tiny airport far out of town with only the pilot and me on board. Yep, I should have wondered. Act two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar in a moment. And now for another episode in the life of Sergeant Donald Bellwether, my husband. Good morning, Mrs. Bellwether. Would my lady prefer to have her breakfast in bed this morning? Oh, what a perfect husband. Thank you, darling. Ah, here's the tray with the coffee, the toast and the or. Oh, fine. I forgot the orange juice. Hold the tray, honey. I'll be right back. Oh, darling, what happened? I stuck my toe in a corner of the dresser. The National Safety Co Was right. The what? Last night I read something in a National Safety Council pamphlet. Oh, Reba, how can you sit there talking about a pamphlet when I'm dying a slow torch? Come over here, darling. I'm sorry. All right. Now, what's this about the National Safety Council? Did they predict I would stub my toe this morning? No, silly, it's just a coincidence. Only last night I read the statistics that proved that more home accidents occur. In the bedroom of all places. Not the bathroom or the kitchen or the home workshop. The bedroom. Okay, from now on, when I walk around the bedroom, I'm gonna wear my combat boots instead of these open toed huaraches. Well, that might help, dear, but what everyone should be most careful of is taking medicine in the dark. Okay, my living safety encyclopedia, I will now fetch your orange. Oh, you're sweet. And it's just too bad that you nice men are so prone to accidents in the home. And the reason is because you brave men usually tackle the hazardous jobs around the house. Hey, I'll remember those kind words as I slowly limp back to the kitchen. One thing in your favor though, Sarge. Married men stand a better chance of avoiding fatal accidents in the home. Is that a fact? You know, in one state, 75% of the men involved in home mishaps were unmarried. Well, I'm sure glad I'm married. Because the accident odds are better, you know, because I like my wife even when she first wakes up in the morning. That's my Donald. That's my doll. And now, act two of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. And the Midnight. Within a few minutes after I met him at the airport far east of town. The next morning, Cliff Murray had the big twin engine speedcraft airborne and we were heading north to Alaska. And in case you're interested, $, you're the co pilot on this run. Oh, are you kidding? The only things I've steered around the sky since the war have been Piper Cub, small jobs. You know something, when you get onto them, these babies are not only just as easy to fly, but a whole lot safer. Want to take over for a while? Well, maybe later. Hey, how come you didn't take this big ship off the Seattle Tacoma International Airport? Because of the cargo we have on board. Also it was quicker and easier to get clearance. We're trying to make time on this trip. Boys up at the mine are pretty worried bunch these days. Oh, why? There's a big glacier on one side of the property. Flows down to make the Kanakai River. When it gets warm enough a couple of months in the year to melt that so? But there've been a couple of big ice quakes this spring. Just like earthquakes, only it's ice. And now that glacier's heading for the property. No kidding. That's going to wipe out the airport and everything. Unless they can do something about it. Like what? Divert the course of a glacier. The engineers up there say they can do it, and we've got the stuff for them right here. This cargo we're toting. What do you mean? Oh, didn't you know? Know what? Well, we got enough TNT aboard to move a dozen glaciers. Speaking of sitting on a Potter keg. And this one had wings. But then after the first shock of realization wore off. Well, I even took up Cliffy on his offer to handle the controls for a while. And he was right. The big plane behaved like a doll. By the time we reached Anchorage to pick up mainland food, I was all set to make the landing myself. However, with a cargo of TNT aboard, I was perfectly content to let Cliff set her down, which he did beautifully. Then within the hour, we headed north again over some of the wildest country I've ever seen. Beautiful old Johnny its own way. I never realized there were so many lakes and streams up in this country, Clif. Most of them are loaded with fish, too. Ah, yes, sir. What is it? I said greatest fishing in this man's world is right down there below us. Oh, watch your language, brother. I'll have to strap on a chute and leave you to make the rest of the trip alone. A fisherman, huh? Yeah. You aren't kidding. Yeah, one of my favorite spots. Right. Hey, what's the matter? Nothing, just little twitch in my sight. My belly. Doc said it was appendicitis last time, but he didn't want to operate unless. Holy baby. That was a shark. Cliff, Anything I can do? No, it's. It's going now. Sure hope so. Sure, sure. Just came on kind of sudden is all. Hey, it's time to call the lads at the mine to be ready for us. How big is the airport up there? 11,000 foot Runway. Really? Sure, it's the only way to get stuff in for mines. A hundred mil. Speedcraft 231 calling Consolidated. Go ahead please. Somebody on duty there at all times 24 hours. Roger. 2, 3, 1. Go ahead. We're over Fairbanks on the hour, Charlie. Roger, Cliff. Over Fairbanks at 1400 hours. Then roll out the carpet. We'll sit down between 1445 and 50. Roger, Cliff will be ready for you and that's that in less than an hour. Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. Take sure. Clifford never been this bad before. Now listen. No, you listen. No, no matter what happens, take it, take it easy. I'll tell you exactly what to. You can do it, Johnny. You can do it. Now listen. Act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar in a moment, with your permission, there's something I'd like to talk about for a minute. You know, too many times people try to escape from their responsibilities by having someone else take them over. There was Miles Standish, for example. He was much too busy to ask Priscilla to marry him, so he. He sent John Alden to pop the question for him. You know what happened? John ended up marrying the girl himself. Of course, if John had had a face like a flat tire instead of being the handsome guy he was, maybe Miles Standish would have married Priscilla instead. Well, actually, I don't know what got me started on this subject. And unless it was my thinking about people who represent somebody else. Take our State Department for example. Being a representative is one of its biggest jobs. Through the Foreign Service, it helps the justice and Treasury Departments handle immigration, narcotic and quarantine problems. And the Secretaries of Agriculture and Commerce look to the Secretary of State to help keep their fingers on the pulse of foreign markets so they can keep the business firms and farmers of America informed on matters of import and exports. I guess the only connection between these facts and the Courtship of Miles Standish is that like John Alden, our State Department speaks for itself. And now act three of yours truly, Johnny Dollar and the Midnight Sun. The rest of this report will have to come to you from the records of the airport there at Universal Consolidated Mining Corporation, far above the Arctic Circle, aboard the big cargo plane loaded with tnt. The pilot crippled with pain. I was a little too busy to make notes to scribble any fancy dialogue. Here then is the story as recorded at the tower of the airport. The time is 2:35. Well, there goes the boss's plane to pick up his daughter. Thanks, Charlie. Hey, Paul didn't clip about due with 231. He said he'd sit down at about. Speedcraft 231 calling Consolidated. Hey, is that Cliff? Speedcraft 231 calling Consolidated. Doesn't sound like him. Hello, Cliff? No, this is Johnny$. Yeah, yeah, it's his passenger. Go ahead, Johnny. Clifis. Look, I'm here to take over for him. He's sick. Cliffus. Cliff will give me whatever instructions I need. You sure you can make it, Charlie? Charlie, this is Cliff. Go ahead, Cliff. Johnny can make it. Well, what about that cargo, that tnt? Can you dump it? They can't move to dump it and Johnny can't leave the control. Okay then, Johnny. We'll give you all the help we can from here. Thanks, Charlie. Have you passed the Snake river marker? In about two minutes, I think. Okay, now Just remember, your letdown is on a heading of 035 degrees from that marker. 035 degrees from the snake river marker. Roger. And. Well, now just take it easy, Johnny, and we'll get you down here. Okay, thanks, Charlie. Paul, looks like we may have a problem on our hands. Listen, if Cliff says dollar can bring it down, he can. Just you take it easy when you talk with him, Charlie. Have you got an engineer down there? Yeah, yeah, sure, Johnny. Stand by. Take it, Paul. Johnny, this is Paul Fox. Go ahead, Paul. We're having some trouble getting our landing gear down. So I'm gonna make some steep banks and try to get it down by centrifugal force. Yeah, good. You might get the ground crew to stand by though. Because if we can't get the gear down that way, I guess we'll have to make a fairly landing gear up. Okay, Johnny, I got that. How much fuel have you got on board? About. About £2,000. Johnny, this is Charlie again. Now listen. Easy. Oh, yeah, Johnny, I. I saw you make your pass. It appears the landing gear door is partially open, which may indicate it's jammed. Any suggestions? Paul again, Johnny. The only thing I can think of is try to snap the gear out by a sharp pull up to give it centrifugal force. I've tried that, Paul. Results are negative. All right then. Before we consider you coming in for a belly landing with all that TNT aboard, I'd like to use up some of that fuel. Maybe some of our brains down here can think of something that'll help you out. Okay. Okay. We'll go ahead with the regular procedures and whatever else we can think of. Then we'll give you another call. Okay, Johnny, the time is 2:41. Johnny. Johnny, this is Paul again. Have you tried to. To. To shear the lock pin on that landing gear? Go ahead. Negative. No, we haven't tried that yet. We want to make sure the doors were not jammed partially close. Perhaps make it impossible to get all the gear up again. You know, if we do have to make a belly landing. Yeah, okay. Johnny, have you got full hydraulic pressure? Yes, that's affirmative. Okay. Now the crew chief isn't up here at the moment, but I'll ask him to come up and he can discuss it with you. Right. Johnny, if it does become necessary to make a belly landing because of the setup they have for handling accidents, you might be better off to do it at Fairbanks. Have you thought about that? Talk to Cliff here. He doesn't think they'd want us to try it with this tnt. We've got aboard. Uh huh. Well we'll radio to him and see. Meanwhile if anybody comes up with any idea at all, we'll pass it on to you right away. Okay, I'll give you a gas check in a few minutes. Okay. The time is 2:50. Johnny, Don Wilkins, our chief engineer would like to talk to you. I'll put him on the horn. Johnny, this is Don Wilkins. Have you tried the landing gear handle? Up and down quite a few times to see if it extends any further at any time? Yeah, we've tried it several times. Well I think I'd try it as many times as possible, Johnny. There could be something binding that may break loose. Now there's something on the there. Well it comes off the gear door latches. All right, so it isn't a latch. I'll turn it a few more times. The time is 3:00 clock exactly. Johnny, this is Paul. How's your fuel situation stacking up now? Oh yeah, about nine, nine fifty. About £960. Well, for your information, Fairbanks have advised that they can't take your airplane there because they're jammed up and couldn't clear the field in time. Well, yes. Okay. It doesn't look like we like we'd have enough gears to go over there anyway. Johnny, this is Don Wilk. If you feather the number two engine and then just as you unfeather it, slam the gear handle down. Well maybe the additional torsion that you get may free the gear. Okay Don, we've already tried that and we came up negative. I. I think we're stuck with that belly landing. Johnny, this is Paul. We'll get everything ready for you. Are you VFR in this vicinity? You know, under visual flight rules? Yes, affirmative. Johnny, there's one more thing we'd like to have you try and that is completely un unload your hydraulic system and then try free falling your landing gear. Did you get that? I did that twice, John. No luck with it, but we'll try it again. All right Johnny, fine. The time is 3:28 Johnny. We're going ahead with preparations for a belly lining down here. I see you buzzed the field a couple of times so you know how much room you've got. You think it looks like much from up here. Now listen, we're gonna foam the Runway for you. You hear me? Put foam on it. We're doing it now and that'll kill some of the friction. And if we can get enough on it'll help against fire if you have any trouble. How's the wind down There it's south about three miles an hour. Just light breeze. Well, I want to know in case this thing slides off to one side or the other, right? I don't want to run down any of the other airplanes I can see down there. Not if we can help it. Okay, Johnny, take a run directly over the Runway and get the feel of it. Do. The time is 3:31. Johnny, we don't want to seem in the position here of telling you all your business, but I guess we've got to try everything anyone could think of here. Go ahead on this gear, handle business up and down, throw it in the up position, just leave it there for a second and then slam it down and leave it down for, oh, say 30 seconds after you put it down. You get that? Okay, we'll do that. We hate to be giving you all this intelligence all the time, but if anybody gets an idea, we pass it on to you for what it's worth. But you gotta be the judge. We're glad you fellas are with us. The time is 3:46. Johnny, how's your fuel now? I wouldn't bag on it much longer. All right, they're laying foam on the Runway like crazy, but that foam's only gonna last about 25 minutes. Now assuming they started laying the foam at 30, you should land not later than 55. Yes, well, okay, you give us a word when it's completed, we're gonna make one little pass and take a good look at everything. Then we'll come in and land. Okay? Roger. I got your remarks. The time is three. Uh, hi Johnny. I, I just wondered how you are and how things look to you. Okay, you got a doctor standing by to take care of Cliff? Sure, sure. Everything's ready for you. One comment. Listen, do not, repeat, do not feather the engines when you sit down. Got it? We'll comply. Okay, Johnny. Okay, we're all set. Don, we're gonna make a practice pass over the field prior to the final landing. Okay, Johnny, I won't be talking to you anymore. Paul will take over on your approach and we have, we're all set for you when you arrive. Good luck. Yeah. Okay, the time is 3:54. One minute 48 seconds later we made a wheels up landing. Cliff, the company doctor tells me his appendectomy was a complete success. A hard bitten bunch of miners, did you say? Listen, those boys up in that lonely outpost are the salt of the earth. And as for trying to pull something on your insurance company, well, you should have seen how. Just one good load of tnt put that glacier back on its course. Yes, sir. I hope the vein of gold never runs out for those boys. Expense account total, including gifts for the lads who really brought that plane down. $600 even. Yours truly, Johnny Dull. Yours truly, Johnny Dollar, starring Bob Bailey, originates in Hollywood and is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone, who also wrote today's story. Heard in our cast were Gene Tatum, Frank Nelson, Russell Thorson, Barney Phillips, Harry Bartel and Forest Lewis. Be sure to join us next week, same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly, Johnny Dollar. This is Roy Rowan. Sam Johnny Dollar has come to you through the worldwide facilities of the United States Armed Forces Radio and television. Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24,7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care.