Air date: September 30, 1960
King Nine, a World War II B-25 Mitchell bomber, has crash landed in the African desert. The plane's captain, James Embry (Bob Cummings), finds himself stranded, with only the wreckage and the ongoing mystery of what happened to his crew, all of whom seem to be missing. The movement of the wrecked plane's door in the desert wind and visions of his missing men serve only to heighten Embry's progressively manic state. Embry soon finds the grave of one of his crew and sees Navy F9F Cougar (Blue Angels) jets in the sky, something impossible for the time. He collapses in the sand and begs his crew to come back, until we discover that he is actually in a hospital bed, suffering hallucinations 17 years after the crash.
Confident that Embry will recover, two doctors discuss Embry's case, which reveals the truth about his predicament. Having come down with a fever just before he was set to board the ill-fated King Nine, Embry had been replaced by another captain on the mission. Embry's sight of a newspaper headline detailing the discovery of the plane's wreckage has triggered survivor guilt, in which, we are to understand, he has hallucinated himself at the crash site. Though the doctors assure Embry that he only ventured to the site in his mind, a nurse, handling Embry's clothes for the doctors, discovers his shoes are mysteriously filled with sand.
King Tropes Will Not Return:
- The Aloner: The bulk of the episode features James all alone in the desert, with only his crashed plane and the mystery of his missing crew to keep him company.
- The Captain: James Embry, who keeps going on about how he's responsible for his men. The ending reveals he had a fever and was replaced by another captain on the doomed plane that day, and he's been wracked with guilt for years, his hallucinations triggered from a newspaper headline regarding the plane's wreckage being found 17 years later.
- Foreshadowing: At one point, Embry wonders whether his experience in the desert is nothing more than a hallucination. The ending proves he was right all along.
- Inner Monologue: Much of the episode's dialogue is James' panicked thoughts when he finds himself alone in the desert with a wrecked plane.
- Laughing Mad: James starts cackling in a deranged manner near the end, when he starts thinking that everything is an illusion.
- Lifesaving Misfortune: Embry turns out to have gotten sick before he was supposed to fly on King Nine, sparing his life when it was shot down. Unfortunately, he doesn't see it this way, instead thinking it to be guilt for not being able to stand by his men.
- Minimalist Cast: Robert Cummings is the only actor in the episode, until the last five minutes.
- Nose Art: King Nine has an elaborate painting of the King of Hearts on her nose.
- Or Was It a Dream?: The episode's Twist Ending, when the nurse finds sand in Embry's shoes, indicating he went somewhere...
- Ripped from the Headlines: The episode was inspired by the story of Lady Be Good, a World War II bomber which crashed in the Libyan desert on April 4, 1943, and was rediscovered in 1958, only two years before this episode aired. The missing crew likewise refers to the missing crew of Lady Be Good, who were later discovered to have perished trekking across the desert under the mistaken belief they were near the Mediterranean Sea, instead of over 400 miles inland. Finally, the date on Sgt. William F. Kline's grave is April 5, 1943, the day after Lady Be Good vanished.
- Survivor Guilt: The doctors say Embry suffers from this as a result of King Nine crashing, and he had to stay behind when he became ill.
- Taken from a Dream: The episode ends with Embry waking up in hospital and being treated for unambiguous guilt-induced hallucinations... but while a nurse is handling his clothes, she finds sand in his shoes.
- Thirsty Desert: Embry finds himself stuck here, all alone, for several hours.
