I enjoy watching the reruns of "12 O'Clock High" which are posted to YouTube. However, by season three, I have noticed that a few of the plots were overused...particularly when the leader of the bomb group is shot down and taken prisoner. It happened with General Savage a couple times in season one and many more times to Colonel Gallagher in seasons two and three...too many times. Heck, he's a greater escape artist than Houdini!!!
The episode begins with Colonel Gallagher flying to Russia in a P-51 fighter. Now this is strange and he did it a few times on the show...but I just cannot imagine a bomber pilot suddenly flying fighters and vice-versa. Regardless, the Germans shoot him down and he's a prisoner of war....temporarily. Soon he's rescued...but not by the Allies or partisans but by other Germans! It seems they represent a faction which want to end the war and kill Hitler...and they hope to use Gallagher.'
Had Gallagher NOT been shot down a bazillion times before, this plot would have worked much better. It's just that I felt like I was experiencing a case of déjà vu here!
By the way, in the end Gallagher is in a Bf-110 fighter plane....and by the time it lands it's a He-111 bomber! Talk about a shoddy job of using stock footage!!