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After Col. Ballinger is injured during a traing exercise, Lt. Colonel Bill Kelly, a pilot, asked to take command of the Sea Dragons by Col. Rebecca Hodges. It is a four person team including First Lt. Robert/Bobby Griffin, a jet pilot; First Lt. Annalisa/ Analise Linstrom, a helicopter Huey pilot, First Lt. Wendell McCrae/McCray, a computer and electronics specialist and First Lt. A.J. Conoway/ Conaway an explosives expert.''''Their first mission is to save a DEA plane whose pilot has been injured in Central/South America. Meanwhile Bobby has started romancing Jeanine/Janine who is Kelly's daughter.

Yesterday, Upon the Stair... (1)

The druglord, Ramon Toledo, captured in the previous episode has a deal.  He will receive an operation and a kidney from his brother, Miguel in return for information.  This upsets Kelly, whose complaints,  in turn, upset Dr. Valerie West.  But the druglord has a hidden agenda.  He has his brother's wife and children kidnapped so he can force his brother to help him escape.  Bobby, who is in the hospital, from a minor volleyball injury, suspects something but has nothing concrete.  Kelly goes with the team to a bar, the Tailwind, and discovers Janine is working there and sees that she is dating Bobby who is brawling with a guy who harassed Janine. Bobby learns who Janine's father is.  The druglord sends Kelly and his team on a one way mission to rescue two DEA agents while he escapes with his brother and Valerie as hostages.  It is up to Kelly and the Sea Dragons to survive and set things right.

Yesterday, Upon the Stair... (2)

When a pilot and his plane disappear with an experimental stealth device, he is suspected of being involved with a militia group.

Freebird

A redhead, who made a pass at Bobby, drugs and murders a Strike Team Cobra for his security pass.  She is part of a group of robbers impersonating Cobras who are stealing guidance plans.  The Sea Dragons, who are unarmed, discover that their exercise has turned real when the robbers murder a guard.

Also Linstrom has a date, Craig, and Janine goes out with Randy after seeing the redhead kiss Bobby.

It's the Real Thing, Baby

The Sea Dragons are called upon when an African ambassador is suspected of stealing plutonium.

Fallout

Conaway, Lindstrom and a third marine are hijacked by two men who have gambling debts.  Conaway is shot and falls out of the helicopter and the others land on a small island.  The third Marine is badly wounded but Conaway's wound is minor and he swims to the island and gets one of the hijacker's guns.  However the criminal whom the hijackers owe arrives.

Meanwhile Kelly, Griffin and McCrae are evaluating equipment from a sales representative whom Griffin romances.  Griffin turns down her pass, however.  The equipment may prove useful when they discover the others are missing and try to go on rescue mission.

Birds of Prey

The Sea Dragons try to protect two foreign dignitaries from assassination on their way to peace talks.

Road Warriors

The Sea Dragons try to stop a biological weapon, a virus called the Grey Ghost, from being sold by arms dealers.  Janine starts seeing an old boyfriend, Zach, because Bobby keeps breaking their dates for work reasons.

Grey Ghost

A man in Kelly's Vietnam unit is burned.  It seems to have something to do with the accidental bombing of a village in which 30 or 40 civilians were killed.  Kelly was in the hospital during the day of the raid.  The operations officer, Joe Damian, got the coordinates wrong, and was tried, but considers himself a scapegoat.  Kelly talks to another man from the unit, ""Jer"" Jeremy Britt who winds up dead from a car bomb.  Kelly gets a photo of the bombing which is a threat that he is next.  Janine's romance with Zach is interupted when Bobby happily horns in using the excuse that he is her bodyguard.

Past Sins

The Sea Dragons are sent to Korea to try and help get a defector across the border.  Kelly's budding romance with Dr. West is interupted by the reassignment.  Kelly decides to help Tomlin, a former navy man whose daughter is missing (she is being held prisoner by a nightclub.)  McCray tries to romance a translator teaching him Korean.  Robert finds out the woman running the nightclub is being tipped off by a pilot, Fingers, whom they thought was helping them.  After they finish their mission the Sea Dragons rescue the girl too.

Bogey Man

When a sheriff comes by investigating a former member of the Sea Dragons who washed out and his possible link to attempted shootings, the team takes leave to investigate.  And Kelly seeks more parenting help from Dr. West.

Acceptable Casualties

The SeaDragons are sent in civilian clothing to investigate who hacked into a military computer.  The ""company town"" they are sent to employs computer programmers and is developing software for the government.   A.J. and AnnaLise kiss, albeit undercover.  (As part of a cover story when they are discovered where they shouldn't be.)

Company Town

During a rescue mission one of the pow's is killed and with his dying words he accuses Linstrom.  She is placed on trial.  Bobby dates a woman he met on the beach and spends the night with her.  By the end of the episode AJ and Annalisa are necking.

Trials and Tribulations

The Sea Dragons are sent to rescue hostages in a Carribean nation but their efforts are endangered when a billionaire, whose daughter is one of the hostages, sends in a team of mercenaries to launch a frontal assault.

Soldiers of Misfortune

A test pilot, Peter Allenson, has problems during the testing of a new missle firing system.  When the problems go unreported he warns Bobby who is about to test the system and he dies in a hit and run accident.  Is there a problem with the system?  Was Allenson murdered?  The team investigates.

Meanwhile Janine finds herself upset that her father is dating Valerie.

Power Play

A.J. helps a pretty woman, Rita Garcia, by preventing her  purse from being snatched.  Then he finds the Naval Criminal Investigation Service suspects him of espionage.  Meanwhile Bobby is competing against other pilots, including ""Hammer,"" for an instructor position.

Game, Set and Match

Agent Catarez asks for the Sea Dragons' help in dealing with an arms dealer, Javier NuÃ±ez (Nunez) entering the U.S. illegally.  The arms dealer escapes but Bobby's father, Robert Griffin, is captured and was assisting him.  Bobby tries to convince his father to help them.

Lost Shipment

A top secret experimental weapon that is missing from a USAF plane is found by a boy, Casey.  The Sea Dragons are sent to recover the weapon but someone else is also looking for it.   In their personal lives Janine goes apartment hunting and A.J. interferes when Annalisa flirts with a guy.

We Are Not Alone

After a bird shatters the canopy of his jet, Griffin is injured both physically and emotionally, and may be permanently grounded.

Stranger, Lover, Friend

In San Diego for a convention, the Sea Dragons must prevent the deranged Maj. Egan from stealing a laser weapon and taking vengeance against those he believes responsible for the deaths of his men.

Great Expectations

While patrolling the no fly zone in Iraq, Kelly is shot down with Griffin in the back seat.  While they try to avoid capture, the other Sea Dragons are frustrated in their attempts to help join the search and rescue.  Back home Dr. Valerie West tries to reassure Janine.

Broken Wings

After Seaton Palmer, an Irish terrorist with the R.F.I. is captured with nerve gas, Kelly and the Sea Dragons investigate.  Annalisa Lindstrom and A.J. Conaway try going on a date.  At the end of the episode Kelly is trying to decide which member of the team to let go due to budget cutbacks.

Not in My Back Yard

Kelly is assigned to train neophyte jet pilots (Nuggets).  Hammer, his second in command; Kate, a bar owner; and three nuggets, Burner, Ice and Spoon are introduced.

Nuggets

Ice takes her first flight with Kelly/Raider as her I.P. (Instructor Pilot) in the backseat. Burner is grounded by Hammer for losing his temper when a snob hits his motorcycle but ultimately proves himself and takes his first flight with Hammer as his I.P.  Spoon's father, T.H., visits.  He surprises Spoon with a girlfriend who is about 2 years younger than Spoon.  Spoon is very rude to her.  However the sparks fly when T.H. takes business meetings and the two spend the day together.

Burn Out

Ice's plane has a major mechanical problem during her first solo flight and her confidence is shaken, Burner is covers up a water jet ski injury so he won't be grounded until he is 100% healthy and Spoon and his father's girlfriend, Teri, start falling for each other when they spend time together.

Solo Flight

Spoon and Teri start an affair. Breaker does not get a S.O.D. for extremely bad flying and then Spoon, thinking about Teri,  gets a S.O.D. for approaching the wrong runway, causing friction. A reporter does a negative story about the treatment of female pilots. Burner talks Teri into staying away from Spoon while she thinks things over instead of staying with him.

S.O.D.

Breaker's plane suffers a hydraulic failure and she dies trying to land the plane.

Stand Down

While Hammer and Kelly go on a top secret mission, Burner and Spoon find they have their hands full when they try to look after Kelly's ostensibly prim and proper niece.  (It is revealed that Hammer was briefly a P.O.W. during the Gulf War.)

Raid on Osirak

Burner may lose his wings for causing a sonic boom while showing off for two women. Also Kate may lose her bar when an underage woman is found with a drink.

Boom

A hot shot German pilot shows off  and annoys Burner, scares Spoon with his (off screen) reckless driving and romances Ice. But he has a problem which may ground him.  Also Spoon gets the wrong idea when Kate asks him probing questions to plan a surprise birthday party for him.

The Red Baron

A young man shows up at the Bucket and informs Hammer that he is his son and that his mother has died.  The Nuggets train to fly using instrumentation only because at night or in clouds after making high gee moves they can get vertigo and become disoriented.  Burner and Spoon volunteer to become judges at a ""talent contest"" (Miss Pensacola).

Vertigo

The Nuggets go to Fallon Air Base to learn low level bombing, where a shifty Lt. Colonel makes trouble for them.  Spoon is doubtful when told he is jinxed after breaking an Indian artifact.  Burner falls for a woman whose abusive boyfriend turns out to also be her boss.  An old friend lodges a complaint against Kelly.

Wild, Wild West

High-scoring Ice is made Strike Leader for a fiercely competitive bombing exercise against missle and fighter defenses.  Spoon is attracted to Gunslinger, a pretty blonde operator of missle defenses. Jackal, still angling to obtain Kelly's command, intends to cheat during the Class Strike. And things escalate personally for Burner as he continues his attempts to help the woman with the abusive boyfriend.

Class Strike

A former Blue Angel leader is now recruiting and he offers Hammer a position on the Blue Angels.  He also begins a romance with Kate.  Burner and Spoon try to play matchmaker between Kate and Kelly.

Meanwhile a retired general who is a fan of Teddy Roosevelt drops by and takes the unit on a fifty mile march with full gear.

Blue Angel

During a community relations day, a orphaned boy living with his aunt is kidnapped for ransom.

Lost

Ice's mother shows up without calling and arranges a date with Col. Kelly, not knowing that he is Ice's commanding officer.  A private propeller plane strays into military airspace and crashes when Spoon flies too close to it.  Spoon is put through the wringer in the subsequent ""Mishap investigation.""

Mishap

Swamp has a loss of confidence both in his flying and when he tries to romance Holly ""of Hollywood.""   Burner competes against a new instructor from Top Gun who can't accept losing even though instructors are supposed to be able hold back.   Pearly, who was one of Hammer's trainers, is trying to requalify in order to take a fleet assignment, but he seems to have lost his skills.

Fox Two

A nugget, flying as wingman, shoots down his lead in simulated dogfighting (ACM / Air Combat Manuevering).   This is called Blue on Blue.  Two women seek Spoon's affections while two pilots pursue Ice.

Blue on Blue

Still in Key West.   News reports have a boat with Cuban refugees being fired on by Castro's air force, a family whom the Nuggets are socializing with is directly affected, and a Cuban ace who met Kelly in the past is flying unusually close to the Nuggets training exercises.  Also, Paddles has back trouble which may ground him.

Cuba Libre

Burner meets and falls for a woman with a secret. Kelly and Hammer try to get recognition for a suicidal man who threw himself on a grenade while serving as a marine but lived while the people he tried to save died.  Kelly asks Kate on a date? to the retirement party of a General.  The Nuggets are evaluated as they go on a ""obstacle course"" (or sortie) ending with a bombing run.

Sortie

The nuggets practice touch and go landings before trying to land on a carrier, Spoon's father returns, a young acquaintance of Kelly's seeks romance with Ice and a sleep deprivation study needs participants.

Touch and Go

Spoon's father comes by with bad news.  The Nuggets head out to try landing on an aircraft carrier, a dangerous and difficult skill to master.

C.Q.

On the carrier, Kristi Blake, an actress planning to play a female pilot, studies and bunks with (and annoys) Ice.  Spoon thinks of resigning. He confides in Ice about his father's cancer.  Burner tries to argue Spoon out of resigning and learns that Spoon's father has cancer.  Swamp is unable to make the trap (landing wires) at night and washes out.  Burner's plane has a hydraulic problem and he is forced to try an emergency landing.

Night Traps

Someone is trying to kill Kelly and Hammer.  Both are shot at, apparently in reprisal for the events of the Raid on Osirak episode.  Burner and Spoon compete for a prized spot on the ""Panthers"" while Ice seems to be getting passed over because she is a woman.  Burner is the favorite to get the spot but he develops a medical condition which may ground him so Spoon may get the spot by default.  The pilots perform in an final exhibition before receiving their duty assignments.

Rules of Engagement

Jack Hightower is talking to Kelly when his car is blown up in Cairo.  Kelly reevaluates and decides he wants to be in a combat unit. Another class of nuggets is graduating.  Hammer, Major Lewis is applying for a staff position with the 18th M.E.U., with Kelly's encouragement.  Kelly talks with Col. Doug Drayton and he asks to be ""the ace"" of the 18th M.E.U.  Spoon and Ice, on the same carrier, the ""Connie"", get orders to return to Pensacola.  On the way back they meet, Burner, who was based in Turkey.  Kelly observes a helicopter pilot flying an attack helicopter, the Cobra.  He asks Edward Turelli (cc), call sign Capone to join his unit.  At a meeting, Kelly talks to many pilots.  The team, the Aviation Combat Element (Ace?) of the 18th M.E.U. is called the Fighting Bandits.  Spoon says Flying Bandits although the patch says Fighting Bandits.  Hogs, Frogs, Hueys, (types of helicopters?/pilots) Cobras, and jet pilots (jet jockeys) comprise the unit.  At the bucket Kate hugs Spoon, Ice

Tip of the Spear

Spoon's car is stolen and, on Kate's advice, he turns to Capone for help.  Kelly's daughter visits from college.  Kelly recruits Cricket to be in the corner of a boxer.

Gypsy Tumble

Burner, Hammer and Kelly are on a carrier.  Burner's plane loses radio reception and navigation after possibly being struck by lightning during a storm.  Because of heavy rain he cannot see the carrier and he may run out of fuel and crash.  Back on shore Spoon and Ice nearly become romantic before Capone alerts them about the danger Burner is in, whereupon they rush to base.

A Wing and a Prayer

Burner returns to shore and Spoon, Ice and Kate exult in his return from near death, but Burner is joyless.  Ice is injured by an explosion and is medically grounded by Lt. Lawrence Brandon, her doctor, until her arm is strong enough to work the ejector lever.  Spoon is jealous of the doctor and is having trouble getting over his near romance with Ice.  Kelly investigates to try and find where the unexploded ordinance came from.

Call to Glory

Spoon and Ice look for a new roommate who can serve as a buffer between them.  They and Capone undergo survival training.  Kate goes out with their training officer, Capt. Ray Hartley, and becomes a victim of date rape.

Officers and Gentlemen

Missles are stolen from the base. Schaeffer, a Marine, saves Ice from a fire (on the ground) but when his burning shirt is torn off, a tattoo of a swastika is revealed and he is suspected of the theft.   Meanwhile Teri returns (this is after the funeral of Spoon's father) and guilt seems to keep her and Spoon apart.  And Ice seems hurt when Spoon uses a toast that Ice taught him on the night they almost became romantic.  (Teri, herself and Capone are present.)

Tattoo

The unit will be learning Burke's Breach a combined attack strategem or set of tactics.  General Burke, a former mentor of Kelly's, visits the unit, but his strange behavior endangers men during an exercise and Capone's career is threatened.  Kelly discovers Burke's behavior may be caused by exposure to chemicals during the Gulf War.  Also, Mad Dog makes a video letter, Teri gets a job at the Bucket, Ice is still wistful and Spoon is tricked by a pretty girl and his keys and the unit's mascot (a stuffed animal) are stolen.

Burke's Breach

A mini mart robbery turns into a hostage situation.  Meanwhile Capone tries to help out Kate with the local mob and her jukebox.

Behind Enemy Lines

Johnny Terelli (Capone's brother) comes to visit but doesn't tell Eddie that he is being pursued by both an FBI agent and a murderous Russian mobster. (Endangering his room mates, Spoon and Ice.)  Country musician Gary Allan gives Kate and Mad Dog backstage passes and sings Smoke Rings in the Dark.  And the saga of the toy animal mascot continues.

True Stories

Spoon gets a visit from an old friend whose lies put him in an uncomfortable position.  The worthless son of a famed pilot causes problems on a mission led by Spoon and Ice.  Capone arranges a photo shoot at the beach house with a bevy of scantily-clad women.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

A reckless private collects some ordinance after an exercise instead of calling EOD.  While doing an inventory, Spoon and Abby/Mad Dog are caught in an explosion and Capone is hit by the edge.  Spoon starts hallucinating (with the hallucinations often referencing a canceled golf game) as he drifts in and out of consciousness, but rescuers can not get to them until unexploded ordinance is dealt with.  Kelly and Hammer try to determine what happened.

On the Tee

Hammer, Kelly and Ice fly some replacement Hornets out to an aircraft carrier and are assigned a supporting role in a combat mission.  Kelly becomes an ace.  Meanwhile Kate investigates her deceased husband's past after she finds a picture of a woman whom she thinks he had an affair with.

Spoiler

Kate finds out he had a daughter born in Vietnam before he met her.  Her husband died just a few days before effecting a reconciliation with his daughter.

Aces

After a helo pilot fails a training test, he gets himself killed, and Kelly is accused in an Article 32 hearing.  The deceased marine wrote letters to his mother, a congresswoman, which contradict the truth and seemingly prove Kelly's guilt.  Spoon, Mad Dog and Capone testify.  Hammer and Col. Drayton offer moral support.

Article 32

After a case of spousal abuse, Kelly goes to Washington to ask for raises for enlisted men.  There he meets Ali, an old flame, and they rekindle the fire.  Ice goes out with Dr. Brandon.  Hammer has a close call.

At Poverty Level

When Spoon's plane malfunctions, counterfeit parts are discovered to be the cause and an investigation begins.  Hammer meets a lawyer who feigns interest in him but is actually questioning him.  Kate's niece, Megan, is running the Bucket in her absence.  Meanwhile Teri handles the estate of Spoon's father and as a result, receives a lucrative job offer.

Busted

After his daughter is injured in an automobile accident, Kelly takes her out on an plane trip to a remote cabin but then the small plane starts having mechanical problems.  They land, but have no way of calling for help and she starts having complications from the first accident and may die.  Hammer, Capone and Ice try to find them.

Also Capone and Ice train in live fire hostage rescue exercises.  Hammer is one of the trainers.

Capone and Ice discover a skeleton beneath their house which they are renting from a hit man relation of Capone's who is in jail.

Crash Test

It's Blaze vs Ice in the Pensacola Shootout where the Marines, Air Force, Navy and RAF all send two of their best pilots to compete.  Spoon is Ice's wingman.   Also there is an opening for a female astronaut; Hammer worries that Megan has a drinking problem.

Pensacola Shootout

Abby/Mad Dog/Abigail Holley meets an attractive man, Mark, coaching soccer and begins a love affair with him.  Then she finds out that the man is already married, and worse, to a marine sergeant air controller whom was under investigation for a near miss involving her.  The man tells his wife that Abby blackmailed him into sex for testimony clearing her.  Abby is investigated and she is to be reassigned.  She must try to convince the woman that they both were tricked by this lothario.

For community service, Megan Ryan is assigned to work for Helen Williams at an agency which tries to give children with cancer one of their top three wishes.  However Kevin, the boy she is given only wants one thing, to fly in a fighter jet and even though she asks Kelly, it is against regulations that he can not override.

Answered Prayers

Burner returns, attached to the ""Special Operations Training Group,"" to prepare the 18th M.E.U. for a mission.

spoilers   Hammer and Kelly talk.  Kelly is starting to come under scrutiny for a promotion.  He has been passed over for promotion twice must either be promoted this time or retire.   Burner, who grounded himself, returns attached to special ops training. Burner stays with Ice and Capone, clashes with Capone, and shares a kiss with Megan.  While training for a mission, Capone is involved in a crash.  He walks away but his co-pilot/gunner is on life support.  The injured man, who just got engaged, dies.  Capone considers quitting but, after talking to Burner, he decides to stay.

Return to Glory

When a peace-keeping mission strands Burner in the jungles of San Felipe with rebel forces searching for him, Kelly and Hammer try to get permission to mount a rescue.

Casualties of War

Kelly returns to his hometown, Marfa, Texas, to be honored.  He discovers two bodies.  Back at the base Capone and Spoon talk to recruiters.

Spoilers   Kelly's estranged brother was the good friend of one and turns out to be involved in murder and drug smuggling.  He used the money to save the family farm/ranch.  An allegedly crooked cop killed one smuggler to steal the drugs and money and was shot and killed by another friend.  The friend who shot the crooked cop commits suicide but makes it look like a plane accident.

Brothers

When fears of a terrorist attack cause a special exercise to be delayed, the assassin sneaks away and becomes a threat to Kelly and Hammer.  Kate returns, considering another's marriage proposal when she gets no encouraging signs from Kelly.  Spoon and Ice's relatonship heats up to the point that Kelly says one of them will have to be reassigned elsewhere.

SOCEX: Final Exams

Pensacola: Wings of Gold is a syndicated American action/adventure drama series based at the Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida.

The Best Seasons of Pensacola: Wings of Gold

The Best Seasons of Pensacola: Wings of Gold

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3