In his original appearance, Captain Jim "Red" Albright was a former World War I air ace, now a civilian aviator who would help people on a weekly basis. The syndicated radio program premiered on October 17, 1938. It was created by Wilfred G. Moore and Robert M. Burtt, working for the Blackett, Sample and Hummet advertising company of Chicage for Skelly Oil Company -- the sponsors of an earlier air adventure series, The Air Adventures of Jimmy Allen. In 1940, sponsorship was taken over by Ovaltine and the show was aired nationally on the Mutual Radio Netewark. moving to the NBC Blue Network in 1942, until it returned to Mutual in 1945, where it remained until December 1949. When the show first moved to Mutual, Captain Midnight's original story was altered: now, he had been recruited to head the Secret Squadron, a paramilitary grtoup dedicated to fighting sabotage and espionage both within and without the United States. With the advent of World War II, the Secret Squadron began to fight the Axis powers who were trying to use technological advances to win the war. It's interesting to note that the radio show treated women as equals in this male-oriented world.
1942's fifteen-episode film serial Captain Midnight dropped the Secret Squadron, and made the character a masked hero whose secret identity was Albright. The serial would later turn up on television in 1953 and 1954, airing one episode a week, preceding the television program which aired later in 1954. On the CBS television program, Captain Midnight was now a Korean War vet and the Secret Squadron is now a private organization. Ovaltine remained the sponsor. When the show went into syndication in 1958, Ovaltine was no longer the sponsor but it reaiined the rights to the Captain Midnight name, forcing the character and the show to be rebranded as Jet Jackson, Flying Commando, and any reference to "Captain Midnight" was re-dubbed (poorly) to "Jet Jackson" -- something that both confused and irritated a young me at the time.
Captain Midnight entered the newspaper comic strip world in June 1942 and continued until late int he decade. Although the strip closely resembled the radio show, there were some difference, the main one being that Captain Midnight was now "an unoffical fighter for freedom," eliminating the government sponsorship of the Sectret Squadron. Dell Comics had already published some Captain Midnight adventures in various issues of The Funnies (1941-42) and Popular Comics (1942). Fawcett came out with Captain Midnight Comics for 67 issues, running from September 1942 to September 1948. Many of the comic books adventures were written by the prolific Otto Binder, who was the co-creatror od Supergirl and many other well-known characters. The comic book outfitted Captain Midnight in a tight red suit with a "glidersuit" attached to the side, allowing our hero to kinda-sorta fly. Midnight also used several super-rays, including a "Doom-Beam Torch." In his secret identity as Captain Albright, he had a secret laboratory in the desert. Albright was now an Einstein-level scientific genius.
In the Febnraury 1946 issue of Captain Midnight, a Navy plane is flying over the Pacifc to test Albright's latest invention, an underwater searchlight and cannon. It is shortly before the Japanese surrender. Using the searchlight, the plane spots a submarine but is shot down. The Navy plane maages to pancake onto the surface of the Pacific but will not be able to stay afloat for more than a few hours and their radio gear is broken. At dawn, Albright and Ikky take a Navy blimp in search of the downed aircraft, finding it at the same time as the Japanese sub. They destroy the sub and rescue the fliers, who tell Midnight that, hoping to avoid their inevitable defeat, the Japanese have sent a massive submarine fleet to attack the U.S. base in Parento. It's up to Midnight to delay the enemy fleet in time to allow the Navy planes to eliminate the threat, using the underwater searchlight and cannon.
In Midnight's second episode in the issue, he and Ikky are in the remote woods to test Albright's "Mechanical bloodhound." Ikky stumbles on Eagle-Beak Jukes' vicious gang of bank robbers. Ikky tries to stymy their plans but is caught and now faces death, either from a biullet in the back or from a fall off a cliff.
In the months before the war, Albright is working on his "flame cumbustion engine," unaware that his "trusted" assistsant Mitsuo is a spy for the Japanese. Mitsuo manages to steal the plans and set Albright's lab ablaze. Albright assumes the plans and Mitsuo were both destroyed by the fire. Then came the war and the Japanese are using Albright's invention to wreak havoc on the U.S. Navy. Captain Midnight realizes that there is only one chance to stop his own invention, and takes to the air only to meet Mitsuo in aerial combat..
Enjoy these adventures of Jet Jackson Captain Midnight.
https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=85364&comicpage=&b=i
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