The following is a list, compiled by the mysterious Mr. X, of the seventeen episodes in which Superman flies with a passenger in one manner or another.  (It is believed that this list is complete -- if you can think of another one, please let me know.)

Superman on Earth – Dabbs Greer
The Birthday Letter – Kathy Williams
The Mind Machine – John Hadley
The Stolen Costume – Ace and Connie
Double Trouble – Count Von Kleben
The Runaway Robot – Lois Lane
The Human Bomb – Jimmy Olsen
Czar of the Underworld – Dinelli & Henderson
Crime Wave – Walter Canby
The Unknown People Part II – Mole Man
The Man in the Lead Mask – Marty Mitchell
Around the World With Superman – Ann Carson
Flight to the North – Leftover Louie Lyman
Joey - Alice
Blackmail - Bates
The Atomic Captive – Anna and Sonia
Three in One – Harmon the Great & Atlas

Two episodes had two separate flights with passengers: Czar of the Underworld and Three in One.

Close, but no cigar:

In The Clown Who Cried, Superman caught Rollo, but he didn’t fly him.
In Jet Ace, Superman “steadied the ship”, but he didn’t lift it. Tough call.

Many thanks to Mr. X for permission to reprint this list!

For some interesting pictures of flying scene outtakes showing George suspended by wires as well as executing his springboard takeoff, consult Mr. X’s wonderful article, “Super Outtakes” at The Adventures Continue website.  You can even download some test footage of the Shot in the Dark flying scene, thanks to Mr. X!  Check his The X Factor page at the Glass House Presents website and look for “second season test flying footage (1952)”.

As a kid, I was fascinated by the flying scenes in the Adventures of Superman.  How I wished that I, too, could leap into the sky and fly!  I was thrilled every time George hurled himself out of the window of the Daily Planet storeroom.  For me, the sense of majesty and freedom that it conveyed was almost spiritual.

Of course, the special effects in the Adventures of Superman are not as dazzling as some of the CGI wizardry we see in today’s movies and TV.  But they were spectacular in the context of the 1950’s.  When you compare what was accomplished in seasons 1 and 2 of the series with what was done in other science fiction films and TV at the time, they really are outstanding.  The flying sequences in particular shine to this day as an amazing achievement.  And one has to acknowledge that part of the reason why they were so impressive is due to George -- who made flying seem very real.  It is a credit to his acting ability that when he’s up on wires, he looks very natural and makes it completely believable that a man can fly.

Without question, for those of us who are “flight enthusiasts,” the two most important episodes in the entire series are (1) Shot in the Dark and (2) Panic in the Sky. 

Panic in the Sky is one of the best episodes of the entire series. (Indeed, many would argue that it is the best episode.)  And it is important to us flying aficionados for several reasons.  Like Shot in the Dark, Panic has unique flying footage that was never used again in any subsequent episode.  In addition, it devotes more “air time” (pun definitely intended) to flying scenes than any other episode.  Last but not least, this episode has a spectacular variety of flying scenes, many of which were rarely used again: (a) as Superman leaves Earth for his rendezvous with the asteroid in outer space, we see him flying straight towards us, with Metropolis below; (b) as Superman approaches the asteroid right before impact, we see him from behind as he flies away from us; and (c) after the second (and thank goodness, successful) attempt to destroy the asteroid, we see Superman from above, with the city below, as he zooms back down to Earth.

It is understandable why most of the flying scenes that were shot for this episode were never re-used.  That is because in many of them, George is flying into outer space and/or carrying a bomb.  However much the producers may have wished that they could stretch those special effects dollars, they understandably realized that it would be difficult to re-use this footage.  After all, if Superman were to take off from the Daily Planet storeroom to save Lois and Jimmy but then in the very next scene, he was flying into outer space with a bomb under his arm, the viewer might notice that something was not quite right!  Of course, this kind of inconsistency in scene continuity did not seem to faze the producers when it came to re-using stock footage of George heading to the storeroom of the Daily Planet to change into Superman.  In many episodes, George leaves Perry’s office or his own office without a hat in hand or on his head, but by the time he reaches the door to the storeroom, he’s wearing his chapeau.  And sometimes just the reverse happens -- as he is leaving his office, he grabs his hat but by the time he reaches the storeroom, the hat has disappeared.

Shot in the Dark is significant because it contains the longest sustained, uninterrupted scene of Superman flying in any episode.  The “stock” footage of Superman in flight  (which was used over and over throughout the series) is shot from a distance and shows Superman in horizontal profile.  It is  fairly static: for the most part, George’s body remains stationary; usually, the only things that move are his cape and the scenery in the background that zooms past (although sometimes we see his arms move slightly and his head turn to the side).  By contrast, the Shot in the Dark footage is shot close-up and in three-quarters profile.  In addition, it is extremely dynamic: it shows his entire body banking and rolling -- with his head, arms and legs all in motion.

Montage from Panic in the Sky.

Shot in the Dark

Panic in the Sky

Montage from Shot in the Dark.

Special thanks to my MySpace friend, Earth, for giving me the idea to create animations based on my screen captures.  Earth originally took my Shot in the Dark montage and converted it into an animation.  The animation you see above is new and covers the entire cross-town flight.  Be sure to check out Earth’s MySpace page and visit Earth’s website, TRP360.com.

Panic in the Sky: On a collision course with the asteroid.

Panic in the Sky: Impact!!!!  (I modified the last few frames to replace the horrible cartoon explosion in the original episode.)

One thing that has always puzzled me about the Adventures of Superman is why they didn’t re-use this footage in very many other episodes.  Strictly speaking, brief excerpts were re-used in The Machine That Could Plot Crimes and Star of Fate (thanks to Mr. X for reminding me about these two episodes).  In addition, a brief segment was used in Stamp Day for Superman, which was a special episode, rarely seen, and not broadcast as part of the original series.  But most episodes just replayed the stock footage over and over.  I understand that they were operating with a tight budget which dictated that they had to recycle film, but why, oh why, didn’t they re-use the Shot in the Dark footage?  It’s so much more interesting and exciting!  Of course nowadays, thanks to the miracle of DVD, as you watch this flying scene you can clearly see the wires that are holding George up (look closely, for example, at the set of images in the second row of the montage above).  Indeed, sometimes you can see that his cape actually gets caught in the wires!  Perhaps it was the fact that the wires were so visible and/or the fact that the cape gets visibly tangled in the wires that made the producers decide to re-use this footage sparingly.  (Mr. X believes the tangled cape was the reason.)

The Machine That Could Plot Crimes uses only the very beginning of the flight sequence (George takes off, blinks, looks to the side) -- and then cuts before the cape begins to get tangled.  Ironically, the only segment that Star of Fate uses is the part in which George’s cape is noticeably tangled in the wires!  (See the frame above.)

Extra Bonus Feature:

Superman’s Passengers

Superman has a date with destiny -- the dramatic takeoff in his first (and unsuccessful) attempt to save the world.

Panic in the Sky.

Shot in the Dark: Flying across Metropolis, on a mission to avert a subway disaster.

Here’s an interesting fact: Mr. X has pointed out that the cartoon animation used in Panic in the Sky (which I replaced in the animation above with a slightly more realistic sequence) actually came from the 1941 Max Fleischer Superman (aka The Mad Scientist) cartoon.  You can see for yourself by comparing the two frames below:

From Max Fleischer’s 1941 Superman cartoon.

From Panic in the Sky.

I highly recommend the Fleischer Superman cartoons.  They are regarded as classics of animation and are a whole lot of fun!  According to urban legend, it was in these cartoons that Superman actually began to fly for the first time.  In the comics, he would merely leap great distances.  But the animators discovered that when they animated him jumping around, he looked too much like a grasshopper or something.  They argued that it would look much better if he seemed to be flying and voila -- the rest is history.