The Last Flight (The Twilight Zone)

"The Last Flight"
The Twilight Zone episode
Scene from "The Last Flight"
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 18
Directed by	William Claxton
Written by	Richard Matheson (based on the short story "Flight")
Featured music	Stock from "Where Is Everybody?" by Bernard Herrmann
Production code	173-3607
Original air date	February 5, 1960
Guest appearance(s)
Kenneth Haigh as Flight Lt. Decker Simon Scott as Major Wilson Alexander Scourby as General Harper Robert Warwick as Air Vice Marshal Alexander Mackaye Harry Raybould as Corporal Jerry Catron as Guard Jack Perkins as Mechanic Paul Baxley as Jeep driver
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Fever" Next → "The Purple Testament"
List of season 1 episodes List of Twilight Zone episodes

"The Last Flight" is episode 18 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Part of the production was filmed on location at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, California. The vintage 1918 Nieuport 28 biplane was both owned and flown by Frank Gifford Tallman, and had previously appeared in many World War I motion pictures.

Flight Lieutenant William Terrance "Terry" Decker of 56 Squadron Royal Flying Corps lands his Nieuport biplane on an American airbase in France, after flying through a strange cloud. He is taken into custody and questioned by the American base commander, General Harper, and his provost marshal, Major Wilson. Decker identifies himself and his squadron and claims that the date is March 5, 1917. He is informed that it is actually March 5, 1959.

Decker tells the officers that he and his comrade Alexander Mackaye were fighting seven German aircraft; Mackaye was shot down and Decker escaped into a cloud. The Americans tell him that Mackaye is alive and is an Air Vice Marshal in the Royal Air Force, having saved thousands of lives during World War II by shooting down German bombers over London. Mackaye is coming to inspect the base that day. Major Wilson tries to help Decker remember what happened. Decker finally confesses that he consistently avoided combat throughout his service, and that he in fact abandoned the greatly outnumbered Mackaye that day. He refuses to believe that Mackaye somehow survived against such odds.

Wilson suggests that someone else helped Mackaye. Decker realizes that he has been given a second chance. He tells the American officer that there was no one within fifty miles who could have come to Mackaye's aid, so if Mackaye survived, it had to be because he went back himself. Decker pleads with Wilson to release him from custody. When Wilson refuses, Decker escapes after assaulting Wilson and a guard. Decker locates and starts his plane, after punching out a mechanic. He is about to take off when Wilson catches up and puts a gun to his head. Decker tells him he will have to shoot him to stop him, as rescuing Mackaye would also mean the thousands who Mackaye had saved during the Second World War would live, and this is his opportunity to redeem himself from his previous cowardice. Wilson allows him to escape and Decker flies his plane into white clouds and vanishes.