The Phantom Flyer

The Phantom Flyer (aka The Phantom Ranger) is a 1928 American silent Western and aviation film directed by Bruce M. Mitchell and starring Al Wilson, Lillian Gilmore and Buck Connors. The film was produced and distributed by the Universal Pictures. The Phantom Flyer was one of a series of films that showcased the exploits of the stunt pilots in Hollywood. The Phantom Flyer is not to be confused with another 1928 film of the same title, a 2-reeler starring Jack Hoxie. Plot Farmer James Crandall (Buck Connors) is homesteading on a western tract with the aid of his daughter, Mary (Lillian Gilmore), his son, Nick (Billy "Red" Jones), and Isabella (Myrtis Crinley), an orphan girl. Rancher Julia Hart (Mary Cornwallis), is in a struggle with the Crandalls over the water rights of her ranch. Mary catches Julia's men running brands on their cattle and after running away from them, is rescued by Dick Stanton (Al Wilson), a border patrol aviator, who agrees to help her. One of Hart's gang, Joe Calvert (Larry Steers) shoots Nick in an attempted raid and sabotages her aircraft, loosening a wheel that will fall off in mid-air. Dick flies to Mary's aid, taking with him a replacement wheel that he attaches while hanging from the landing gear in the air. Together they bring a doctor for Nick.