In the Far East, American jet fighters on a training exercise see a mysterious aircraft travelling at a phenomenal speed. Several of their number are shot down before the plane vanishes. A pilot ( Paul Grist ) claims he saw a 'ghost' plane, but his superiors insist it is impossible for such a craft to exist, and thinks he imagined the whole thing. Richard and Sharron chase a lead to the Austrian Alps. A man named 'Krilov' throws an object through the window of their chalet. It turns out to be a refrigeration unit for a plane. Krilov is later found dead. University professor 'Dr.John Newman' ( the late Andrew Keir ) had submitted the design for the ghost plane months before, but failed to get government backing, so went to the East. 250 ghost planes have been built, the only thing needed to make them operational are the refrigeration units. Red China will then have achieved superiority of the air...
Donald James' 'The Ghost Plane', like 'The Beginning' and 'The Dark Island'. features the Red Chinese as the villains of the piece. Before anyone complains about racism, it should be noted that there was paranoia at the time towards the East, with reports of a population boom as well as nuclear testing. China was under the control of Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, who many in the West saw as a despot and a threat to world peace. The paranoia manifested itself not only in 'The Champions' but also in the 1966 B-movie 'Battle Beneath The Earth' in which the Red Chinese tried to invade America via a network of underground tunnels. The 1967 Bond movie 'You Only Live Twice' also tapped into the same vein of mistrust and fear.
Andrew Keir is fine as 'Newman', with sultry Hilary Tindall as his fiancée 'Vanessa'. Tony Steedman appears as a gruff Ministry official called 'Hardwick'. Craig and Richard got locked in a freezer in 'Operatrion Deep-Freeze', here its Sharron's turn. One amusing moment is when she passionately embraces Richard after her ordeal. She has not developed a crush for him, she wants to keep warm! There is a Bond-style finale in Albania as Craig and Richard blow up a ship carrying the refrigeration units. Good stuff by and large, but what happened to the prototype we saw at the start? Presumably Newman has it stashed away somewhere, but we never find out.
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