The Hot Angel

When pilot Chuck Lawson is offered a job flying for uranium prospector Van Richards, he goes to Arizona and meets up with brother and sister Mandy and Joe Wilson, whose brother Tom lost his life saving Chuck during the Korean War. In the five years since Chuck has seen her, Mandy has blossomed into an attractive young woman, while Joe has fallen into bad company and joined a motorcycle gang, led by Mick Pfeifer. Mandy, who is the radio operator at the small airstrip near the Grand Canyon, hopes that Chuck can help Joe see the error of his ways. Richards shows Chuck that the light plane he is chartering from Judd Pfeifer, Mick's father, has been equipped with an alarm system that goes off when uranium radiation is encountered. Richards is delighted when Chuck takes the job as, previously, when pilots had dropped claim markers from the air in and around the Grand Canyon, the markers were stolen and the claims registered by a syndicate. Richards suspects that the pilots might have been part of the scheme. When Chuck encounters Joe, Mick, the two other gang members, Monk and Ray, and their girl friends, Joe challenges him to experience their world of motorcycles. Chuck accepts on the understanding that Joe will then join him for a flight. Chuck participates in a motorcycle "hare and hounds" race across rough, desert terrain and is pursued by three members of the gang, two of whom drop out and are impressed by his skill. The next day, when Joe joins Chuck aloft, Chuck performs several acrobatic moves and Joe pretends to be bored, but after two "loop the loops" and a spinning dive toward the ground, an unnerved Joe asks Chuck to land the plane. They land in a pasture where Chuck takes the opportunity to talk with Joe about Tom who would have wanted him to be somebody of whom he could be proud. When they arrive back at the airstrip, Chuck offers to teach the gang members how to fly, but only Joe and Mick's girl friend, Lynn Conners, accept his offer and break with the gang, angering Mick. Later, after Lynn becomes Joe's girl, Mick and the others chase Joe on their bikes. After catching Joe, Mick orders him to tell him when Chuck discovers uranium deposits, as Mick's father is behind the claim-jumping activities. Mick threatens to injure both Lynn and Mandy if Joe does not cooperate. Meanwhile, Chuck asks Richards if he can hire Joe as an observer on the flights and Richards agrees, but only because he has a low opinion of Joe and believes that he can be used to pass along phony information, leading him to the claim-jumpers. Chuck tells Richards that he believes Joe will behave honestly. One day, when Chuck and Joe are flying in the Grand Canyon, a plane piloted by Mick and Ray flies directly toward them in a version of "chicken" in the sky, and Chuck narrowly avoids a mid-air collision. Later, after Chuck tutors Joe in short-field landings, he finally sends him up on his first solo flight while Richards informs Mandy, Lynn and the Pfeifers that he expects to locate a big uranium strike the next day. That night, after Chuck confesses to Mandy that he has gone along with Richards using Joe as an informer, he asks her to marry him and she agrees. The next day, when Mandy arrives early at the hangar she finds Joe with Mick and Monk. She talks with Joe privately and tells him that Richards has set up a trap involving the day's flight. Although Joe tells Mick to have his father call off the claim-jump as Richards has police waiting to arrest the perpetrators, it is too late. Mick knocks out Joe and, while the psychopathic Monk menaces Mandy in the radio shack, Mick sabotages Chuck's plane. When Chuck arrives, Mick tells him that Joe has not come, so Chuck takes off without him. Mick then proudly tells his father that Chuck's plane will not reach its destination as he has rigged the control cable to snap off. This upsets Mick's father, who wants nothing to do with murder and intends to radio Chuck to land immediately. A few moments later, in the shack, Joe recovers and slugs Monk with a flashlight and Mandy phones the police. The Pfeifers break in and Judd radios Chuck to land immediately, admitting that Mick has rigged the controls and that he is the claim-jumper for whom they are looking. Chuck is over the Grand Canyon, far from a landing site, when the cable snaps, but he is able to wrestle the plane to a crash landing on the canyon floor. Slightly injured, Chuck radios Mandy not to let anyone attempt to fly in to rescue him due to the danger. Joe, however, takes off and although Chuck radios him to turn back, Joe refuses. Meanwhile, the police arrest the Pfeifers and Monk. Using the short-field landing technique Chuck has taught him, Joe lands successfully, helps Chuck from his plane and takes off. Richards offers Joe a steady job while Chuck recovers.