Destination Gobi

In November 1944, Chief Boatswain's mate (United States Navy) Sam McHale (Richard Widmark) is aghast to learn that he is being transferred from the aircraft carrier to Argos Detachment 6, a Navy unit operating a weather station in Inner Mongolia's Gobi Desert. Capt. Gates (Willis Bouchey) explains to McHale that accurate forecasts are crucial to the Allies' success in the Pacific, and that his practical experience is required by Meteorologists Commander Hobart Wyatt (Russell Collins) and his crew of "balloon chasers": Jenkins (Don Taylor (actor)), Walter Landers (Max Showalter), Wilbur "Coney" Cohen (Darryl Hickman), Elwood Halsey (Martin Milner), Frank Swenson (Earl Holliman) and Paul Sabatello (Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.). Despite his longing for the ocean after six months in the desert, McHale adjusts to the new routine, although his dependence on red tape and the chain of command bemuses Cmdr. Wyatt.