Mario Runco Jr. has worn many uniforms in his life. That list includes the regalia of a New Jersey state trooper, of a decorated officer in the United States Navy, and of an honored astronaut in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He has logged more than 550 hours in space across three space shuttle missions, including a four-and-a-half hour spacewalk. In addition, he has assumed various roles at NASA in support of more than dozen other shuttle missions.
Astronaut Mario Runco Jr. before launching on 19 January 1993 aboard Endeavour
Mario Runco Jr. (right) on an extended spacewalk while aboard Endeavour
For good measure, Lieutenant Commander Runco has also, from time to time, donned the powder-blue science tunic from the original Star Trek series, as well as the later maroon apparel from the TOS feature films. And after his retirement from NASA on the final day of 2017, he added one more outfit—at least metaphorically—to his catalogue: the rumpled overcoat of the longtime television detective, Columbo.
Mario Runco Jr. as everybody’s favorite Vulcan science officer from the original Star Trek…
…and here, in the later TOS feature-film uniform.
In June 2013, a group of Star Trek novelists and their significant others descended upon the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. We all enjoyed the privilege of a daylong private tour of the facility, which included such experiences as meeting several working astronauts; visiting Apollo mission control; climbing through a mockup of the International Space Station; going through decontamination procedures in order to enter the meteorite room and handle material that had fallen to Earth from space; interacting with a human-looking robotic arm; and touching an actual rock that astronauts had brought back with them from the Moon. After that remarkable set of experiences, a NASA engineer named Rob Evans reached out and introduced me to Lieutenant Commander Runco. The astronaut proceeded to delight me by sharing a number of photographs of himself in full-on Spock mode.
Star Trek writers at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center
More recently, Lieutenant Commander Runco wrote to tell me about something he’d noticed while watching Combat!, a 1962-1967 television series set during World War II, and 12 O’Clock High, which aired from 1964-1967. He had watched the shows as a boy, and had decided to seek them out again. Lieutenant Commander Runco pointed out the following about this experience.
“…at that age [in his youth], I was mostly entertained by the guns, machine guns, mortars, artillery, tanks, airplanes, and bombs. You get the idea; explosions were cool. My recent watching, however, has revealed entirely different aspects of the shows. The ethos and pathos are palpable, both not apparent through the explosions of my first encounter with them. The history and the heroics of those who endured the horrors of that war moved to the forefront. While not true stories, they are encapsulations of the stories and anecdotes one heard growing up in the years following the war. Indeed, the Combat! series that depicted the exploits of a squad from the 2nd Platoon, K Company, was called to my mind when I watched the true story of Easy Company in [the 2001 limited series] Band of Brothers. The respective units always seemed to draw the short straw and be in the thick of it. Either way, the shows were and are entertaining.”
While I’ve never seen either of these shows, I am aware of their existence. I wondered why Lieutenant Commander Runco had brought them up to me. In short order, he revealed the reason.
“My viewing paid off in the history category in a recent viewing of an episode of 12 O’Clock High. I should mention that, in watching today with my knowledge of the war in general, my eyes more easily pick up on the details, and I look for accuracy in the types of weapons, planes, locales, and the actual historical references made within the shows, both of which made frequent use of actual war footage taken by the many photographers that were embedded in the action along with the combatants and their corpsmen—the kind of footage that is now generic in depicting the war with the footage of aircraft or the nameless faces of soldiers in settings unidentified save for the theater and campaign. However, given the convenience of streaming video, one can pause or slide the video to easily view a momentary scene where picking up any details was just not possible when one did not have such control as when the shows originally aired. It is in these scenes and in the background of the production scenes that are proving to be most interesting.”
So the lieutenant commander had piqued my interest. I grew curious about what he’d uncovered. Little did I know that his diligent viewing had yielded an unexpected link to Star Trek.
“The title of the [12 O’Clock High] episode was ‘The Survivor.’ It is the 23rd episode from season two and the 55th overall episode in the run of the series. There is a scene at the 1:11 mark, before the introductory sequence, that flashes by in only about 2.9 seconds. A screen shot of that scene is below.”
An image from “The Survivor,” the 23rd episode of the second season of Twelve O’Clock High
Lieutenant Commander Runco continued.
“In this actual war footage scene, to the lower left, one can clearly see the name of the aircraft in the foreground: Yankee Doodle.
Gene Roddenberry during his time serving in the United States Air Force
“Knowing that much of the history of these aircraft is well known and documented, I did a search [on the Internet] on ‘B-17 Yankee Doodle,’ and to my surprise and delight—especially being an avid Star Trek fan—learned that the aircraft, serial #41-2643, was possibly one that was flown by Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, then a lieutenant who could actually have been the one piloting the aircraft in the scene, ironically in an episode that first aired on 21 February 1966, just 200 days before the original Star Trek series would make its debut on 8 September 1966. Indeed, if one could ascertain the date and time the footage that was used in the show was taken, one could verify whether it was Roddenberry flying or not—easier said than done.”
The entire set of circumstances seems bizarrely random, incredibly coincidental, and more than a little cool. And Lieutenant Commander Runco had another bit of synchrony to share.
“Also, in another bit of coincidence, Roddenberry flew most of his missions in another B-17 known as Los Lobos, which happened to be the unit (serial #41-2644) that rolled off the assembly line right behind Yankee Doodle.”
Lieutenant Commander Runco also provided some additional resources for related reading, which I’ve included below.
Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, with a model of the show’s U.S.S. Enterprise
I want to offer my gratitude to Lieutenant Commander Runco for sharing this with me, and then for graciously allowing me to post it for the greater Star Trek community.