It was the rise of The Science Squad.
They were five men, each an expert in a different scientific field of study:
Alan Adkins, expert chemist
James Davis, Archeologist and linguist
Jonathan "Jack" Ivey, mechanical engineer and pilot
Ralf Lumpkin, electrical engineer and radio man
Glenn Walker, medical doctor and amateur biologist and botanist
The five had met in the years between the great wars during the infamous Doctor Satanclaw Affair, and they became fast friends. They traveled the world on a variety of adventures, discovering lost civilizations, combating Nazis, Italian Fascists, Chinese warlords, and bizarre creatures and villains.
They acted as special agents for the United States government during World War II, there the Science Squad suffered it's first fatality when Ivey died. He was replaced by Douglas Mulinski. Over the years Science Squad members would die or retire, to be replaced by various scientists and engineers hungry for adventure.
The last known Science Squad line up consisted of:
Harriet "Harry" Matsumoto: Harry was the team's surgeon and life sciences specialist, who wrote several fascinating papers on the infant discipline of xeno-biology.
Boris Lubakov: The team's chemist, Boris also had some experience with metallurgy. Boris also had a brewing hobby and ran one of the first successful micro breweries of the eighties.
Theo Laird: Theo was the team computer sciences and cybernetics expert as well as an experienced physicist . He also was a decent amateur martial artist.
Lawrence Manning: Lawrence "don't call me Larry" was an expert mechanic and electrician, mostly self taught. Proud of his working class background and education, he was the only member of the Science Squad to never have earned a college degree. He was also a good shot with rifles, gained mostly by his childhood hunting trips in Michigan with his father.
Frances Perry: Frances "Frankie" Perry
was the team's world traveler. She could speak over twenty
languages,
had an intimate knowledge of numerous cultures and could cut through
international
red tape with almost frightening ease. She could also pilot
single
and twin engine prop aircraft as well as small commercial jets.
In 1986 the Science Squad went on their last mission and disappeared. No one knows what happened to them