Pathfinders to Venus (1961)

Pathfinders to Venus picked up where the previous series (Pathfinders to Mars) left off. On their return from Mars, the crew of the British space ship M.R.4. intercepts a distress signal from a rocket in orbit around Venus. Manned by American astronaut Captain Wilson (Graydon Gould), it has been struck by a meteor and is fast running out of oxygen. Harcourt Brown fakes a message so that Conway Henderson believes the the American has been forced to crash-land on the planet's surface. Landing on Venus in a thick forest, out intrepid heroes soon realised they have been duped when the US space craft lands. But by the time Geoffrey and Margaret reach it, the pilot has vanished and his cabin has been torn apart by a creature of enormous strength. This was the final Pathfinder story, but some of the actors resurfaced later in Plateau of Fear.