Dogfights

Plot Outline Two weeks after Pearl Harbor, a courageous, rag-tag band of American mercenaries dare to challenge the overwhelming might of the Japanese Air Force. The legendary “Flying Tigers” slash through the skies of China, and help vanquish the unstoppable Japanese. Follow leading Tiger aces Tex Hill and John Alison as their P-40 Tomahawks fight to the death against the agile Japanese I-97 Nate.

August 1942… the Solomon Islands. Heroic, die-hard American pilots of the tiny Cactus Air Force match skills and instincts against top Japanese aces as they battle in the skies above Guadalcanal. Legendary Marine Capt John Smith and Medal of Honor recipients Jeff De Blanc and Jim Swett pit their tough F-4F Wildcats against the relentless Japanese Zeros. At stake - the fate of the Pacific War.

The skies over Vietnam. They fight in a supersonic world, where split second decisions determine if they live - or die. American F4 Phantom pilots Fred Olmsted and Dan Cherry take on the famed MiG-21 - the most feared threat in the sky. And one American, Steve Ritchie, becomes a dog fighting legend as an Air Force Ace. You're in the cockpit with some of the fiercest dogfighting ever seen in Vietnam!

1943...the skies over the Pacific. The infamous Japanese Zero is decimating American aircraft. No allied plane can match Japan's deadliest fighter plane manned by killed Imperial Navy veterans. The American Navy rushes to deploy a new fighter to take on the unstoppable Zero...the F6F Hellcat. The Zero has met its match. Now, you're in the cockpit with legendary dogfighters Robert Duncan, Hamilton McWhorter and Alex Vraciu...their epic dogfights blazing a new chapter in the annals of aerial warfare.

The U.S. Navy's top fighter, the F8 Crusader flown by skilled fighter jocks Paul Speer and Phil Wood, tackles the fierce North Vietnamese MiG over the killing skies of Vietnam. Re-live one of the longest, gut-wrenching dogfights on record as Lt. Commander Richard Schaffert - out of missles and with his guns jammed - takes on a lethal MiG-17 and the best enemy pilot he's ever faced. He's got one chance - the amazing capabilities of the F8 Crusader, "the last gunfighter".

1944...the Pacific. It is one of the most amazing, lopsided naval battles in history: A mighty Japanese fleet let by the Yamato, the biggest battleship in the world - versus Taffy 3, a small U.S. task unit of tin can destroyers and baby flat-tops...ships too weak to fight and too slow to run. David battles Goliath in a fight for survival - with the lives of thousands of American soldiers in the balance.

Showcases survival stories of bomber pilots battling fighter aircraft. US Navy SBD Dauntless vs. Mitsubishi Zero; US Army Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress vs. Mitsubishi Zeroes & Ki-46 Dinah; US Air Force F-105 Thunderchief vs. North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17.

Israeli Air Force Mirage III vs. Egyptian Air Force MiG-17 & MiG-19; defection of an Iraqi Air Force MiG-21; Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle vs. Syrian Air Force MiG-21.

The HMS Hood is sunk, in retaliation Swordfish planes of the British Fleet Air Arm attack the main German battleship Bismarck with devastating results .

From World War One to Vietnam this program traces the evolution of the tactics and weapons used in aerial combat with archival footage, computer simulations and explanations by the pilots themselves.