Operation Bodenplatte was a daring plan to destroy American forward air bases all over Holland, Belgium, and the Netherlands during World War ll. On January l, 1945, 17 of these airbases were attacked. One of the greatest dogfights in history will take place as the Americans make a stand at a Y-29 forwards airbase in northeast Belgium. At 9am a massive formation of German aircraft is headed for Y-29. Eight P-47 Thunderbolts ambush the Germans, derailing the initial attack. 20 American aircraft get off the runway at Y-29 to engage nearly 70 German planes. Ultimately, over two dozen German planes are shot down to the loss of just one P-47 Thunderbolt. The failure at Y-29 embodies the failure of Operation Bodenplatte and helped to facilitate the death of the Luftwaffe.

World War I saw the birth of a new type of combat: the dogfight. Aces from almost every nation take canvas and wire bi-planes into battle and pioneer new tactics. German ace Ernst Udet goes 1 v. 1 with Georges Guynemer. Werner Voss takes on an entire squadron of British aces...and American ace Arthur Raymond Brooks finds himself in the dogfight of his life. State-of-the-art computer graphics, first-hand accounts, rare archival footage and original shooting will help to make the viewer feel like they're in the battle, facing the enemy.

It was a weapon conceived in desperation yet horrifying in its destructive power--young Japanese pilots willing to turn themselves into human bombs to attack the US fleet in the Pacific. Witness the first organized kamikaze attack in history on October 25, 1944. In brutal fashion, a US escort carrier is sunk, and a survivor re-lives the terrifying scene. At the same time, the Japanese unveil an even more sinister suicide weapon: the rocket-powered Okha. A Japanese Okha veteran describes the training and mindset of a suicide pilot, and US Navy veterans onboard ships struck by Ohkas, tell the enormous devastation this "flying torpedo" could unleash. Then, we'll explore another desperation tactic--this one in Germany. In the face of the wholesale destruction of their homeland, young Germans were motivated to destroy American bombers by any means necessary, including using their own aircraft as battering rams.

In the face of the wholesale destruction of their homeland, young Germans were motivated to destroy American bombers by any means necessary. On April 7, 1945 a volunteer unit called the Sonderkommando ELBE takes to the sky with one goal in mind--use their own aircraft as battering rams to destroy American bombers. Rare interviews with the German pilots who mounted these attacks will offer an unprecedented look into the mindset of these ram-pilots.

In the aerial battleground of World War II, the P-51 Mustang proved itself to be the most famous war bird in history. Take a look at three of its most memorable battles. On November 2, 1944, Capt. Donald Bryan leads a group of P-51s escorting B-24 bombers to their target deep inside of Germany when he runs into a huge gaggle of Me109s on the attack. On June 23, 1945, Second Lieutenant Bob Scamara takes off with a flight of Mustangs from Iwo Jima. His group is jumped by seventeen Zeroes. On April 7, 1945, pilot Richard Candelaria becomes one of the first Americans to face the jet menace. First-hand accounts, rare archival footage and original shooting supplement the remarkable computer graphics.

In the face of bigotry and ignorance, the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black fighter squadron, shattered racist stereotypes. Their exploits became the stuff of legend. Watch as pilots Wendell Pruitt and Lee Archer, the Gruesome Twosome; score their highest victory in a single day over the skies of the Po river valley in Northern Italy. Then pilot Charles Mc Gee knocks down an Fw190 near Pardubice, Czechoslovakia. Finally pilot Roscoe Brown and the Tuskegee Airmen take down three Me262 jet fighters in a wild engagement just south of Berlin. First-hand accounts, rare archival footage and original shooting supplement the remarkable computer graphics.

At the end of the Vietnam war the USS Midway's pilots and airmen engaged in some of the most thrilling and intense air combat. Six F4 Phantoms launched from the deck of the USS Midway, engage with North Vietnamese MiGs. The Phantoms destroy two MiGs. Watch as American pilots Bartholomay and Arwood down enemy MiG-19s over their home base at Kep. Then flight lead Vic Kovaleski brings down a MiG-17 scoring the last MiG kill of the war. Midway served honorably throughout Vietnam and even in Desert Storm but time finally caught up with her and the USS Midway was converted to a museum and now resides in San Diego, CA.

It's where a pilot can ill afford to make a mistake...but where dogfights are so often drawn. Down to the deck, at treetop level, where the margin for error is zero. Witness first hand the grim and grisly reality of low-level dogfighting. In July 1944, P-51Ds tasked with performing a long-range bomber escort, are jumped by the German arsenal. A wild, swirling dogfight tumbles its way toward the earth. In May 1952, Capt. James Kasler leads a two-ship element in a flight of four F-86E Sabre jets. Kasler spots three silver MiG-15s heading the opposite direction at an altitude of about 1,000 feet. He dives in behind the lead MiG, shredding it with his 50 caliber machine guns. And in May 1967, two flights of four F-4Cs over North Vietnam get involved in an intense dogfight with 16 MiG-17s.