Dogfights: The DEADLIEST Aerial Battles of All Time *3 Hour Marathon*

American F4 Phantoms streak into North Vietnam it's time for Revenge Mig Fighters have been tearing apart U.S bombers [Applause] now legendary Ace Robin olds has set an intricate trap to lure The elusive mix into one-on-one air combat most elaborate sting in aviation history codename operation Bolo losing state-of-the-art computer Graphics you're in the cockpit as the hard-hitting F4 Phantom takes on the fierce mig-21 in the biggest aerial battle the war has yet seen a deadly air Ambush experience the battle dissect the tactics relive the dogfights thank you [Music] January 2nd 1967 Colonel Robin olds veteran fighter pilot and renowned double ace leads a flight of four Air Force F4 Phantoms on a mission over North Vietnam for months North Vietnamese Pilots have wreaked havoc on American bombers with Guerrilla hit and run tactics now it's time for Revenge olds devises an intricate track to lure unsuspecting migs into a fight he disguises his agile fighters to mimic slow and vulnerable bombers Pilots approached the enemy airfields a thick cloud cover obscures the target area where they expect to find the migs I went past the target for a couple of minutes did a 180 and came back old circles hoping the migs will take the bait I knew they were Airborne but they were underneath us and going the other way so I went further past their Airfield by time and distance and did another 180. [Music] it's emerged through the clouds they've taken the bait one streaks in on old six o'clock directly behind him Captain Everett rasper piloting a nearby Phantom spots the tailing Mig and radios a warning to olds I looked over and I saw the make pop up out of the clouds right behind him and I called him by Carlson and they told him there was a MIG back there olds orders his flight to do a defensive split breaking into elements of two Jets each but the Mig sticks to olds [Music] old and his wingman are here the Mig is here holds three and four man here must do something to protect their leader piloting the number four Phantom at tles up into a steep climbing turn called a high yo-yo in the high yoyo rediker levels his wings pulls up and gains altitude he comes over the top he's inverted looking down at the Mig he turns toward the enemy staying above and behind then he Dives at the Mig the goal come down behind the mig-21 in position for a missile shot he slides in behind the Mig on old's tail and fires mortally wounded the North Vietnamese jet spins out of control and disappears in the low clouds one Mig is down but more burst through the clouds the fight is on the elaborate sting known as operation bolo is quickly growing into the biggest aerial engagement of the Vietnam War for months American aircraft had fallen prey to North Vietnamese Sams anti-aircraft artillery and Mig Pilots bolo is a chance to even the score two years earlier on March 2nd 1965 the United States had kicked off Operation Rolling Thunder objective destroy North Vietnamese base and air defenses smash Bridges roads and Railways choke the flow of men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh trail get the north to abandon support of the Vietcong rebels in the south but Washington has placed restrictions on the American Airmen simple answer to destroying the Mig force was to destroy the bases where the migs flew from at this time the airfields were off limits because killing the Russian advisors at these airfields risked The Wider War the only way to destroy them then was only after they were in the air approach to a Target was dictated by Washington you had to go down a corridor so where do you suppose they put all their guns I was told that the North Vietnamese possessed more anti-aircraft weapons in a 40-50 mile radius of Hanoi that Germany had possessed in all of Europe in War Two so the opposition from Guns missiles and migs was uh quite impressive Moss is mounted among the hardest hit were fighter bombers like the f-105 Thunder Chief known affectionately as the thud Laden with bombs the thud lost its agility and suffered greatly in the face of communist surface-to-air missiles and fighter pilots in July 1966 the North Vietnamese downed 43 American aircraft the highest monthly loss in over a year in that same summer of 1966 the eighth tactical Fighter Wing lost 22 pilots and 11 aircraft the men were frustrated disheartened and walking away over 1400 veteran Pilots had left the Air Force for the fast-growing commercial Aviation sector but one Commander saw what needed to be done and spoke up he was a committed Warrior a double ace for years he had advocated a greater need for aggressive dogfight training his name was Robin olds basically the people who were training Pilots were more concerned about safety and their own rear ends then proper training besides they didn't know proper training anyway youngsters were talked to about all the switches in the cockpit and how to start it and take off and land and dropping a few little practice bombs none of the new fighter pilots were really trying to get dog fighting Robin was about results and if he had to uh fold spindle or mutilate some regulations in order to get the job done he would do it on September 30th 1966 Robin olds assumed command of the Air Force's eighth tactical Fighter Wing at ubon Air Base in Thailand what he brought was rock star Charisma coupled in a powerful Dynamic package that in another era would have been a warrior king So Robin's personality really is what turned around the eighth Fighter Wing Colonel olds will teach the eighth Fighter Wing how to dogfight and get revenge on the mig-21s dog fighting you have to be a dog fighter and olds is a pro in teaching the eighth Fighter Wing he would draw on a vast reservoir of knowledge learn the hard way decades earlier Robin olds cut his dog fighting teeth in World War II in the Skies over Germany August 24 1944. 22 year old Captain Robin olds Pilots his P-38 named scat 3 over Germany his mission protect American Heavy bombers from luftwaffe of Fighters old's flight of four p-38s is on the far left of three squadrons between them they cover nearly 20 miles of sky on the lookout old spot's tiny specks at his 11 o'clock I knew what they were I knew they were enemy because there was no nobody else supposed to be there it's a swarm of Messerschmitt me 109 Fighters there must have been 55 at least 55 or 60 109. holds three and four planes report in with engine problems from poor fuel quality and lag behind but olds in his wingman B.E Hollister pull ahead to investigate then olds makes an aggressive move he firewalls his throttle and races towards the messerschmitts old's wingman Faithfully keeps up olds is about to do the unthinkable his two fighters will take on 50 me 109s but in the right hands the twin-engine lightning is up to the task the P38 was a great fighter fun to fly with a decent pilot you could whip anybody down low from its first flight on January 27 1939 the Lockheed P-38 Lightning is seen as a radical departure from traditional American fighters of the day it boasts twice the power and almost twice the size of its predecessors with four 50 caliber machine guns plus a 20 millimeter cannon the P-38 packs enough Firepower to sink a ship the Germans dubbed the new Fighter the fork tailed devil the p-38's opponent is the small Nimble Messerschmitt me 109 a favorite of the luftwaffe over 35 000 are built more than any fighter in history the me-109 is heavily armed with two machine guns and a devastating 30 millimeter cannon a single hit could shatter holds P-38 38 is faster can outturn the me-109 and is more heavily armed but the German fighter has its own advantages it's better in a dive I could outturn to 109 at the altitudes of which we flew I couldn't dive with him if the German aircraft are formidable so are the men who fly them the German air force is the most experienced in the world some pilots in combat since 1937 have hundreds of kills we had some superb Pilots so you never knew what you're going to be up against I never gotten two battles that were the same olds and his wing man steal even closer approaching undetected behind the vast German formation to reduce drag the p-38s dropped their heavy long-range fuel tanks that they needed to fly this far into Germany and I told my wingman B.E Hollister tanks off went to drops and we kind of Parts ahead I lined up with Kayla and Charlie and it was just about to shoot and both engines quit startled olds realizes that when he dropped his tanks he forgot to switch over to his internal fuel supply so what the hell I shot anyway and to this day I claim to be the only fighter pilot in the history of aerial Warfare to shoot down an enemy aircraft while in the glide mode as that first enemy breaks up and tumbles away olds restarts his engines and presses his attack into the formation I know it sounds ridiculous for two guys to attack that many airplanes but I asked anyone who's listening put yourself in one of those German airplanes one of your people screams that he's been hit he's bailing out every man in that huge Gaggle would wonder if it was somebody right behind him the German Pilots scatter in panic the P-38 speed into the formation of 50 enemy planes holds wingman chases after two aircraft owns in a climbing left turn pursues another messerschmidt then I went on into the fight got another one PE got two of them up here with one pass and I looked down and there was a P-51 where he came from I have no idea the American P-51 Mustang is being chased by two me-109s olds breaks into a steep screaming dive to help the outnumbered Mustang but in his excitement bold Dives too fast holds pulls and turns his control yoke scat 3 doesn't respond his P-38 plummets out of control plunging toward the German Countryside August 23 1943 Army Air Force Captain Robin olds Dives to help an American P-51 under attack but he Dives too fast the speed built up in his dive has rendered his flight controls useless the P-38 is now gripped by an aerodynamic effect known as compressibility it was a phenomena only beginning to be understood by Aircraft engineers and Pilots in the dive olds P-38 actually approaches the speed of sound the air on the Leading Edge of the wing begins to compress as the speed increases a shock wave develops the airflow over the wings and critical control surfaces is disrupted the pilot is no longer master of his machine when the pilot in P-38 was in a dive with compressibility the control surfaces were almost useless and they could pull and yank on it as hard as they could and get almost no reaction it must have been a terrifying experience with the loss of control olds focuses his attention inside the cockpit I saw that 51 down there in Dove without thinking so to heck with the Germans all I wanted to do try to recover because many had not been able to do so but as he reaches the denser Air at lower altitude the control surfaces start to respond he pulls back hard on the p-38's control yoke I pulled so many G's at my canopy window broke out which was horrifying noise and I know it sounds like an exaggeration but I managed to pull out right above this wheat field near the town of rostock with a shattered canopy it's time for old to call it a day I want to go home you know I've had enough but a string of Tracer fire past his nose brings him back into the fight and there was a 109 shooting at me and I quickly turned hard thinking this isn't fair leave me alone I'm hurt all I want to do is go home olds has to make a quick decision he can increase power pull ahead and hope to outrun the German or he can climb to gain room to maneuver but climb could slow him down and give the enemy an easier shot at him olds is here in front of the German olds goes for the extreme he flat planes pulls on the Yoke as hard as he can turns hard left 90 degrees and shudders into a high-speed stall it's the air combat equivalent of blocking the brakes [Music] and the key Force like that I slowed down rapidly he overshot through all the wings level and he was right in front of me so I pulled a trigger down he went it's old's fifth kill he's officially an ace by the end of World War II Captain Robin olds tallies 12 kills during his days fighting over Europe olds learns lessons and tactics taught by his squadron commander the legendary Hub zimke Zemke focused the men on the basics but strongly believed an aggressive Spirit was the most valuable asset of a fighter pilot Now 23 years later in Vietnam olds Pilots eject with speeds three times faster than his P-38 and with an Arsenal that includes high-tech missiles his dog fighting skills and Leadership will inspire and Revitalize the young pilots and instill in them the confidence to rest control of the Skies over North Vietnam all the guys love Robin when he got there and one reason was he came in and said this is the way it is I'm the new guy but I'm going to give you guys about two weeks and I'm going to be better than any of you I wanted every person in that room olds is a maverick does things his way he ignores Rank and assigns flight leaders by ability things change for the better it became a Fighter Wing his Pilots are ready for combat and olds has picked the target the Soviet built mig-21s they're taking their toll on American aircraft and olds Wants Revenge but to destroy the migs olds must fight them in the air engage them and kill them he devises one of the most ingenious traps in aerial history I went to my bar Channel momar and suggested that the maze were getting very frisky as he knew that I had an idea that we could do something about it old's plan is simple tricked the enemy into thinking that his F4 Phantom Fighters are the more vulnerable f-105 Thunder Chiefs when bomb Laden f-105s flew over enemy territory the migs came up and engaged the slower less agile fighter bombers the North Vietnamese Air Force developed a hit-and-run tactic that's akin to Guerrilla tactics where the amig-21s would come in at low altitude pop up and try and hit the f-105 strike forces but then Escape before the f-force could come down and attack them the reluctance of the Mig Pilots to engage didn't mean they lacked courage or skill the U.S estimated that the North Vietnamese only had 16 mig-21s they were very careful how they used them Robin olds and his Phantoms by flying like f-105s using the same approaches radio frequencies call signs and flight patterns hoped to deceive the North Vietnamese radar operators into ordering the mig-21s to attack the presumably easy prey once in the air the American fighters would cut down the migs olds names the plan operation bolo after a lethal Filipino fighting knife but olds needed one more trick to complete the rooms the QRC 160 electronic countermeasures pod jammed enemy Radars decreasing the ability of anti-aircraft guns and surface-to-air missiles to find their targets the Pod was always carried by the thuds but had never been fitted to an F4 so the North Vietnamese upon catching their signals would surely think well these are f-105s it was one more key to the success of operation bolo so in a moment's notice the f4s were wired to carry a QRC 160 jamming pod and switches installing the cockpit to activate them and they luckily had this pod to make the operation bolo work January 2nd 1967 Phantoms from ubon Air Base in Thailand Roar Off The Runway seven flights of four Phantoms each head toward the Mig Airfield surrounding Hanoi the flights mimicking the call signs usually given to the f-105s are named for cars the first is olds the second is Ford the third is Rambler followed by Lincoln Tempest Plymouth and Vespa the fighters depart their home base in Thailand in five-minute intervals to maximize their time to engage migs over the target area the first Phantoms to reach the target is old's flight led by Colonel Robin olds has already been shot down knocked out by old's number four man Walter rediker but more mig-21s burst through the cloud layer below they realized we were not bud and the lead called out these are not floods they're panels what shall we do Mass confusion the Mig Pilots had been trained to follow orders not react by instinct they always had to obey what they were told to do by the ground people and the ground people were in a tizzy they didn't know what to do about it the North Vietnamese have taken the bait olds orders his men to attack operation bolo is about to change the air war in Vietnam please January 2nd 1967. Colonel Robin olds and the other three F4 Phantoms of his strike group streak High over the fukion Airfield emulating a favorite prey of enemy migs the f-105 Thunder Chief in an elaborate bait and switch sting they're F4 Fighters carry an arsenal of weapons built for dog fighting the radar-guided aim 7e Sparrow missile can strike targets at over 25 miles away while the heat-seeking aim-9 Sidewinder can accelerate in seconds to a speed of Mach 2.5 over three times faster than most Jets with more Bandits scrambling from the Airfield below the dog fights are just heating up it's time to find out if olds and his Pilots can knock the vaunted mig-21s out of the sky first supplied to North Vietnam from Russia in March 1966. the Nimble mig-21 was a vast improvement over the mig-17 and 19. it had greater speed higher ceiling and more advanced Weaponry it could reach speeds of almost 1400 miles per hour was armed with a hard-hitting 23 millimeter cannon and two k-13a eight Hall heat-seeking missiles a Soviet copy of the American aim Sidewinder then 21 at altitude was better than F4 if you can get him down low and in a churning battle he loses energy in high G turns so you can battle them down low fight if you will but up high forget it the mig's opponent is the McDonald Douglas F4 Phantom which entered service in 1960 with the U.S Navy the Phantom's two turbojet engines deliver a top speed of nearly 1500 miles per hour it could strike targets out to 1200 miles without refueling though formidable it was designed to intercept enemy bombers with missiles not dogfight the weaknesses of f4 were didn't have a gun the migs were real good at employing their gun the Mig is more agile than the Phantom above 20 000 feet it's smaller harder to spot and has the important advantage of a gun but down low the more powerful Phantom can outturn the mig-21 the F4 is faster and has a better rate of Clive it carries a greater number of missiles the mig-21s that rise and strike at the masquerading Phantoms on January 2nd are no easy prey the main compilence to their credit were very aggressive most of them and it was a great opportunity for us to test our skills old spots another Mig at 11 o'clock he breaks left and zeros in for an easy kill olds fires two Sparrow missiles the missiles lose radar lock and tear past the Mig rate it was with him and fires a heat-seeking aim-9 Sidewinder missile but the Mig breaks hard shakes the missile lock then Dives for cover in the clouds but as fast as one vanishes another appears then there was another Meg going uh 180 degrees to me fairly close so close that I couldn't just make a flat turn and get behind him olds must accomplish two things first he must reverse his Direction and get on the mig's tail second he must create enough distance between himself and the Mig to gain a missile lock olds uses a classic dog fighting maneuver he learned in World War II the vector roll I went straight up when I got up up up I turned over on my back and hung there for a moment or a few seconds and watched it and when the time was right I rolled to my right and he was down to my left so that this role would take me in a wide swooping downward curve and I wound up right behind him holds exploits the Phantom's powerful thrust and soars above the Mig to counter the mind-numbing G's old G suit inflates squeezing his calves and stomach to keep blood in his brain and prevent a gray out I don't think that makes Army no the one that was going opposite my direction if he did he was stupid olds now in perfect position his range only 4 500 feet arms his Sidewinder when I came down behind him I got a wonderful growl which decide when he looks at the IR signature of an airplane the heat heat wave and it speaks to you it kind of mumbles my world power down and if it sees a good heat Source it goes wrong and you know that your missile is looking at the Target so it's very simple all you have to do is pull the trigger the doomed pilot doesn't eject olds has shot down one make but can't stay for more his number four Phantom flown by Captain redeker is in trouble one of his tanks didn't feed I had plenty of fuel I could have stayed there but I wanted to get him home streaks out of the combat zone an escorts radical to Safety in less than five minutes Colonel Robin olds and his flight have downed three migs with no losses oh the second wave of four Phantoms Ford flight screens in operation bolo has suckered the migs into a fight the deception has done its part now the outcome is in the hands of olds Pilots January 2nd 1967 over fukion Airfield near Hanoi Ford flight the second wave of operation bolo engages the enemy Captain Everett raspberry an experienced combat instructor flies Ford 3. spots 4 sa-2 surface-to-air missiles hurtling through the clouds at their four o'clock the sa2 has a top speed of Mach 3.5 over 2 660 miles per hour this missile can obliterate Jets at sixty thousand feet but the Phantoms are carrying the qrc-160 electronic countermeasures pod the Pod originally mounted on the Phantoms to create a more convincing f-105 now gives raspberry a lucky break it jams the enemy radar the missiles pass to the rear below the Phantoms and don't detonate meanwhile the migs now realizing they've been suckered into facing swarms of well-armed f4 Phantoms are forced into a fight some of them are more aggressive than others it was hit and miss others seemed to want to hang around and fight and I think that was kind we were really looking for because it was hard to catch these guys a MIG is closing on Colonel chappie James the Ford leader raspberry spots him I thought he was coming after our lead he kept closing too close so I've tried to get Ford leads to break to the right three or four times and he wouldn't go so I got between him and the Mig the Mig is coming up from James four o'clock when James doesn't break right raspberry accelerates to intercept the Mig the Mig pilot overshoots Ford one and snaps into a high G left turn to avoid a fight raspberry breaks Left Behind the Mig but he's pulling too many G's on his aircraft in order for his missiles to function properly raspberry executes a vector roll raspberry pulls out of the vector roll on the mig-6 00 feet behind the Mig in a left turn perfect position to fire a Sidewinder missile raspberry has to make this shot count he has just one working Sidewinder he closes in on the mixed tail I followed the guy down he was heading for the clouds the mid focused on getting into the safety of the clouds makes a frantic Dash just before hitting the low cloud cover he inexplicably reverses his turn it's a fatal mistake raspberry now has a perfect shot I had the the tone and the headset for the vessel which tells you it was tracking squeeze his trigger and it went like a bullet right in the cockpit with him and then he blew up I almost spun in while I was watching him it was so spectacular first time I'd ever had shot down a Ming and uh so I was excited to say the least Ford flight has scored a kill the fourth bolo Victory so far and suffered no losses Ford flight exits the target area as the third wave Rambler group streaks in with missiles ready old's trap is working spectacularly migs fill the skies but Rambler group faces an added danger more telephone pole sized sa-2 Sands streak through the clouds Rambler is led by Captain John B Stone one of the main planners of operation bolo you got your brain your heart your gut and your hand interconnected and that's what it takes to pull off the mission you're going to be scared don't be nervous you're gonna be sweating your voice is going to go up a few octaves probably first time the Sams come up but that's what gets the ticker going to make it work Stone hears the fight ahead on his radio concerned about attacking friendly Fighters Beyond visual range Stone radios olds to get a fix on his position I could hear it all going on and that's when I'd ask where are you the response was go find your own I thought that is pretty selfish of him at the time but there's plenty left it didn't take Stone long to find his own I looked out ahead and I saw two Nicks later I find out there were four I just saw the two they were about my two o'clock position I was high on them maybe two to three miles out then he and his wingman break right and go into a hard dive keeping their eyes on the nearest Mig at Holland go foresight which trains my radar to look where my pipper and my windscreen is in going boresight the pepper visible on the Phantom's windscreen acts like a gun sight allowing the pilot to aim his weapons by eye Stone puts the pipper at the wing root of the trailing Mig the radar locks and he fires a sparrow missile but it's a dud the sparrow designed to follow the Phantom's radar beam to the target has major reliability problems in Vietnam's tropical weather since the reliability of the sparrow is in the range of 10 or so pods are typically Ripple fire them so that they would hope that one would find its way to the Target fired two more times the second one went right to the wing route of the mig-21 and exploded and the guy ejected then Stone and his wingman spot two more migs high and above it was shining bright shiny silver ones so I turned to avoid those two suddenly a blur of polished silver shoots between Stone and his wingman I just saw it peripherally found out later it was a mig-21 that came through between my number two and he was shooting I didn't even see this I was glad that I'm sure would have scared me to death Stone gets an urgent radio call I hear this voice he's Rambler three said and it's a MIG on your ass break right Stone looks to his right and sees nothing then to his left and sees a MIG 1200 feet away it's 30 millimeter cannons blazing right at him Air Force Captain J.B Stone one of the masterminds of operation bolos spots an enemy mig-21 coming up from behind with Canon's blazing tracers were red basketballs about this being all over my canopy Stone breaks hard left to get out of the mig's crosshairs and I hollered nice Expedition broke into him to defeat this turn [Music] match Stone's turn overshoots Stone seizes the advantage rolls right and reverses his turn in the high G Turn he fights to keep his head up and his eyes on the target Stone expects to see the Mig right in front of you the mig's not there I don't see number two so I start another turn and I'm in this hard turn to light the burners stones lost sight of his wingman and the enemy Mig a potentially fatal mistake the turn and searches the sky spots his wingman engaging one of the migs when I broke this way he couldn't recover but he did a high G barrel roll and he saw the ones that I was looking at a few minutes before Lawrence Glenn his wingman does a perfect barrel roll he noses up rolls right goes inverted and rolls back down behind the Mig the move has widened the distance between Glenn and the Mig allowing him to gain a missile lock Glenn fires a sparrow Philip comey's flying Rambler four goes after two more Mings Phil comes had picked up those other two migs that I had not seen the first time and he had a little engagement with them and he shot down one out of that flight Stone finds no Targets in sight then Sam missiles rock it up through the low clouds I called egress meaning let's go let's get the hell out of here we got everybody together it was time to go Rambler flight turns back toward home base in Thailand they've engaged six migs obliterating three the four remaining bolo flights arrived too late for Action the migs have Cut and Run the heavy undercast masks their escape I found out later that for all the talking with the migs and their controllers on the ground told them get in the clouds and that's what happened all the migs went into the clouds and it was all over back at ubon Air Base the ground Crews eagerly await the Phantom's return foreign those guys on the ground now see the results and when the canopies come open and people start holding up one and two fingers indicating big kills the place erupts it's a party olds and his men have won a huge victory in just 13 minutes they downed seven migs operation bolo shot down seven mig-21s which may not seem very high but to put in perspective the North Vietnamese Air Force only had about 12 to 16 mig-21s at the time so they lost about half their mig-21 Force kill total of any mission in the Vietnam War so far with no American losses but the results reach much wider than the destruction of so many of the enemies prized mig-21s from The Wider perspective of the air War as a whole it forced the North Vietnamese to pull back regroup and to scratch their heads and figure what in the world happened today and how do we prevent that from happening again you kind of put a damper on the Mig activities for quite a while quite a while but the main thing I think that bolo did was it was exhilarating for all fighter pilots that we finally got to do something [Music] it's rarely seen interview shortly after the battle for olds sums up operation Bolo deliberately planned fightersweet went just as we'd hoped the mix came up it makes we're aggressive we Tangled they lost olds receives his third silver star during his tour in Vietnam holds Downs three more migs the total of 17 kills 13 in World War II and four in Vietnam becomes a triple Ace one of the greatest commanders and fighter pilots the Air Force has known no two engagements which I really prefer to call them are the same ever you think you got it down pat but it's always something different it's always something that will surprise you or demand of you flexibility innovation still in his Fighter Wing turn them into the premier Mig killing outfit in the Vietnam War with a wartime total of 38 aerial kills olds was promoted to Brigadier General in May 1968 and retired from the Air Force in 1973. combat veterans like Robin olds relentlessly stressed the fundamentals the Air Force re-learned and mastered the art of the dogfight December 1950 jet fighters Roar across the skies above Korea for half a century dogfights have been won or lost with propeller plans driven by piston engines now for the first time in history swept Wing Fighters with jet engines Slug It Out at extreme altitudes and near supersonic speeds American f-86 Sabers head to head against the Communist males contrails will write a new chapter in the annals of air Warfare in a place called Mig alley experience the battle dissect the tactics relive the dog fights [Music] August 5th 1952 [Music] four U.S Air Force f-86 Sabers move into the Hostile Skies of MiG alley above Northwest Korea two years Nimble russian-built mig-15 Fighters have been darting from sanctuaries in China challenging American bombers and Fighters the saber flight is led by Captain Robinson Reisner his mission is to find the migs and kill thank you all eyes are outside the cockpit scanning searching for a contrail a Tell-Tale flash of metal suddenly there they are eight silver migs passing left to right a thousand feet below perfect setup Too Perfect I can still remember seeing those migs below me that was unusual anytime you saw me below you it was an exciting thing but we learned quickly to suspect the situation Reisner instinctively calls check six is wingman responds lead we've got mix at three o'clock six migs scream in from overhead lethal Cannon flashing the Sabers are in a trap now they are the prey Reisner calls a right break the Sabers stand on One Wing pull hard around neck muscles strain to keep heads upright against the heavy pull of G Sabers turn into the face of the enemy Reisner is screaming headlong into his first life and death Encounters in Mig alley two years earlier on June 25th 1950 the North Korean People's Army swarmed across the 38th parallel the dividing line between the Communist North and the Republic of South Korea U.S armed forces under United Nations auspices are committed to the fight the North Koreans have the Manpower and tanks but their primitive Air Force is quickly shot to ribbons American aircraft are free to roam the skies communist troop concentrations and supply lines are relentlessly pounded from the air it had a great effect because we were able in a lot of circumstances to either curtail or certainly decrease the amount of enemy Army activity but then in November 1950 the Americans are stunned by the appearance of new soviet-built mig-15 jet fighters with a top speed of 670 miles per hour the Mig is 100 miles per hour faster than older f80 and f-84 jets in Korea the critical Air Supremacy achieved early in the war is now in jeopardy the Mig was built as a point Interceptor it was light it had a lighter Wing loading that it didn't carry as much fuel which limited the range but made it very good for climbing purposes and turning purposes it was optimized to shoot down b-29s that's why it had the heavy Cannon Armament that it did 223 millimeters and a 37 millimeter the cannon was really a surprising weapon if the guy was within about seven or eight hundred feet behind you and he fired it you could feel the vibration with the rudder pedals when that happened to you you knew you better do something pretty quick left or right but don't stay where you are the mig-15s dashed from bases in China just across the North Korean border any aircraft venturing into a 6 000 square mile slice of air space above Northwest Korea is vulnerable American Airmen call it Mig alley it is here that the fiercest air battles of the Korean War will be etched across the cold blue sky [Music] Air Force rushes the fourth fighter Interceptor Wing to Korea fourth is equipped with the new f-86a saber jet the only airplane in the western Arsenal that approaches the mig's capabilities the f-86 was my very favorite plane that I've ever flown which I used to kiddingly call my little sports car the f-86 was a pure fighter it was not intended to intercept or shoot down enemy bombers but it was meant to take on enemy Fighters destroy them and achieve air superiority the saber is a strong maneuverable and stable gun platform the very qualities needed in a good fighter aircraft although the saber is slightly faster in the crucial areas of rate of climb and altitude the Mig is superior that's assuming that you got the same Pilots operating both of them one of the main things that we enjoyed over the Communist aircraft was that our Pilots were better trained and we had better tactics eventually f-86s launched their first combat air patrols into Mig alley in December 1950. Captain Bruce Hinton takes first blood for the saber on December 17th the f-86s do well but there are 400 migs based across the yalu in 1950 there are fewer than 50 Sabers in Korea even though outnumbered the experience and a spree of the saber Pilots makes the critical difference in Mig alley [Music] it's called flight suit attitude Robbie Reisner has it arriving in Korea in the spring of 1952 reisner's flying skills are quickly recognized soon advances to flight lead status today in Mig Allen reisner's saber flight has just been jumped by eight mig-15s they normally had high escort my wingman called out we had more Megs coming in on our three o'clock position making a pass on us the migs are higher and have the speed advantage Sabers continue straight and level they present broadside targets to the migs they turn left the migs will attack from the rear eisner's only option is to turn directly into the attackers presenting a smaller cross-section while forcing the migs to overshoot Reisner calls a hard break into the maze being a typical fighter pilot flying that wonderful f-86 we weren't really concerned about these guys we didn't want them to hit us though so we broke into them made a high G turn into them the abrupt maneuver derails the Ambush two migs overshoot and Street by [Music] the f-86's reverse as the migs dive at the Americans the Sabers make a hard climbing turn directly into them the migs overshoot the Sabers then reverse their Direction putting them on their attackers six o'clock the tables have turned within seconds the Hallmark of jet age combat in Mig alley I took Palin Charlie because he's the closest one to me when I put the pepper on a tail pot pull the triggers he lit up like a Christmas tree you see we had armor piercing incendiary bullets in those 650 caliber machine guns the burst riddles the bandits engine the Mig pulls into a climbing turn and a desperate attempt to shake his Tormentor trailing smoke the Mig claws for altitude smoke suddenly stops his engine quits the pig hosts upward bleeding off airspeed reisner's f-86 shudders as he chops power and Pops his speed brakes to stay in trail the Mig hangs suspended motionless then drops off into a spin the f-86 buckets as it too loses energy and enters a storm Reisner kicks in left Rudder nose is over fires another burst into the spiraling Mig only 300 feet away it was a thrill to hear those guns chattering because something was going to happen up in front and sure enough it did 50 caliber armor-piercing incendiary rounds slammed into the mig's AFT fuselage the vertical stabilizer is blown clear away the Mig pilot ejects the fight is over it is reisner's first kill I tell you that was a grand feeling we were doing what we were assigned to do and that was to knock every big down we could and that's what I did right it's just a Prelude four months later Reisner will lock horns with the best pilot he's ever seen in one of the most heart-stopping Encounters of MiG alley September 15 1952. Captain Robbie Reisner is leading a flight of four f-86s into Mig out four months since his first kill in the effort to maintain Air Supremacy in the mid infested area Sabers are escorting f-84 fighter bombers to an industrial area near the mouth of the Yahoo River the mission profile puts reisner's flight into a protective orbit for what is normally prohibited Chinese airspace and directly above the largest concentration of MiG airfields in Manchuria Midway into their protective sweep the Sabers run into four migs the migs bank away as if retreated from the area but Reisner suspects a trick he continues tracking the enemy Fighters sure enough the migs turned back they're heading for the bombers the migs are initiating one of the Korean War's most remarkable encounters although at maximum range the Sabers radar-ranging Gun Site finds the target with deadly efficiency one of the technological advantages that the f-86 had over the Meg as opposed to aerodynamic features was that the 86 had a radar-ranging gun site and that meant that saber pilot could get a fast accurate tracking Solution on a maneuvering enemy Target and it would automatically compensate for the ballistic drop of those 50 caliber rounds and when it was working properly it was deadly accurate because the first round would likely impact on target reisner's machine guns shatter the mig's canopy [Music] the other three migs run away Reisner covered by his wingman counters the mig's turn fires another burst the Mig initiates violent evasive action in an attempt to get Reisner off his tail he noses over into a dive rolls inverted then rolls again the Mig pilot demonstrates superb Mastery of his machine he will put reisner's flying skills to the ultimate test this is a special breed of aviator when migs first encountered Sabers in 1950 they usually made diving attacks from higher altitudes you rarely maneuvered or turned into the f-86s to fire another burst this was largely due to the inexperience of the Communist Pilots as well as the mig's limited range but there was another reason Moscow and P King needed to hide the identities of their Airmen the Soviets were using Mig alley as a clandestine training Arena Russian Pilots couldn't fly within 60 miles of U.N lines or over the Yellow Sea for fear of being picked up and their true identities revealed the Russians even strafed one of their own pilots who had parachuted into the ocean summer of 1951 the Soviets changed their tactics replacing trainees with instructors and high-time fighter pilots Veterans of the Great Patriotic War the Americans call them honchos Japanese slang for Big Shot and they are good today Reisner is tangling with a honcho he will never forget Mig was so aggressive he also was so well trained he did not intend for me to get right behind him and shoot him down so what he did was he turned that thing upside down as for this that means he reversed his Direction the split s is a commonly used fighter reversal technique the aircraft rolls inverted and Dives pulling out in the opposite direction we were so low and I was I was sure he wasn't going to make it and I said to my wingman this is going to be the easiest kill I ever had well it turned out this guy made it there should have been a fireball but the Mig recovers miraculously into a dry riverbed Reisner watches in disbelief as the Mig twists and turns right on the deck he was so close to the ground he hit rocks and debris I meanwhile had managed to get in behind him I got dents all over my airplane where he knocked rocks blew rocks up off of the Riverbend well from there on it wasn't a real fight this guy was some pilot Reisner can barely keep the stick in his hands as he's thumped hard by the mixed jet wash the Mig flies like a banshee trying to force the saber to overshoot which will expose riser to the mig's cannon Reisner counters by Rolling his jet over the Mig bleeding off air speed while keeping on his adversaries six o'clock then the Mig firewalls the throttle and accelerates away in a hard turn pulling maximum G he took me on a mad race and I'd get in the shot AMA once a while we were tenacious as a bulldog loose the Mig reverses his turn another burst from Reisner parts of the tail fly off the fuselage begins to smoke Weisner can't believe his eyes the Mig goes inverted pushes vertically up the side of a mountain and over the top when that happens you're putting negative G's on your body your eyeballs pop out about this four the blood rushes to your head you can get rid out I wouldn't even attempt it I have to do a half roll on pull down again in the riverbed Mig chops power Reisner reacts instinctively to slow with the Mig I coach it right up beside him wingtip wing dip I looked into his cockpit he looked her into my cockpit he raised his fish and shook it at me and I thought man this is like the movies but it's not a movie The Mig suddenly bangs to the right Reisner has snapped back to the moment black puffs of anti-aircraft fire fill the sky has led them directly over a Chinese Air Base [Music] September 15 1952 A desperate but enormously skilled Mig pilot has led Robbie Reiner and his wingman on a wild twisting Chase all the way to his home base 35 miles inside China and the aircraft fire surrounds the sabers [Music] he was so low he'd rolling dust off the Runway he must have called ahead and said shoot these guys off of my tail the wing man's name was Joe Logan then he said hey leads are shooting us when they certainly were and the guns were shooting from everywhere like explosions all around us but it didn't concern me enough to turn him loose I'll guarantee I was behind him and that's where I was going to stay and I did Reisner can't drop low enough for a clean shot the Mig runs out of options pulls up sharply into a climbing turn when he ran out of Runway and he pulled up I was able to get angle off which I needed I hit him heavy the mig's wing is shredded by the saber's guns [Music] his only chance for survival is to land immediately forcing or spiking the jet onto the ground and hope for the best Reisner has another idea he never put his gear down he made a 180 degree turn and when he was headed back down it looked like he was laying beside the runway not on the runway and the grass well I poured all my ammunition into him at that time 350 caliber I had was chattering he never completely leveled off the Mig slams into the ground and explodes hashar's of burning metal and debris sliced through a line of parked migs reisner's wingman exults at the fiery spectacle I know Joe Logan was so enthusiastic he said hey lead you just destroyed the Air Force a wonderful sight the whole engagement has lasted some five minutes the Mig is destroyed but the mission is far from over the Sabers must run a gauntlet of deadly radar-controlled anti-aircraft artillery to get across the yabu and back to home base throughout the war Crossing into Chinese airspace was officially forbidden except in cases of Hot Pursuit but aggressive flight leaders routinely violated orders so they could engage the migs on their own turf cruising for migs in Manchuria was conducted within a conspiracy of Silence flight leaders chose wingmen who would play along and keep quiet Squadron commanders didn't discuss it and many roles of incriminating gun camera film mysteriously disappeared leaving a trail of flaming Mig wreckage in their wake Reisner and his wingman turned South out of China Joe Logan got hit in the belly with an aircraft fire started losing Fuel and I ran over and got under it to check him out well it was evident he was not going to make it because if he really pumping a fuel overboard the Jets are over hostile to rain the closest rescue point is chodo Island a hundred miles to the South it's too far away Reisner is going to do something unprecedented I had him throttled back gradually and let the nose down and I don't know where I got the wild idea nobody had done it before what I did was I hooked my nose in his tailpipe in a display of superb airmanship for over half an hour Reisner repeatedly nudges his wingman's lifeless jet over the sea with rescue planes in sight Logan tells Reisner he'll see him back at Kimbo then he jacks now Joe landed the water the Choppers and the amphibians were having an argument who got to rescue him well the Choppers finally won by saying it's my turn you got the last one the helicopter attempts to use its rotor wash to fill Logan's parachute and blow him to shore the young pilot is ensnared in his parachute lines some of the uh rip cords tangled around Joe's neck and he drowned so after all that effort we lost Joe Logan there is a war to be fought two days later Robbie Reisner scores another kill in Mig alley he'll leave Korea with a total of eight migs to his credit Robbie Reisner will return to combat in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam war flying f-105 Thunder Chiefs into the heavily defended North in September 1965 he is shot down and sent to the infamous Hanoi Hilton seven years later Reisner will emerge battered but with Spirit Unbroken it is the same flight suit attitude that led him to Vanquish his enemies 20 years earlier in Mig alley June 30th 1953 by now the ground fighting in Korea has seesawed back and forth for three years grinding to a virtual stalemate fire talks have dragged on for two years there is a palpable sense that peace could break out at any moment the Communist air training program in Manchuria is rotating as many students and instructors through Mig alley as possible for combat experience on this clear June day captain Ralph Parr is only too willing to oblige [Music] he's part of a fourship saber sweep Into The Hornet's Nest today on his very first flight into Mig alley Parr will be locked into an extended adrenaline pumping door with a MIG Honcho the flight leader is Vermont Gary Garrison 3 35th squadron commander [Music] the flight moves into combat spread Parr sees movement at his one o'clock position call the flight out we had a flight of 16 Megs flying almost opposite us undetected the four Savers stalked the 16 migs like cheetahs moving through tall grass the Megs don't know we're there and we're closing on them slowly I'm doing everything but pushing my airplane by hand trying to get it to go faster I'm quietly saying to myself don't shoot yet Gary Gary don't shoot don't shoot yet saber tactics in Mig alley emphasize the finger full two pairs of two Sabers with each pair or element providing Mutual support and protection if I spotted a MIG my number two man he knows that from that that call on I'm not going to be looking around at all only the flight lead the most experienced pilot would fire on a MIG the second most experienced pilot was number three or element lead he was the alternate shooter in case the flight got separated numbers two and four were wingmen newer pilots who at all times were to protect the flight leads or element leads rear end combat of a MIG alley demanded hawk-like awareness and concentration the key to winning and surviving was flight integrity when we're talking about tactics Integrity it doesn't have anything to do with the telling lies or things of that nature this has to do with maintaining the cohesive force a flight goes out and it's trained to go out and fight as a fortunate flight it sees the enemy it fights as a four-ship flight and it comes back as a fortunate flight that's integrity before they arrived in Korea new saber Pilots went through grueling f-86 training at the Air Force fighter school at Nellis Air Force Base Nevada so many Pilots were killed at Nellis and simulated dogfights that new arrivals were told only half jokingly if you see the flag at full staff take a picture just f-86 pilot arrived in Korea with a high level of training captain Ralph Parr was more than ready he knew Korea well having flown f-80s in support of ground troops in 1950. after his f-80 tour Parr returns to the states and bit of the f-86 he earns a reputation as one of the most skilled and aggressive saber instructor Pilots [Music] in fighter pilot lingo Parr is a good stick and he's champing at the bit to kill migs in the summer of 1953 with the fourth Fighter Wing Parr will demonstrate his deadly prowess four f-86s are tracking 16 unsuspecting migs Vermont Garrison the flight leader is the shooter [Music] Ralph Parr is hoping upon hope that Garrison will hold his fire wait till I get into position and we'll get two at the same time and of course I can't say this on the open radio because it would tip the enemy off Garrison doesn't wait he shoots one Mig is hit goes inverted Dives away Garrison stayed on him cut the corner swung in behind him it's going to be an easy kill Garrison followed by his wingman Dives after the smoking mid the next thing I hear I hear a voice and it's Garrison and he says my guns won't fire the stricken Mig is here Garrison whose guns have jammed is here suddenly the Mig leader moving to protect one of his stricken flock jumps into the fight leader of the 16 migs there's a very fast turn reversal and heads straight for Garrison and Garrison's Swingman Parr is impressed by this aggressive move he's done this before he's pretty highly experienced Parr quickly sizes up the situation Garrison and his wingman are now vulnerable to the Mig Leader's guns par Maneuvers to cut off the aggressive Mig slams The Stick Over in a hard left turn blood rushes from his head the g-suit instantly inflates squeezes his abdomen and thighs in a python grip though out of range Parr fires a short burst to scare the Mig off Garrison's tail it works Mig leader breaks away Parr gives Chase Maneuvers for a clean shot I latched on to this guy at about a ballpark of about 1800 feet and brought my pepper up put the pepper on his fuselage get ready to to shoot him and he started his maneuvering and we had a dog fight that lasted six minutes before the first shot was fired Mig lead is a honcho and one hell of a pilot Jinx frantically turning hard left then right he throws his jet around the sky rolling and twisting the Red Pilot tries multiple split s reversals anything to shake par off his tail and turn the tables on his attacker the Mig leader is skilled and not ready to die Parr hangs in but can't draw a bead this honcho may live to fight another day it had reached a point whereby I didn't know whether I was going to Ohio let him go or not the Mig is sliding Out Of Reach but the saber has a technological Edge that will decide the contest all right June 30th 1953 in Mig alley the battle has turned into a giant swirling furball like something out of World War II but faster and higher captain Ralph Parr is in the thick of it and just a roaring gun fight between 20 aircraft four of Mars fortunately for par the machine in which he's staking his very existence had reached its ultimate expression by 1953. the f-86a models that first went to Korea in December 1950 were excellent gun platforms but they were heavier than the migs and their 5400 pound thrust engines couldn't get the saber up to the mig's 50 000 foot altitude we're also outnumbered eight to one in December 1951 the 51st fighter Interceptor Wing joins the fight in Mig alley it's now roughly 130 Savers to 350 plus migs the 51st arrives with f-86e's which introduced the so-called flying tail to the saber on earlier models of the f-86 the elevator or up and down control surface on the tail was unresponsive near supersonic speed the force of air made it impossible for the pilot to move the stick serious handicapped in air combat key models totally new flying tail is hydraulically boosted providing positive elevator control finite maximum air speed in August of 1952 yet another and the most lethal version of the saber streaks into Mig alley the f-86f the F has a more powerful six thousand ninety pound thrust engine bringing the saber nearly equal to the Mig in two critical areas rate of climb over 9000 feet a minute and service Sealing forty nine thousand feet the Sabers wing also undergoes a significant change the movable Leading Edge slats originally designed for greater control at low air speed disappear most jet combat not all but most occur tended to occur at higher air speeds where the slats were really not much advantage the slats are replaced with a new non-movable Leading Edge that's extended six inches at the wing route and three inches at wing tip the so-called hard or 6-3 Wing increases the saber's maneuverability at high speeds the F model was a tremendous Improvement we had a better turning capability it was faster better climb and more closely simulated those characteristics of the Mig that we like so much the mig-15 was still lighter and retained its power to weight advantage For the First Time The f-86 could maneuver with the Mig on equal terms up to 49 000 feet on June 30th 1953 the added thrust and maneuverability of the f-86f allows captain Ralph Parr to stay with the Mig [Music] can't get into firing position against an experienced Poncho I could bring my gun sight right up to the airplane but I couldn't get it on the airplane in an attempt to get par off his tail Mig leader rolls into another split s and Dives par goes inverted pulls down the move keeps him on the mig's tail still in the chase at three thousand feet the Jets pull out of the dive Parr feels the crush of G on his chest as the Horizon slowly reappears then Mig leader raises his nose and slams the throttle forward he's counting on his airplane's Superior rate of climb to carry him clear of the saber's fangs All the Right Moves but the F model Saban has the electronic advantage pars radar-ranging gunsight can reach out nearly two miles so I just sat there and very calmly Let The Gun Sight settle down gave him about a four second burst shot him to ribbons the Sabers 650 caliber machine guns fire at a rate of 110 rounds per second 28 pounds of lead have just impacted the bank the airplane burst into flames Flames are trailing way back and throttled back a little bit and to get a close look this guy who 've been doing rather well as I rolled up to look down on him I could I could see that there were slashes from those 50 calibers and they were all all burning but Fire coming out just about all of them the canopy was broken there was blood in the front end of the canopy and forward of the pilot and the pilot was down sort of hanging over his stick Parr has scored his first kill in Mig alley but there's no time to savor the victory about that time I heard the distinctive 37 millimeter Cannon going Thump Thump Thump if I could hear him he was close too damn close another Mig which had been following the fight from a distance has moved in to avenge his Leader's demise are instinctively pirouettes he snaps the saber's nose Skyward into a hard climbing turn the Mig pilot is surprised he overshoots Parr reverses his turn the Mig is his parr's Deft maneuver has put him into a good firing position behind his adversary turn left about 45 degrees and when he rolled level I knocked him out of the sky I hit him couldn't miss two migs in Rapid succession [Music] Ralph Parr will finish his saber tour with 10 victories a double ace an achievement matched by only 10 other f-86 Pilots remarkably he does it in only 30 missions during the last seven weeks of the war stay in the cockpit winning the Air Force Cross for heroism during the Vietnam war in Korea the guns fell silent at midnight July 27 1953 the battle lines ended almost exactly where they started no formal troops officially ended the hostilities the f-86s scored an impressive record in Mig alley against a loss of 78 of their own the Sabers shot down almost 560 migs seven to one in favor of the f-86 in a war without winners the battle for air superiority in Mig alley was the only clear victory the region remains a powder keg to this day sound of jets still reverberates through the mountains of the Korean peninsula Mach 2 capable f-15s and f-16s now take to the skies once patrolled by the f-86 in the north mig-15s have given way to mig-21s and advanced mig-29s long-range air-to-air missiles are the weapons of choice for these technological wonders should War return to Korea these modern day adversaries will engage from miles away never face off in flashing dogfights that were the Hallmark of MiG alley before America's entry into World War II a group of courageous American Pilots known as The Flying Tigers take on the overwhelming might of the Imperial Japanese Air Force these high-flying Soldiers of Fortune slash through the Skies of the Far East helping stop the Japanese march across China their Fame spreads and tales of their daring exploits breed like popular fiction using state-of-the-art computer animation you're in the cockpit as the rugged American P-40 Tomahawk takes on the agile Japanese ki-27 Nate experience the battle dissect the tactics relive the dogfights foreign December 20th 1941 10 Japanese twin-engined ki-21 Sally bombers fly toward the southern Chinese city of Kunming as they near their target the Japanese bomber Pilots are stunned to see four small fighter aircraft bearing down on them the approaching P-40 tomahawks opened fire caught off guard the Sallys quickly jettisoned their bomb mode and turned Full Throttle toward home 10 more of the camouflaged Fighters appear the fighters are unlike any aircraft they've ever encountered they're fast and expertly flown their wings bear the national markings of the Chinese Air Force but their knows Sports the gaping maw of a great shark it's the Flying Tigers now in their first combat over the Skies of Southeast Asia reigning deadly tracers on the twin-engine aircraft a fighter barely misses slamming into one of the Sallys and at the last second slides beneath it the bomber bursts into flame and noses over in a death spiral four of the Japanese aircraft are blown out of the sky wounded the six remaining Sallys limped back to their base that first Combat on December 20th 1941 represented a watershed in the history of military aviation in China this was the first time that a Thoroughly Modern professional air force staffed by Americans engaged the Japanese on the Asian mainland and it was a stunning success the Japanese didn't know who the mysterious aviators were grateful Chinese did and when a Chinese newspaper recounted the lopsided Victory they gave these Brave Pilots a name the Chinese paper had come up with the expression they're fighting like tigers Flying Tigers the pilots were Americans volunteers serving in the Chinese Air Force they found themselves fighting for the Chinese thanks to a remarkable Aviator named Claire Lee Chenault an officer in the Army Air Corps in the 1930s Chenault earned a reputation as an authority on fighter tactics and as a Fearless pilot and able leader by the age of 40 he had commanded a Fighter Squadron and had toured the country as lead pilot of the Army's first aerobatic team an adamant and Gruff advocate for more and better fighter aircraft Chenault had stepped on one too many toes at Army headquarters in 1937 he was asked to resign his officer's commission and retire the following day he accepted an offer from the Chinese 1937 he was asked to go to China to do an evaluation of the Chinese Air Force the Japanese have been carrying on their their Terror bombing campaign and the the little Chinese Air Force was being beaten and was eventually beaten badly 1937 two years before the outbreak of World War II the Japanese expanded their grip on Manchuria [Music] Chinese suffered terribly its seaports were attacked and natural resources were seized to feed the Imperial War Machine towns were bombed relentlessly as the Japanese adopted a terror policy called the three alls kill all loot all burn all with obsolete aircraft the Chinese Air Force was no match for the efficient modern and brutal Japanese had a solution the Chinese Air Force had been decimated and it was important to keep China in the war and the only way they could keep challenged they needed an instant Air Force and the only way you're going to get instant Air Force is to recruit professionals like the Army Navy Marine Corps so Chanel came back to the states to make his case in early 1941 the United States was not yet at war with Japan American Airmen were to fight the Japanese they would have to do it as members of the Chinese Air Force working with secret U.S government approval Chanel put out the word that the Chinese were looking to hire qualified pilots and mechanics they were allowed to resign from the U.S armed forces turn around and sign a lucrative contract with the Chinese government the pay was real very good the lowest paid for a pilot was 600 a month hunt for a wingman then you had a 650 for a flight leader 750 for a squadron leader so that was very attractive at nearly three times the usual salary of a military Aviator word of the generous offer spread quickly it didn't take long to fill a roster with 99 eager Pilots recruiters also contracted about 200 enlisted aircraft mechanics armorers radio operators administrators and even a chaplain by July 1941 the Airmen had traveled to key Dao Airfield in Burma an air base borrowed from the British it was strategically located 300 miles from lacio the last stop of the Burma Road the main Supply Route into China the single biggest reason for the flying Tiger's existence was to defend the Burma Road that road which ran as the name implies from Burma into Southern China was the major Supply route for sustaining Chinese military operations against the Japanese in that part of the world at Key Dao Airfield they took possession of their new aircraft the P-40 and an official name the American volunteer group or AVG Chenault divided his unit into three Pursuit squadrons each had its own logo but in the fall of 1941 all the squadrons adopted the soon to be famous paint scheme for their tomahawks the menacing grinning sharksmouth would become synonymous with the Flying Tigers we're looking at a publication that comes out of India and it showed a lot of these Aussie airplanes of P40 just like we had and it showed the shark's mouth on it and it lends itself so well to that airplane that we adopted it by December 1941 the pilots of the AVG had been training for months but had yet to test their skills a few days before Christmas they got their chance on December 20th they intercept and Destroy 4 out of 10 Sally bombers before they strike Kunming China [Applause] three days later they defeat another Japanese attack and rack up 11 kills five more probables and on December 25th lay down an astounding more Japanese planes a present for Hirohito on Christmas Day but these early actions are all defensive stopping incoming bomber raids a few days after the New Year the Flying Tigers take the fight to the Japanese January 3rd 1942. it's pilot David Tex Hill's first mission for the Flying Tigers Tex Hill left the Navy to volunteer he's eager for action he and three other American Pilots aimed their P-40 tomahawks toward the Japanese Airfield at rahang Thailand a plan arrive at dawn and devastate enemy aircraft on the ground Jack Newkirk who is the Squadron leader and he had Bert Christman on his wing and Jim Howard leading the element I was on Jim's wing shortly after takeoff one of the p-40s radios in Bert freshman had engine trouble so he had turned back Crispin heads for home the three remaining p40s continue on they're over the target at first light they make a left turn to align with the field and begin a shallow dive the pilots line up one behind the other about 950 feet apart known as a string formation they would bend it over which means to put your airplane in a dive and accelerate as they came down to strafe the aircraft on the ground their 1200 horsepower Allison engines scream as they dive towards the Airfield at 300 miles per hour Jim Howard strafes the area breaking the Airfield with machine gun fire tax Hill Dives after him preparing his own strafing run but the run is cut short Texas at ki-27 Nate at 10 o'clock streaking in right onto Howard's tail it's Texas first time in combat and his friend's life is in his hands January 3rd 1942 the Flying Tigers take the fight to the Japanese and attack an Airfield at rahang Thailand protects Hills flight lead Jim Howard has just been attacked by a Japanese Nate Jim Howard is here the Nate is on his tail here tax is here Howard strafes the Airfield and the nape pumps lead into him Tex closes on the Nate's tail and lines him up in his crosshairs her ammo is loaded with every fifth round of the Tracy so it looked like a just a big hose you know going out there so I just looking right through the windscreen and flowering those traces and it blew up right in front of me blasts through the churning Fireball at the other end of the Airfield Jim Howard pulls up from his strafing run intact it's Texas first Victory but there's no time to celebrate another Nate is at 12 o'clock high directly in front of him when I saw that other guy it's starting to make a pass on me then I turned into him at all moment for tax went straight perfectly the strengths of the over the Japanese native the P40 was built by the Curtis Aircraft company in Buffalo New York Claire Chenault obtained 100 that were originally destined for the British RAF the p-40b was rugged could reach 378 miles per hour and was heavily armed with two 50 caliber nose mounted machine guns and four wing-mounted 30 calibers it also had thick armor around the engine and cockpit to protect the pilot its opponent is the Nakajima ki-27 Nate which entered service in 1936. the Nate had an air-cooled radial engine and fixed landing gear its top speed was 305 miles per hour and it was armed with one 12.7 millimeter and one 7.7 millimeter nose mounted machine gun the P-40 had better Firepower and armor but it was heavy and could not turn with a much lighter Japanese Nate [Music] these fundamental differences in aircraft design philosophy were at the core of Claire chenault's approach to dogfighting and the type of attacks he typically set up was to come in at high altitude the extremely diving attacks against Japanese formations take the energy that they built up Zoom climb up to a high altitude again and come back around he told his pies do not dog fight with the Japanese airplanes certain death facing a Japanese Nate head on Tex Hill applies these tactics knows the way to dogfight with innate is not to dogfight at all instead he'll charge him with machine guns blazing Tex Hill is here the Nate is here Tex will pull up into the Nate aim towards him and attack him head on I'm pulling into him and uh of course I had to fly a pound on the head-on the fighters close at over 600 miles per hour the Nate Peppers Texas aircraft but the p40s armor plate does its job eventually the lighter armored Nate couldn't take the punishment ended up spiraling out of control the jungle fights over I had no idea what Howard and uh new car core I just headed right home get out of that area suddenly text feels an intense vibration his plane is shaking unlike anything he's ever felt before foreign s are probably just almost shaking out of the panel itself and he's probably wondering if he's even going to make it back to base finally reaches Megalodon Airfield where Howard and new Kirk have also landed safely he looks at his plane he shot 33 holes in my airplane some of his bullets stuck in my prop and it threw the prop out of balance and I thought the engine was coming out of the airplane Flying Tigers first offensive Mission Against the Japanese is a success four enemy Fighters destroyed in the air four bombers on the ground they were also gaining notoriety the Flying Tigers didn't use military ranks or military discipline they fought and played by their own rules their raucous Antics fueling their Fame in Rangoon they rode water buffalo down the street they shot up the chandeliers in their favorite Watering Hole they even had a pet leopard Chenault looked the other way allowing the pilots to relieve the tension of constant combat but he insisted on total discipline in the air I think he was an excellent leader if you did your job right why he would back you at every time during its six months in combat this handful of American soldiers of Fortune claimed nearly 130 Japanese aircraft 11 Went Down Under The Guns of Tex Hills P-40 tomahawk here's a ragtag mercenary organization of former Army Navy Air Force officers and enlisted men who took on the Japanese head-to-head very close to Japanese home islands and proved that the the enemy who appeared to be 10 feet tall could be whittled down to size but after Pearl Harbor a mercenary Army wasn't needed anymore the full might of the U.S military was now in the war despite their legendary combat record the decision was made to allow the American volunteer group's contract with the Chinese government to expire on July 4 1942. but the Flying Tigers would live on the Army soon created the China Air task force to oversee the air war in the Far East the mission and Men of the AVG would be rolled into the new unit as the 23rd Fighter Group the China Air task force came under the control of colorful theater Commander Joseph Vinegar Joe Stilwell the transition from the AVG to the China Air task force was somewhat messy the pilots were being coerced to stay in the China Air task force and it left a lot of bitter feelings Stillwell brought in general Clayton Bissell to talk to the AVG he could not have chosen a poorer man for the job the Flying Tigers were gathered in an auditorium and he basically laid it out he said we want you to stay if you don't want to stay then you can go home but we will have draft boards waiting for you at the Gangplank in the United States and you'll be drafted into the army as privates in the Infantry the pilots didn't take well to Stillwell's intimidation and threatened to leave on Mass Claire Chenault reactivated his commission and was promoted to General how to clean up the mess and preserve the fighting spirit that made the Flying Tigers famous he called Tex Hill into his office Chenault said I think Bissell poisoned him I don't think many of them are planning to stay If I Lose utex I'm not sure what I'm going to do and tax immediately said General I'll stay as long as you need me Chenault was obviously relieved and asked Tex to kind of talk to some of the guys and see if they would stay on because these were the veterans in the end 26 out of the remaining 90 ABG pilots and 57 out of 190 ground crew extended their contracts for two weeks enough time to train the new arrivals Tex and Chenault persuaded five Flying Tiger Pilots to stay on longer to fight with the new command on July 29 1942 the new Flying Tigers would be in action the Japanese mount a concerted effort to wipe them out several nights in a row waves of Japanese bombers Hummel the airstrip at hang Yang Airfield frustrated by the attacks a soft-spoken talented fighter pilot named John Allison approaches Tex Hill I said text as ABG tried to stop him at night and if I remember correctly he said well we made some attempts but we were never very successful at it so I said to text well if they come tomorrow I'm going to be up there the bombers do return and this time John Allison and tex Hill have a plan it will be Allison's first taste of combat and under a full moon he would engage in one of the most famous dog fights in Flying Tigers history July 29 1942 a full moon shines brightly over hingyang Airfield the Flying Tigers are in action again and John Allison will get his first taste of combat Allison has been alerted that a Japanese bomber formation is on route to attack the Tiger's base he straps into his P40 and launches into the air John Allison reminds me of no one as much as Jimmy Doolittle they're both short in stature very focused precise types of Aviation professionals but when each of them climbed in the airplane strapped in and started the engine there was a personality change Tex Hill and John Allison have worked out a clever tactic to detect and engage the formation previous raids had shown them that the Japanese like to bomb targets from 15 000 feet we didn't want him to get underneath us because Nike just can't see them although you could see the flame from their exhaust Allison and Veteran AVG pilot Ajax baumler will be flying in a position called up Moon lacking radar or navigation AIDS the Moonlight is their only help in detecting the Japanese if the Japanese come in at their normal altitude both Pilots will see them silhouetted against the moonlit sky if the Japanese come in under Allison baumler will see them if they come in under bombler they will be low enough for the ground crew to spot them and radio in baumler levels off at 9 000 feet Allison continues on to orbit at 12 000 feet somewhere in the darkness the formation of six Japanese ki-21 bombers approach in two three plane elements the Mitsubishi ki-21 bomber better known to the Allies as the Sally was the Workhorse of the Japanese Army Air Force in China it could carry over two thousand pounds of bombs Sally had incredible range but this came at the cost of crew protection very likely armored a fighter could Shred the Sally with machine gun fire if he could get in close but he would have to Brave its two trainable 7.7 millimeter machine guns one in the nose and one in the tail Allison gets a radio call crew at the air base can hear the Sally's engines over them finally they were approaching our little airport at hanging from the north Allison and baumler scan the skies peering through the darkness for a glimpse of the bomber's exhaust Allison twists his head around and catches a flash of exhaust three Sallys above him I was three thousand feet below them immediately open the throttle to full power and started to climb and I said okay fellas watch the fireworks Allison targets one of the three aircraft but misjudges his closing speed my airplane was climbing fast and also going much faster than the bombers and I turned to follow them and I was right in the middle of the formation suddenly streams of tracers bracket Allison's P40 they were shooting at me at five radio went dead they had hit my radio this is before it fired a shop and they put one round right through the seat and into my parachute his engine is peppered as he flies through the stream of bullets Allison must act quickly in order to reposition himself behind the bombers he'll Rudder hard left and Throttle Down it causes his plane to Skid to the side and dramatically cuts his air speed the tactic works perfectly I probably wasn't 200 feet behind him maybe even closer and my first rounds it down the fuselage and I know I must have killed everybody in in the airplane the attack from Point Blank Range shreds the bomber the wounded Sally pitches hard up hemorrhaging oil which splatters Allison's windshield Allison has just knocked out one Sally but there are two left the formation's right wing man is the closest Target but its rear Gunner has Alison in his crosshairs Allison rolls right and Swings in on the bombers six braving a hail of Tracer fire the one that had been hitting me on the right and hitting me most I just gave him a burst and he exploded it's a confirmed kill there's just one Sally left in the formation the leader but Allison's P4 he is wounded it's taken a tremendous beating I didn't realize how hard I had been hit but they'd actually knocked a five inch hole through the crankcase and all the oil was draining out which I didn't know that thanks to the P40 and its ruggedness it kept flying Allison breaks left slams his throttle forward drawing a bead on the lead Sally his bullets impact the aircraft's left engine trailing flaming debris the Sally disappears into the darkness it's Allison's third bomber but with flames licking his engine cowling it's time to head back to base and try to make an emergency landing when the airplane really started to burn I kind of panicked and I was going so fast I couldn't get into the airport but fortunately the river was right out ahead of me and I said oh well I can make the river Allison puts his crippled P40 into the Xiang kyung River I popped out of the airplane swam over to the log raft Chinese young man ran out across the logs pulled me up and in my best Chinese I was shouting I'm an American I'm an American four of the six Japanese bombers sent to strike the Airfield are shot down but these six bombers are just the first wave only hours later in the light of day the Japanese would send a far larger formation to eliminate the Americans once and for all and this time they're bringing escort a formation of advanced Fighters more powerful than the Nate they'll test the Flying Tigers like net before July 30th 1942 Southeast China the 75th Fighter Squadron of the Flying Tigers scrambled to intercept a formation of enemy aircraft sent to level their home base at hang Yang Airfield Tex Hill leads 10 p-40s into the fight hill climbs to meet a formation of 27 Japanese Fighters that are leading the onslaught and then Here Comes This Big fighter sweep Tex Hill is here the formation of enemy Fighters are here texts must climb to engage them in true flying tiger style he'll attack them head on they aren't the familiar nates the fighters are a newer Advanced Japanese aircraft the Nakajima ki-43 Oscar is the successor to the Nate entered service in the Pacific in 1941. like all Japanese Fighters it traded armor for performance powered by a 1150 horsepower engine and armed with two 12.7 millimeter machine guns it could fly faster and higher than the Nate they were flown by skilled Japanese Army Pilots all through the 1930s the Japanese developed their military air arm both Naval and army aviators were highly skilled Warriors of the emperor the Japanese military culture was extremely Mission oriented it was said that every Japanese warrior owed the emperor his life and if the mission called for sacrificing his life in advancing the the cause of the Emperor who many Japanese literally considered a living God that was not only required it was also deemed a significant honor those guys were very well trained I said you know Japanese anything that they did or set out to do they just really excelled in it the Oscars spot the p40s and moved to engage Tex opens his throne leading his Squad of p-40s into the teeth of the Japanese assault Tex will use the same tactics that have made the Flying Tigers famous one of the Japanese Oscars pulls ahead of the rest he goes head to head with Tex this guy and I came head on doing about 250 or something like that and he's doing around 200 that's pretty fast but you know you get a fixation on something like that sometimes with closing rate like that like very easily collide Tex and the Oscar opened fire at the same time the P-40 shutters as the Oscars bullets hit home Tex ignores it he keeps closing his six machine guns have a heavier weight of fire than the Oscar's two 12.7 millimeter gun the minute I hit him he started smoking he immediately began to Trail a thin trail of smoke and we knew he was hit and probably fatally the Oscar is an advanced Japanese fighter but its weakness is the same no armor a split second before they Collide the Oscar bursts into flame and Falls away [Music] Tex Hills p-40s went on to down 15 enemy fighters in the raid the Japanese attack fails and the Flying Tigers home Airfield is spared the Japanese effort is derailed by chenault's well-honed tactics avoid the Turning fight and use the p-40s superior speed power and heavy armament tactics that worked against the Nate were equally effective against the Oscar the China Air task force goes on the offensive Japanese military and Industrial sites are targeted throughout Southeast Asia August 12 1942 B-24 heavy bombers supported by flying tiger p-40s attacked the key shipping center at high Fawn destroying ships airfields and vital Supply dumps in October p-40s dive bomb Japanese supply lines and strafe convoys in Burma on November 27th the largest force in China Air task force history strikes the Port City of Canton on the Pearl River delta but on March 19 1943 the small Scrappy China Air task force was replaced by a new organization the 14th Air Force Claire Chenault took command so naturally the newcomers the new guys on the Block attach themselves to the Flying Tiger name after all the same Claire Chenault was their commanding officer as well John Allison leads some of the most successful raids of the entire War but his Asian tour is coming to a close used to be reassigned to the European theater but on his last day in China Allison will find himself in the most harrowing dog fight of his career May 31st 1943 John Allison's last mission as a flying tiger in China he's flying with a squadron of Chinese Pilots one Chinese Squadron had just gotten brand new p-40s and general Shaw asked me if I would go up and fly with him and I said I'd be delighted to do that since before the Tigers arrival in China Americans had been training and Advising nationalist Chinese Pilots I had seven Chinese Pilots and I should have had two American wingmen but one of them couldn't get each airplane started Allison and his Chinese wingman escort b-24s in a mission to attack a Japanese base at eachon the bombers proud to be a part of the Flying Tigers Legacy have painted each B-24 nose with the famous shark's teeth there's heavy cloud cover as the P-40 Fighters and B-24 bombers reach the target at each on Allison spots a break in the clouds he'll go down to reconnoiter he radios the rest of the formation to stay above the clouds I said let me go by myself so I started and I turned around and I looked back and I've got myself and my wing man and then behind us are these nine b-24s and while we were having this conversation all of a sudden it just if someone had taken a handful of pepper and thrown it up through these black spots for busting through the ceiling 20 Japanese Oscars have suddenly appeared they're heading directly for the b-24s Allison is here the enemy Oscars climbed towards the b-24s here Allison must find some way to engage and divert the fighters from the bomber formation he must act quickly the lighter and more agile Japanese Fighters are closing fast on the b-24s Allison jams the stick back and Rutters right in a climbing turn and I found myself climbing with all these Japanese Fighters pulls up on an easy target an Oscar right in front of him tracers hit his cockpit and he just rolled over and Dove straight into the clouds [Music] one Oscar is down but 19 are still pressing the attack Maneuvers through the enemy formation then lines up another Oscar in his sights I hit him and he did catch fire so I knew I got that one Allison pulls into a high G climb three Oscars are attacking a B-24 before he reaches the vulnerable bomber he spots another Bandit at three o'clock Allison has to make a split second decision Allison is here the bombers are here the Oscar is on his three o'clock here but I figured that I could just pull my airplane up almost into a stall and then I might be able to divert these three from their attack on the bombers it's a gutsy move Allison will climb vertically towards the Oscars letting loose a stream of fire to disrupt their attack but he'll lose air speed in the climb if he stalls he'll be an easy target for the Oscar on his tail Alison pulls the stick into his chest his air speed falls off he presses the trigger 40 shutters and a stall the Oscar opens open and the next thing I knew I lost my Runner this airplane coming up from Below had hit the main hinge of our Rudder and it fell off but instead of leaving the airplane it was still connected by the cable and it started terrible vibration with his Rudder gone Allison can't really maneuver his aircraft the only thing he can do is just keep it level and Airborne so he's now vulnerable to any other enemy aircraft out there that decides to take him out the P40 vibrates uncontrollably as it levels off the Oscar rolls into position lining up an easy kill from 200 feet away the Japanese plane fires pieces fly off Allison's Fighters the rugged P40 absorbs the hits but it can't stay in the air much longer if somebody doesn't help me soon this is it I'm gone all of a sudden I'm absolutely enveloped in a hail of tracers a Chinese fighter pilot has come to Allison's rescue he's behind the Oscar firing Wild I've seen them from one perspective now I was seeing him from a another and a fatal one and I thought he's going to kill us both but the Chinese P-40 kills the Oscar it goes down flaming barely hanging in the air Allison turns for home nursing his shredded Warhawk back to base the b-24s successfully bombed the Japanese runways at eachon five enemy Fighters are shot down one Chinese P-40 is lost John Allison left the Flying Tigers in May 1943. but returned to Asia only a few months later to help form the first air Commandos with Philip Cochrane the first air Commandos supported the Allied effort in Burma and pioneered the use of gliders for long-range air drops deep Behind Enemy Lines Tex Hill stayed in China until November 1944. became a triple Ace Downing 15 enemy aircraft Claire Chenault led the 14th Air Force until 1945 when he retired he stayed in the Far East after World War II assisting Chiang Kai-shek in his war against Chinese Communists in the late 1940s the Flying Tigers of the 23rd Fighter Group went on to become one of the highest scoring fighter groups of World War II from 1942 until 1945. they destroyed over 1 000 Japanese aircraft they sanked 184 enemy Merchant ships destroyed 817 Bridges 1225 locomotives and killed nearly 60 000 Japanese troops their aggressiveness and skill carried forward the legacy of the Original Flying Tigers whose exploits became the stuff of Legends shark mouth p40s challenged the forces of tyranny with Incredible ferocity raising the spirits of millions of Americans and Chinese in the darkest days of World War II [Music]

Channel: Military Heroes

Views: 1,871,145

Keywords: Military Heroes, Military, Heroes, History, Full Episode, Army, Marines, Navy, Air force, General, Captain, Lieutenant, Soldier, Special Forces, Infantry, Cavalry, USMC, dogfights, The DEADLIEST Aerial Battles the Skies Have Ever Seen, deadliest aerial battles, Dogfights marathon, Dogfights, dogfights marathon, dogfifhts world war 2, aerial strikes, air strikes, 3 hour marathon, Dogfights full episode, dog fights full episode, dogfights full episodes, full episodes military heroes

Id: iKPX7OguHsI

Length: 134min 35sec (8075 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 08 2023