ic] NARRATOR: Dogfights typically
begin at high altitude where the adversaries can
maneuver in three dimensions. But the diving, twisting,
and turning inevitably draws every fight closer
and closer to the ground. Now you're in the cockpit
as courageous pilots from World War II, Korean,
and Vietnam do battle in the most unforgiving
arena of all-- down on the deck where
there's no room for error. Experience the battle. Dissect the tactics. Relive the dogfights. [beeping] [theme music] [gunfire] [radio chatter] July 26, 1944, 8:45 AM. 12 checker tailed P-51 Mustangs
knife through the crisp alpine air near Graz, Austria. They're 7,000 feet above
a formation of bombers. First Lieutenant Art Fiedler
has the number 4 slot in a flight of four. ART FIEDLER: We were
long range bomber escort. When we flew the 51, we
could fly at least 650 miles. NARRATOR: Fiedler settles in
for another uneventful five hour mission. Pilots call them milk runs. But just minutes into
the mission, Fiedler spots something strange. ART FIEDLER: I look
down to the left, and I see the most incredible
formation I have ever seen. I see eight airplanes flying
line abreast almost wingtip to wingtip. And there's not only one row. There are eight rows of them. There are 64 airplanes. This is a fantastic formation. NARRATOR: Fiedler
calls out the bogeys. Somebody said, they're P-51s. I said, how can they be P-51s? I never saw 51s fly in
a formation like that. NARRATOR: Within seconds,
Fiedler's worst fears are realized. The mystery planes are
Focke-Wulf 190s, Germany's most advanced piston engine fighter. Their 30 millimeter cannons
lay waste to the bombers. ART FIEDLER: At this
particular juncture, I said, they're bogies, and they're
hitting the bombers. I'm gone. NARRATOR: Fiedler pitches
up and dives to the left to position himself behind
the bloodthirsty Focke-Wulf formation. I decide that if I shoot
at the lead row of them, if I can hit any of them
and have them pull up, that we can break
the formation up, and they'll stop
shooting at the 17s. NARRATOR: Fiedler manages
to break up the formation. He pulls hard back on the stick. The agile Mustang
responds smartly. But as he pulls up
from his attack run, he's met with a
horrifying sight. ART FIEDLER: There
are 17s falling. Pieces of them are falling. I see a B-17 roll over on its
back, start down and spin. Second spin, the
tail came off of it. There was at least 20 chutes. I've got to be careful
where I'm going. I don't want to
run into anybody. NARRATOR: Fiedler rolls
away from the carnage, then spots a lone FW 190. Fiedler is here. The 190 is here, just
200 yards off his nose. Fiedler banks easily
onto the Germans tail and closes in for the kill. Suddenly, the 190
knifes hard right. Fielder loses the
bandit in the chase. Well, there's some kind
of a timing in combat that I don't know
how to explain. But I knew that he should
have appeared, and he didn't. I let him get out of my sight. That's the mistake. NARRATOR: Suddenly, the
Focke-Wulf screams in head on. [sighs] Boy, [laughs]
I couldn't believe it. Here came the Focke-Wulf
straight up at me with his wings flashing
fire and fire off the nose. NARRATOR: The 190 pitches
down into a steep dive. Fiedler noses over and maneuvers
his P-51 behind the German. The two planes plunge earthward,
600 feet every second. Below the clouds, the rugged
peaks of the Austrian Alps stretch out before them. The German noses up
steeply into a climb. ART FIEDLER: We are pulling
Gs like nobody's business. I am screaming as loud as I can,
and I'm tightening my stomach muscles. These are all things that are
supposed to stop the blackout or at least give you
more tolerance for it. NARRATOR: Fiedler
claws for altitude. I am astounded to see him
coming straight down at me. And he's shooting at me. NARRATOR: Somehow, the German
has managed an impossibly sharp reversal. It's a maneuver that no pilot
should be able to handle. When he's coming down at
me, I think, how the hell could he possibly go from
straight up to straight down, and it seems like just
a couple of seconds? And that's exactly what
was going through my mind. How is this possible? Fiedler reverses and pursues
his foe, closer and closer to the deck. They are hurtling earthward
at over 450 miles per hour. Again, the FW 190 leads
Fiedler through a crushing high G pull out. When you pull Gs, it's just
like a curtain comes down over your face. And you can have that
curtain go up or down by releasing the pressure
or putting more pressure. Now, you can still hear. You can still talk. You're still aware of what's
going on, but you're blind. So you haven't passed out
yet, but you can't see. NARRATOR: As Fiedler releases
pressure on the stick, his vision returns, revealing
the 190 boring in from above, guns blazing. Fiedler is stunned. This German is
almost superhuman. The diving Focke-Wulf whistles
past Fiedler's canopy. With dogged persistence,
Fiedler again gives chase. The dogfight has descended from
24,000 feet to barely 500 feet. As the air speed passes
400 miles per hour, both pilots are an
instant from oblivion. Art Fiedler has just entered
an arena where there's no room for error. Low level dog fighting is the
last resort of a fighter pilot. Down on the deck,
everything changes. DAVID M. KENNEDY: Low altitude
dogfighting, low altitude maneuvering is
much more difficult and demanding because your
lookout has to be divided now between the ground,
which is a threat, and the enemy, which
is also a threat. NARRATOR: The slightest mistake
sends an aircraft careening into solid ground. And with the vertical
dimension eliminated, options are limited. You're taking out a
whole realm of options that either pilot has to do,
whether it's using altitude to get down to bug
out of the fight or to be able to use the
altitude in order to regain airspeed. All of that goes away. NARRATOR: Pilots must have a
solid grasp on how their plane performs down on the deck. The pilot that knows
how to utilize the weapons on his aircraft and its
performance down low is gonna win. NARRATOR: Art
Fiedler's P-51 Mustang is the air force's premier
high altitude escort fighter. But it turns and climbs quickly
on the deck, where the thicker air enhances maneuverability. The German FW-190 is heavily
armed with a strong air frame, the most fearsome fighter
in the Luftwaffe's arsenal. Down in the weeds,
the P-51 is faster, but the Focke-Wulf has heavier
guns and can turn tighter. Both planes have unobstructed
canopies, providing excellent all around visibility. During a wild chase to
the deck, Art Fiedler has witnessed an FW 190 pilot
performing impossibly difficult maneuvers. Now Fiedler's locked on his
tail in a high speed pursuit through a mountain pass. ART FIEDLER: I'm
about 400 yards. And I'm getting close enough
to start shooting at this guy. I remembered the advice that I
had gotten from this World War I fighter pilot that the
easiest time to shoot men in the airplane down
is when he's trying to shoot one of yours down. So every time you're getting
ready to shoot at an enemy airplane, be sure
you check your tail. NARRATOR: Fiedler looks
over his shoulder. Sure enough, another
Focke-Wulf is diving on him. Fiedler comes to a
stunning realization. His enemy wasn't superhuman. Fiedler's been fighting
two FW 190s the whole time. Now the second 190
closes in for the kill. July 26, 1944. Lieutenant Art Fiedler is just
400 feet above the ground, bracketed by enemy fighters. He's got four 30
millimeter cannons pointed at the back of his head
with a split second to react. He can't dive. At 400 miles per hour,
he'd hit the ground in less than two seconds. If he banks in any
direction, the 190s will easily get on his tail. Fiedler will barrel roll,
throwing off the German's aim while simultaneously slowing
down enough to drop in behind the diving 190. Fiedler raises
the Mustang's nose while pushing the stick over. The white tipped Alps
roll over his head as he drops into the
Focke-Wulf's 6 o'clock. Payback time. Well, I put my pipper
out in front of him and started firing. NARRATOR: Fiedler hoses the
German plane down with his 50 caliber Browning's. The FW 190 tumbles
out of control. And he crashed right
there beside that barn. NARRATOR: Scratch
one for Fiedler. But the first Focke-Wulf
is somewhere up ahead. Fiedler goes balls to the
wall, fighter pilot slang for pushing the rubber
balls on the throttle handles against the firewall. Nearly 1,700 horses of his
Rolls Royce Merlin engine are turned loose. ART FIEDLER: So I keep going
down the valley at full speed. I guess I travel about
a minute and a half, and the canyon turns
off to the left. And of course, I
follow the canyon. And we now come
to a wide expanse. And as I start looking around,
I look at that mountain. And here comes an
airplane right at me. NARRATOR: Fiedler is here. The mystery plane is
across the valley here. First, I think,
oh, there he is. He's coming at me. NARRATOR: Fiedler prepares
himself for another knockdown drag out fight. But then a friendly voice
crackles through the radio. And it says, if that's
a P-51 coming towards me, waggle your wings. Well, I waggle the
wings, of course. NARRATOR: It's Bill Lowery,
a squadron mate of Fiedler's. The two Mustangs form up and
search the skies for targets. Suddenly, Lowery
dives for the deck. ART FIEDLER: As I
look down there, I see a trail of black smoke
from as far to the right as I can see. Right down below us and at
the head of it's an ME 109. NARRATOR: A wounded
German ME 109 flying just above the ground. Lowery saddles up
for an easy kill. ART FIEDLER: He
presses the trigger. And I guess the guns
fire about three rounds, and he's out of ammunition. So he pulls up here. And he says, he's all
yours, you lucky SOB. But he didn't say SOB. [laughs] NARRATOR: Fiedler slides
in behind the German. I'm pulling up kind of
slow on this 109, who's still going balls to the wall
and smoking black smoke. NARRATOR: This
low to the ground, a single miscalculation
is fatal. Lowery's sitting up
here, and he's yelling, shoot, shoot, shoot! And I'm saying,
hold your horses. Hold your horses. NARRATOR: Fiedler
closes 250 yards. The panicked German elects to
bail out 10 feet off the ground at nearly 400 miles per hour. His body impacts the
ground and bounces. Fiedler witnesses
the gruesome sight. ART FIEDLER: It's incredible. The second bounce looks
like he's bouncing right over my wing. And the third bounce, he
bounces right into the wreckage of his ME 109, which is
smashed into the ground and is now a rolling
ball of fire. [sighs] This was not a pleasant
experience to see somebody killed like that. I-- we have we have
always expected that the air to air combat
is machine against machine. And we don't normally get to
see the blood and the guts. So this was pretty
much of a shock. NARRATOR: Fiedler
climbs to altitude and heads back to base. He has scored his fourth
and fifth victories. Fiedler is an ace, but the
achievement is bittersweet. Six days before
him 21 years of age, I suddenly become an ace. And I have had this
unpleasant experience of seeing a human body
bouncing along the ground. I never had to
experience that again. And you eventually
get to the point that you regain your feeling
of bird against bird. NARRATOR: Art Fiedler has
experienced the harsh reality of low level dog
fighting in World War II. In the Korean War, the
advent of jet power doubled the speed
of the dogfight. At low level, the difference
between life and death is measured in
fractions of a second. Only the most determined
and skilled jet jockey will take the fight
down to the deck. May 15, 1952, four
F-86 Sabre jets streak toward the Chinese border. Ground Control or GCA
has vectored the Sabres towards a flight of MiG-15s. But without warning, the MiGs
disappear from the radar scope. Element leader
Captain Jim Kasler has a hunch he knows
where they are. American radar can't detect
MiGs below 15,000 feet. The enemy is probably at low
level, headed for an airfield at Antung, China. Breaching Chinese airspace
is strictly forbidden. But with three MiG
kills under his belt, Kasler is confident
and aggressive. I broke off from
my flight leader. I just broke off on my own
and drove back toward Antung. NARRATOR: Kasler and his
wingman Albert Smiley scream across the [inaudible],,
entering Chinese airspace. As they near the
airfield at Antung, Kasler's hunch pays off. Three MiGs on final
approach to the runway. It was about 9,000 feet. I look, and here
are three MiGs just pitching out over the runway. NARRATOR: The MiG-15 is a
lightweight interceptor. Its tremendous rate of climb and
stratospheric service ceiling give it a slight advantage
over the F-86 Sabre at high altitude. But down low, the Sabre is
roughly 50 miles per hour faster. And newly added flight
controls in the tail give Kasler's F-86E the edge
in low level maneuverability. The MiGs are here,
8,000 feet below. Kasler will split S,
positioning himself directly behind the lead MiG. But it takes the Sabre
at least 6,000 feet to perform the maneuver. Many aircraft have done
split S's at low altitude and actually
impacted the ground. So it's a little
bit of a gamble. NARRATOR: But
Kasler is confident. There wasn't any
question in my mind if I could fall in
behind this guy. I just timed it just right. NARRATOR: Kasler pulls out
at 500 feet with the MiG just 400 yards ahead. He pulls the trigger. JAMES H. KASLER: Parts are
flying off the airplane. The airplane burst into flames. And so I just rode up
beside, even looked at him. And he was sitting in a pool
of flame in the cockpit. NARRATOR: Another MiG has
maneuvered behind Kasler. Kasler is here. The second MiG is here in
perfect firing position. But Kasler's wingman Albert
Smiley has the drop on him. Smiley streaks in,
unleashing a torrent of 50 caliber machine gun fire. A second MiG flames and
drops out of the sky. Then in the blink of an
eye, the tables turn. Kasler sees the third MiG
swing in behind his wingman. Tracers engulf the American. JAMES H. KASLER: There was
a MiG firing at me probably about 600 feet behind me. NARRATOR: Kasler and Smiley
are in a lethal dilemma down in the treetops at
over 500 miles per hour. One false move could
kill them both. May 15, 1952, Captain
Jim Kasler's wingman is in dire straits. A MiG-15 is closing
on his 6 o'clock. Kasler must force the MiG
off his wingman's tail. Kasler will order Albert
Smiley to brake hard left. Kasler will break right
directly into the MiG's attack. He hopes to put the
MiG on the defensive. Smiley breaks left. Kasler snaps right. The move works. The MiG heads for the
airfield with the Americans in hot pursuit. JAMES H. KASLER: We were as low
as you can go and still fly, you know? So I'd say 50 feet. NARRATOR: Communist antiaircraft
fire rips through the sky. But incredibly, no one is hit. Pilot keeps running. He's heading for the coast. JAMES H. KASLER: The smartest
thing he could have done was turn and fly deeper into
China, (LAUGHING) you know? There was another base
about 50 miles away. NARRATOR: A wild chase
through the treetops begins. The MiG maneuvers violently,
desperate to keep the American from getting a shot. But Kasler won't be denied. His Sabre's gun
ports flash in anger. After I hit him
the first time, then I knew I was gonna get him. I didn't care how long
it was gonna take me. I wanted to get that kill. NARRATOR: The chase winds
its way to the coast. The mountains give way to
mudflats and a thick layer of fog. Korean coast runs out
about at least a mile out. It emanates fog. TERRY DEITZ: One of the things
you have to contend with are all the interaction between
the actual ground and the sky. You have fog. You've got haze. It just makes it that much
harder to fight down there. NARRATOR: The MiG pilot
must shake his pursuer. He'll pull up, go inverted,
and loop back around, hoping to lose the American. But this low with fog obscuring
the ground, the slightest error would be fatal. The MiG pilot yanks
the stick back. Kasler follows him through
the dangerous maneuver, firing bursts the whole way. So I just get ready to
pull the trigger again, and he went splat
and hit the mud. NARRATOR: A geyser of mud and
water explodes into the air. Startled, Kasler chops
power, pops his speed brakes, and buries the stick in his gut. I just thought I'd
[inaudible] firm, you know? It's really-- [laughs] you know? I was pretty close to
him when he splattered. NARRATOR: The Sabre shudders
as he clears the column of mud. DAVID M. KENNEDY: Kasler
has got a guardian angel on his shoulder. He got lucky and pulled out. And the MiG did not get lucky. NARRATOR: Kasler returns
to base hit Gimpo. The maneuvering kill
makes him an ace. JAMES H. KASLER: I don't think
I cleared the mud more than 10 feet. So that mud just splashed
that high and me run into it. I got awful close. NARRATOR: The mud caked
to the bottom of his F-86 is a grim reminder of how
close he came to death. In the Korean conflict,
as in World War II, the need to maneuver in
close and maintain airspeed would always draw dogfights
down toward the ground. With the appearance of air
to air missiles in the 1960s, dogfights at any
height let alone hugging the ground were supposed
to be relegated to history. But Vietnam would
prove otherwise. May 20, 1967. Eight F-4 Phantoms of the 8th
Tactical Fighter Wing thunder into the hostile skies
of North Vietnam. Wing commander Colonel Robin
Olds leads the mission. Olds is the quintessential
fighter pilot, a double ace with 12 kills in
World War II and another two so far in Vietnam. ROBIN OLDS: I was going
up the Gulf of Tonkin and talked to the
kid in the back seat. Said, we're gonna go in
to the Northeast railroad. And I think today is
gonna be a big day. Sure as hell was. NARRATOR: Olds' back seater is
25-year-old Lieutenant Steve Croker. STEVE CROKER: I
felt very confident. First of all, Robin Olds was
an incredibly capable airman, I mean, not just by reputation. But you could tell right away
by flying with him that the guy had great hands and this great
visual situational awareness. NARRATOR: The Phantoms escort a
strike package of F-105 Thunder Chiefs or Thuds. Olds and his men are perched
3,000 feet above them. Suddenly, 15 miles
from the target, the telltale flash of metal. Olds and Croker are here
above the fighter bombers. Eight MiGs are
here at 8 o'clock. Another eight MiGs
are here at 2 o'clock. The north Vietnamese are
attempting a classic pincer move. Olds will lead one flight
towards the MiGs at 2 o'clock. He orders the other flight
of Phantoms towards the MiGs at 8 o'clock. Olds' flight of four bores
in on the formation of MiGs. STEVE CROKER: About the time
we were breaking into the MiGs, the first Thuds that had hit
the rail yard had broken. The ones on the northern
target had broken off and made a right hand turn and
were literally coming back through our formation. NARRATOR: The Phantoms
roar through the 105s. Olds yanks back on the stick
to avoid a midair collision. The sudden maneuver
takes Croker by surprise. I literally got pressed
down onto my knees-- so I was bent forward-- because the G force was so high. I wasn't really prepared for it. I didn't have my
shoulder harness locked because if you locked
your shoulder harness, you couldn't really look. NARRATOR: The near collision
has disrupted Olds' attack. To their horror, MiGs
are now behind them. The Americans break, but the
lead MiG centers his sights on Olds' and Croker's
wingman Dick Van Lone. You could see the shells
coming over the cockpit. And I was talking to
Colonel Olds the whole time telling him he's still
back there shooting at us. NARRATOR: 23
millimeter projectiles rip through Van Lone's Phantom. The F-4 can't take
the punishment. Both crewmen punch out. For the first time in
Robin Olds' combat career, a wingman won't be coming home. But he can't dwell on the loss. There are more MiGs, and
they've tasted blood. May 20, 1967. Robin Olds and back
seater Steve Croker have just lost a wingman. Now a MiG is at their 6 o'clock. STEVE CROKER: I had flown about
80 missions in North Vietnam, but I had never encountered
anything of that magnitude. We'd been shot at by Sam,
shot at by triple A, shot at by airplanes, but
never a large force on force engagement. NARRATOR: Olds quickly rolls
into a diving left turn and punches the throttles. The big Phantom sprints
out of cannon range, leaving the MiG behind. Within seconds, Olds tallies
another MiG 17 off the nose. Olds is in perfect position for
a radar guided Sparrow missile shot. He called and said, there's
somebody right in front of us. Lock it on. Lock it on. NARRATOR: Croker
readies the missiles, peering into the hood
of the radar scope. Lock on. Olds pushes the button, ripple
firing two AIM-7 Sparrows. The first missile is a dud. But the second fires
straight and true at four times the
speed of sound. Olds and Croker roar
past the wreckage. But suddenly, tracers
flash around Olds' canopy. More MiGs on his six. He breaks hard left. The MiGs can out
turn the heavier F-4 and start to pull lead. Olds knows he can't
win this fight. He levels the wings,
then pulls vertical. The Phantom's twin engines
leave the MiGs in the dust. The north Vietnamese bug out,
heading for the sanctuary of nearby Kép airbase. They'll form two rotating
circles called wagon wheels just over the airbase. They're hoping to lure the
Americans into a turning fight down on the deck where
the MiG-17 excels. What they would do is fly over
their aerodrome periodically and then off to one side. The other guys would
fly over the aerodrome and off to the other side. And they had mutual protection. NARRATOR: Olds flight of
Phantoms joins up over Kép, although he's aware of the
risks of engaging MiG-17s at low level. Olds takes the bait
and leads the charge. Low level engagements
in Vietnam are uncommon. Americans avoid this
domain primarily because early air to air
missile tracking systems are prone to error. Terrain features play havoc
with both radar guided and heat seeking missiles. STEVE CROKER: Most
of these missiles were designed to shoot
down Soviet bombers. And they weren't designed to
shoot down maneuvering targets in close proximity. And we had no gun, none at all. NARRATOR: Olds and Croker must
work around these deficiencies as they engage north Vietnam's
most capable dogfighter, the MiG-17. The MiG-17 is older than the F-4
but remains a formidable foe. It bristles with three lethal
cannons, twin 23 millimeters and a single 37 millimeter. The Phantom's two J-79 turbo
jets give it the advantage in speed and rate of climb. But the subsonic
MiG-17 can turn tighter than the F-4 at any altitude,
especially in the dense air near the ground. ROBIN OLDS: Tactics
against the MiG-17 was mainly you cut and slash,
blow through them, turn around, come back, and coordinated
with other guys. Keep them boxed in if you could. But don't ever try
to turn with them. NARRATOR: The F-4s slash
through the wagon wheel, refusing to be drawn
into a turning fight. Olds angles for a shot with
his heat seeking Sidewinder but can't get good tone. STEVE CROKER: So you could
just wave at him as you went by basically, you know, and
then come back and try and get another shot. NARRATOR: The MiGs fire on
the F-4s as they pull away, then drop back into the wheel. As he zooms above the
airfield, Olds spots a lone MiG right down on the deck
between the two wagon wheels. ROBIN OLDS: I saw a
lone MiG down low. And I figured he was the
lead doing figure eights. NARRATOR: Olds
suspects that the MiG is the brains of the operation. If he's taken out, the
others will scatter. Olds tells Croker to hold
on and makes his move. May 20, 1967, over Kép airfield,
Robin Olds and back seater Steve Croker are making slashing
attacks against a low level formation of MiG-17s. One is apparently
directing traffic. As prime a target as
the MiG leader is, a glance at the fuel
gauge decides the matter. Olds reluctantly orders
the F-4s to depart with himself and Croker
bringing up the rear. Made one turn to make sure
everybody left and headed for the coast. I thought about that lone MiG. I said, hmm. NARRATOR: Croker notices Olds
doing some quick calculations. STEVE CROKER: He
must have calculated what it would take to get back,
go after this guy for a time or two. And then he figured he could
get back to the tanker. NARRATOR: Olds suddenly reverses
direction, breaking formation and diving for the deck. No matter what it takes,
that MiG is going down. Olds recovers 50 feet
above the treetops and firewalls the throttles. DAVID M. KENNEDY: Flying at
high speed and low altitude is one of the most
exciting things you can do in an aircraft. The aircraft is very tight. It feels very controlled. There's quite a
bit of ground rush as objects are coming by you. But it's feels like an
ultimate roller coaster ride. NARRATOR: Approaching
Kép airfield, Olds sees that only the MiG
leader remains airborne. The other MiGs have landed. The north Vietnamese
pilot sees the big Phantom barreling towards him. STEVE CROKER: Then he very
quickly turned and headed down into the weeds to
try and escape. NARRATOR: The chase is on. The roar of the Phantom's
twin J-79 engines echo through the hills. Steve Croker keeps
his head on a swivel. Because Robin Olds doesn't
have a wingman at this point, it's even more important that
his back seater is checking their own six so that Robin
Olds can then concentrate on shooting this
guy and also flying low to the earth like that. NARRATOR: The MiG throttles
up full afterburner. Olds tries to lock on with
a heat seeking Sidewinder. ROBIN OLDS: I think he knew I
was back there because he was just weaving all over the sky. It was very, very low. I couldn't fire at him
because of the heat coming up from this field. STEVE CROKER: The
trouble with jungle is you get heat returns
from that just like you do for an airplane. So either on the radar or
the heat seeking missile, we couldn't break out the MiG. NARRATOR: Olds maneuvers
skillfully, but he can't get the MiG locked up. The Sidewinder needs to track
the MiG against clear blue sky to lock on. He was of the opinion
that if we could ever get beneath this guy and he had
to pop up, we could hose him. NARRATOR: Fortunately
for Olds and Croker, a ridge line looms directly
ahead of the MiG-17. ROBIN OLDS: That poor young
man had three bitter choices. His choices were bail out
now, run into that ridge that was right in front of
him, or pull up over it and give me some daylight. NARRATOR: The frantic MiG pilot
reaches the end of the line. It's now or never. He pulls up to clear the ridge. Olds fires. Splash two for Olds. The 44-year-old colonel
has scored the 16th victory of his combat career. Olds clears the ridge line
dangerously low on fuel. Olds decided that probably is
a good time for us to get out of dodge. NARRATOR: Olds and
Croker managed to make it back to a tanker barely. STEVE CROKER: We were
in serious trouble. And we probably had somewhere
between four and six minutes of flying time left
when he got on the boom. NARRATOR: Olds' bold low
level kill vividly illustrates the challenges of
a missile flight in that unforgiving environment. As technology marches forward,
low level aerial engagements will become increasingly rare. Advanced radars with look down,
shoot down capability combined with long range
all aspect missiles means that a low flying
adversary can be detected and destroyed from above. But if the fight does
end up in the weeds, the contest will be
decided as it always has-- through guts training,
and a little bit of luck.
