Dogfights is a little known but exceptionally informative show that used to be shown on the history channel starting in 2005. I remember seeing it for the first time around 2009, and the first thing that impressed me was how realistic it looked. I'm used to seeing camera footage of world war 2 battles, which is as close to the action as you can get. Dogfights on the other hand makes use of computer animation to accurately recreate various aerial encounters between opposing countries during wartime. The show has a lot of episodes and focuses on many different conflicts, such as world wars 1 and 2, korea, vietnam, the gulf war, and even wars between israel and several arab countries in the 1960s. What sets this show apart from other ones that are centered around plane combat is the narration. Dogfights doesn't just showcase impressive scenes of pilots dueling to the death against the cold blue sky. It also tells viewers the history behind important events, as well as explaining different flying maneuvers and techniques. One of these is called the split S. A commonly used aircraft reversal tactic, the split S involves the aircraft going inverted, diving down and pulling out of the dive in the opposite direction. This move makes it very difficult for an enemy plane chasing you to stay on your tail. Dogfights is host to a lot of episodes that I consider entertaining and important to history, such as the one where they discuss Operation Bodenplatte: Hitler's final gamble to break american airpower in western europe by sending his air force to destroy various airfields in Belgium on new year's day, 1945. The show explains in depth why the operation was a failure for the nazis, and how the americans could afford their losses while the luftwaffe had no more fuel or trained pilots. Another one of my favorite episodes focuses on world war 1, the first war ever to feature planes. By 1914, planes are just a decade old, and are used to observe enemy movements. Soon, pilots begin shooting at each other and placing machine guns on the cowling above the engine. This makes it much easier to fight since the pilot just has to aim his plane at the enemy and fire. In order to prevent bullets from shearing off their own propellers, the germans come up with a device that automatically prevents the machine guns from shooting when the propeller is right in front of the muzzles. The french manage to capture a downed german plane with the interrupter machine intact and copy it. Now, the sky battles can begin. Later on, we're shown an extraordinary incident that involves future nazi general Ernst Udet coming face to face with the talented french fighter ace Georges Guynemer. Udet is outclassed, but tries to stand and fight. His machine guns jam, and in a display of superb chivalry, Guynemer waves to him and lets him escape. This incident shows how pilots did not want to kill each other, even if that's what they signed up for. Finally, another excellent episode appears in the form of Mig Alley, which tells the story of a small area of north korea during the korean war that was destined to host the most vicious and brutal air fighting of the conflict. We are shown how on one day in 1952, american pilot "Robbie" Risner faces off against a desperate but hugely skilled north korean pilot who leads him on a wild chase all the way back to his airfield, which is over 30 miles inside china. The korean war episodes are also very interesting because this was the first war that had jet aircraft fighting other jets. Early on, we see how america easily dominates the skies and north korea's primitive, propeller-driven air force is quickly shredded. Later, the US government is shocked by the appearance of brand new, russian built Mig 15 jets, with a top speed over 100 miles per hour faster than older p-80 jets in korea. Like I keep saying, Dogfights is just a really solid series overall that focuses on some of history's most well known (and unknown) aerial combat encounters, and aviation enthusiasts will most definitely get something out of it. It does a good job of portraying how these events played out in the past, and much of the commentating is done by former pilots, people who were there, and historians.
Review of Dogfights
