Episode list

With it's navy trapped in the North Sea Germany turned to Zeppelins in World War One to monitor the Royal Navy. Though slow and cumbersome they had the advantage of altitude and were notoriously difficult to show down. To deal with the Zeppelin problem the British launched the world's first aircraft carrier assault on the Zeppelin base at Tronder Denmark.

Northrop's P-61 Black Widow was America's first purpose built night fighter. In it's black color scheme it was practically invisible. But development issues delayed it production by two years to late 1944. By then it was obsolete in Europe and the air war was essentially over in the Pacific.

Convair's YB-60 strategic bomber was a redesign of the B-36 Peacemaker. The main changes were jet engines and swept back wings. Ultimately the US Air Force chose the smaller but faster B-52 Stratofortress as their plane for the future.

Caught unprepared for jet powered airlift capability the US Air Force initially turned to converted passenger planes. But it soon became clear that more militarized planes was needed. The C-141 Starlifter with its low fuselage and rear cargo hatch was selected and became the prototype for future cargo planes.

Lockheed's P-38 Lighning looks odd even today. But it was one of the best fighters of World War Two and despised by the Luftwaffe though primarily fielded in the Pacific due its long range.

The Nazi invasion of Russia included strikes on Soviet airbases quickly depleting the Soviet air force of Yak-1s giving Nazi forces air superiority. By the Battle of Stalingrad it was clear the Nazi Focke-Wulf Fw 190 outclassed the YAK-1.

The Avro Canada CF 100 Canuck was developed as an all-weather long-range fighter interceptor to defend against Soviet bombers traversing the Arctic. Though the only combat aircraft ever designed and built in Canada it was the best interceptor of its time.

Designed for range, speed and maneuverability The Mitsubishi Zero seemed invincible to western pilots. But these features involved trade offs that could be exploited once they were uncovered by Allied forces.

The Armstrong Whitworth aw.38 Whitley effectively provided Britian with night bombing capability in the early years of World War Two. Reliable and versatile it transitioned to other roles as more advanced bombers came online. But it returned to the bombing role for the final assault on Germany.

For twenty years several F-15 Eagles were test beds for new aircraft technology including; short take of and landing, thrust vectoring, avionics and artificial intelligence.

Textron's Scorpion is versatile a low cost attack jet positioned between high performance combat jets and low cost helicopters and turboprop planes.

Following Sadam Hussein's refusal to withdrawal after his invasion of Iraq in 1991 the United States secretly launched it's first intercontinental bombing mission with B-52's carrying new highly accurate air launched cruise missiles.

The story for the Avro Lancaster focusing on its unusual bombing missions.

Boeing's YC-14 was an incredibly innovative STOL tactical transport plane intended to replace the C-130 Hercules. But at the end of the Vietnam war the US Air Force needed more strategic airlift and elected to proceed with a dual role transport which became the C-17 Globemaster III.

In 1952 supposedly neutral Sweden was embroiled in a controversial incident of a Soviet Mig 15 deliberately shooting down a Swedish DC-3. The incident was covered up as much as possible but the truth can't hide forever and eventually everyone's suspicions were confirmed.

Following operation Desert Storm, as Saddam Heisein conducted military operation against Kurddish insurgents in northern Iraq displacing tens of thousands of refuges, the Allies launch operation Provide Comfort. The operation effectively provided aerial surveillance and effectively defended against the Iraqis. But as the operation continued over the years a growing attitude of complacency lead to a major communications failure and the shoot down of two Blackhawk helicopters transporting multinational diplomats.