I wasn't too sure about this show when I first heard about it. But I have to admit it is fascinating. A lot of the history is well known, but when you actually have the ability to recreate the fights with stunning clarity it brings it to life like never before. My god the things these guys have done seem too outrageous to be real. I have a new appreciation for fighter pilots from WWI up to today. With the range of missiles nowadays though, probably not much dogfighting going on, but still. WOW!

I think "Dogfights" is one of the greatest TV shows going, yet the History Channel goes and puts it on Friday nights when there's not a lot of people watching it. Which out and out sucks, dammit.

I think my two favorite episodes are 1) The pilot of a Dauntless dive bomber who gets ambushed by THREE Japanese zeroes yet manages to shoot all three down. Number two is the dogfight over Korea when an F-86 driver follows a "Honcho" in a Mig 15 through a twisting dry river bed into China where he shoots down the MiG, which crashes into a line of parked MiG-15s THEN he uses his plane to push his buddy out of North Korea and to an airbase in South Korea. Talk about flying!

"Dogfights" opens up a whole new world of aerial tactics and gripping stories that I've not seen before. It's too bad it carries such a second rate status, dammit.

Tonight they had an episode on about these two P-130 Lightning pilots. I missed how they got into this situation. However they find themselves behind 50 to 60 german fighters. So you got just you, your wingman, and so far you've not been detected; so what do you do?

They full throttle their planes and attack the 50 to 60 germans from behind. I don't care if they did catch them off guard, that is pure unadulterated balls of freaking steel. Balls the size of two full grown elephants. The leader of the two got five kills, and still made it home. HOLY HORSE SHIT! I'm still a bit pumped.

Yup, yup Pendragon. I saw that episode last night. That guy was a real man's man, dammmit. There are times when I am watching that show and say to myself, this is better than Star Wars! My favorite little story involves one Col Blesse who drove F-86 Sabres in Korea. He got back from a mission in which he had bagged a MiG and was listening to the radio broadcast by "Pyongyang Sally" (the Korean version of Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally) and she was saying something like "oh Colonel Blesse, we see that you shot down another MiG, but don't worry, we'll get you and when we do, we're going to hang you from the Hong River bridge. This little anouncement didn't phase the guy at all, dammit.


The plane you refer to is the P-38 Lightning. Very forminable, as you've heard, it was nicknamed by the Germans as the Fork Tailed Devil. Easy to fly, great at high altitude, maneuverable, powerful and just plain cool looking, dammit.

http://www.ghosts.com/images/2003/P38LIGHTNING.jpg

One of my many adventures in Vietnam included a nice long ride in an F-4 Phantom. As a gunship chopper crew member we had a lot of contact with our USAF brethern aviators. Many of those guys really wanted to experience the wind in their hair and bugs in their teeth that can only come with hanging out of a chopper with a machine gun & belt of ammo in your hands. The chopper crew on the other hand were pretty much willing to give up theiir first born for a ride in supersonic fighter. My ride in a Phantom lasted about an hour. I don't care what rollercoaster anyone comes up with, it simply cannot compare with the experience I enjoyed. If only I knew how to record and broadcast it, but that technology didn't exist in the early 1970's. The speed at which things happen at that velocity is incredible, yet they made it work very well and that was over 30 years ago.

Did he take you supersonic?

No. Very nearly so, but not through the sound barrier.

Coooooollll!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!