Missions That Changed the War

Mar 15, 2011

Gunther Rall was one of the highest-scoring fighter aces in Germany. Hub Zemke was the commander of the 56th Fighter Group, the deadliest fighter outfit in the Eighth Air Force.

Mar 22, 2011

June 1940: Germany launches its fateful invasion of the Soviet Union. Interviews with Luftwaffe fighter pilot and commander Gunther Rall - seen for the first time anywhere - reveal the savagery, folly, and betrayal of Hitler's failed conquest of the East.

Mar 29, 2011

The War in the West: The doctrine of strategic bombing, developed before the war, is tested by the American Eighth Air Force and British Royal Air Force. Through exclusive interviews, Robert "Shorty" Rankin and others profile Hub Zemke's "Wolf Pack."

Apr 5, 2011

Nazi Armaments Minister Albert Speer will later call it the day that Germany lost the war. May 12, 1944 brings a fateful encounter between Zemke, Rall, and Rankin, revealed in exclusive first-hand interviews.

Jun 7, 2011

A series of bombing missions utilizing make-shift rope slings to carry Russian 500 lb bombs under war-weary aircraft, in historical retrospect, had prevented the fall of China and the linking up of Japan's Army with Nazi Forces in North Africa.

Jun 14, 2011

A series of bombing missions utilizing make-shift rope slings to carry Russian 500 lb bombs under war-weary aircraft, in historical retrospect, had prevented the fall of China and the linking up of Japan's Army with Nazi Forces in North Africa.

Jun 21, 2011

A series of bombing missions utilizing make-shift rope slings to carry Russian 500 lb bombs under war-weary aircraft, in historical retrospect, had prevented the fall of China and the linking up of Japan's Army with Nazi Forces in North Africa.

Jun 28, 2011

A series of bombing missions utilizing make-shift rope slings to carry Russian 500 lb bombs under war-weary aircraft, in historical retrospect, had prevented the fall of China and the linking up of Japan's Army with Nazi Forces in North Africa.

Oct 26, 2011

Four survivors of the immortal Doolittle Raid on Japan describe the events that led to the Raid, and to their volunteering to become ''Doolittle Tokyo Raiders.''

Nov 2, 2011

General ''Hap'' Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces, persuades aviation legend James H. Doolittle to return to active duty at age 46, to plan and execute the most daring aerial raid of World War II.

Nov 9, 2011

Doolittle's Raiders are forced to launch their planes early when the task force carrying the bombers is spotted by a Japanese patrol boat. Roaring in at treetop level, the Raiders strike Japan then race for refuge in China.

Nov 16, 2011

This raid was intended to raise morale of a war-stunned America. Instead, it set into motion a series of tactical missteps by the Japanese Navy and Air Force that resulted in the decimation of the Japanese war machine in the Pacific.

Jan 29, 2012

Theodore 'Dutch' Van Kirk, the last remaining crew member of the B-29 Superfortress that delivered the atomic bomb to Hiroshima, gives a first-person account of the airplane, crew and target selection, as well as the training for the historic mission.

Jan 29, 2012

Theodore "Dutch" Van Kirk, the navigator of the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb used as a weapon of war on Hiroshima, Japan, offers his first-person account of historic mission, flown on August 6, 1945.