Air Warriors

The F-14 Tomcat fighter jet hit the big screen in 1986's "Top Gun" and flew in major military conflicts like the Gulf of Sidra incident, Cold War confrontations, and the Iran-Iraq War. Grumman developed the F-14 Tomcat for U.S. Navy in the 1970s to be the post-Vietnam replacement for the aging F-4 Phantom II as a long-range, high-speed fleet defense fighter/interceptor. Its primary Cold War mission, to destroy Soviet bombers and their fighter escorts from a relatively "safe" distance, was never performed in an actual war.
A maximum speed of Mach 2.4 and variable "swing wings" made the Tomcat an impressive aircraft and symbol of U.S. naval air power. It served prominently in the Middle East during operations against Libya, in defense of U.S. interests and vessels in the Persian Gulf, in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, in the Balkans in the mid-1990s, and in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early 2000s. Upgrades and modifications over the years made the Tomcat a formidable air-to-ground fighter/bomber toward the end of its service.

The stealthy Consolidated PBY Catalina, an amphibious combat aircraft designed to patrol the seas and skies, has been an asset to military operations and harrowing rescue missions for nearly a century. Produced in the 1930s and 1940s, this seaplane became one of World War II's most versatile and effective multi-role aircraft, used primarily for air-sea rescue operations, cargo transport, convoy bombing, and anti-submarine warfare. Catalinas served with every branch of the United States Armed Forces and in many other nations' air forces and navies. This episode reviews the PBY's use in rescuing sailors from the USS Indianapolis, searching for the German battleship Bismarck, and attacking Japanese shipping in the Pacific. 

The history of the B-17 reveals how the aircraft evolved into the USAF's most lethal bomber in World War II's European and Pacific campaigns. The Women Airforce Service Pilots organization transported Flying Fortresses, which delivered food to the German-occupied Netherlands in Operation Chowhound in the last days of the war.

The story of the de Havilland Mosquito, the wooden RAF aircraft that acted as a bomber, fighter, and reconnaissance plane during World War II.

Despite its early reputation for being unsafe, engineers evolved the F-100 Super Sabre into a supersonic powerhouse and the USAF's go-to fighter-bomber that carried out daily attack missions throughout the Vietnam War. 

Military experts and veterans discuss the history of the Rockwell B-1 Lancer, first conceived as a nuclear bomber during the Cold War, and its evolving wartime roles in the 1990s and 2000s.

The rich history of Britain's flagship super jet, the Hawker Hunter, includes heroic rescues, a rebel pilot's daring flight through London, the crucial gathering of Cold War intelligence, and other thrilling flights during the late 20th century. 

Originally designated as a civilian passenger airliner (the Douglas DC-3), the C-47 became a durable military workhorse during and after WWII, delivering paratroopers behind enemy lines on D-Day, evacuating injured soldiers with flight nurses on board, flying cargo into difficult locations, dropping relief supplies into German-occupied Netherlands near the war's end, and more. Wherever Allied air forces operated, the C-47 provided operational support. It even proved the airborne gunship concept during the Vietnam War as the AC-47.

Aviation historians and veterans detail how the high-speed dives and pinpoint accuracy of the Junkers Ju-87 Stukas became a Nazi terror weapon and symbol of German power during World War II.

Experts discuss the history of the AH-1 Cobra, an agile attack helicopter designed for combat in the Vietnam War and later used for dangerous ground support missions in the Iraq War.