Military Heat

The History Channel brings viewers incredible WWII air combat stories in the series “Dogfights”. This is an excerpt from the series, showing the amazing story of Stanley W. “Swede” Vejtasa who, facing long odds, managed to outmaneuver, outsmart and defeat 3 A6M3 Zeros with a SBD Dauntless dive bomber. (Read more…)

On April 7, 1943, James Elms Swett, division flight leader in Marine Fighting Squadron VMF-221 became an ace on his first combat mission. He shot down 8 enemy aircraft and was eventually awarded the Medal of Honor. His amazing achievements and mastery of the Wildcat were recreated using computer graphics for the History Channel series “Dogfights”. James Swett tells the story of that amazing day, when he became ace in just 15 minutes, on his first ever combat mission.

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The American Republic P-47 Thunderbolt was the largest single engine fighter of World War II. Almost 15,000 Thunderbolts, also known as the Jug, were manufactured. Designed as a fighter, the P-47 Thunderbolt was highly effective at high altitudes were it maneuvered very well. The Thunderbolt proved itself in the ground attack role, and in honor of that, the A-10 Thunderbolt II was named after the legendary Jug. This is gun camera footage, showing the P-47 Thunderbolt in dogfights and ground attack runs. (Read more…)