Discovery Channel - Hunters in the Sky: Fighter Aces of World War II (1991)

What was it really like to be a fighter pilot during the Second World War?
Air combat is quick: Each choice must be decisive and executed without hesitation. Mere seconds can decide who will go down in the record books and who will go down in flames. In the high arenas of the Second World War, only a select few pilots ever shot down more than five enemy aircraft and earned the ambitious title of a "Fighter Ace". What made them a breed apart from their fellow fighter pilots? What separated the hunters from the hunted?
Now, this sweeping 13 episode documentary series recounts the death-defying stories of those amazing flying warriors. Thrilling, rare footage of actual dogfights and coordinated air strikes combined with candid personal narratives from surviving Fighter aces tell the comprehensive story of the men from all nations who flew to defend their flags.
HUNTERS IN THE SKY is the most comprehensive film documentary series ever produced on the fighter aces of World War Two. Surviving fighter aces from all sides in the conflict – British, American, German, Russian, Japanese and many other nationalities – now share their experiences – and provide their own, exclusive, vivid and graphic first hand accounts of what it was really like to be a fighter pilot in some of the greatest air battles the world has ever known.
This extraordinary series is fully illustrated with the pick of air combat footage shot at the height of raging dogfights, or as fighter interceptors attack bomber formations. You'll relive aeriel combat as the Aces themselves experienced it – through the gun-sights of their Spitfires, Mustangs, Me 109s and Zeros. Series consultants were aviation historians Christopher Shores and Raymond F. Toliver.

Anthony Potter Productions in Cooperation with The American Fighter Aces Association

Part 1:
- Episode 1 - Knights of the Sky: A galaxy of international aces are seen in aerial combat as a series prelude. They describe the qualities great aces must have, and recall a heritage that begins with chivalrous fighter duels of World War I and ends when Luftwaffe pilots hone their skills in Spain during the bloody dress rehearsal for World War II.
- Episode 2 - Defending the Realm: The German blitzkrieg by the invincible Luftwaffe crushes Poland, France, Denmark and Norway- but a handful of fighter pilots saves the Empire during the Battle of Britain.
- Episode 3 - Red Star Rising: The Soviet Air Force is all but wiped out by the Luftwaffe- but recovers to fight the invader to a standstill in the most atrocious winter ever encountered.
- Episode 4 - Tigers Over China: New fighter aces are born with the emergence of the Flying Tigers. They were the first all volunteer American force to battle the Japanese in the Chinese sky.
- Episode 5 - Hell in the Pacific: Americans are outnumbered everywhere, but turn the tide at Midway. The ragged Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal battles against odds over the bitterly contested South Pacific.

Part 2:
- Episode 6 - Under All Flags: Some of the deadliest Allied aces of the war emerge from International squadrons of the Royal Air Force. Their own nations crushed under the iron heel of a conqueror, desperate and determined men make perilous journeys to England and continue the fight in the skies over occupied England.
- Episode 7 - Big Friend, Little Friend: Now equipped with long-range fighters, American aces wage a war deep in the heart of the Reich while escorting heavy bombers to distant targets. Goring sees P-51s over Europe and admits the war is lost.
- Episode 8 - Struggle for Supremacy: From the first to the last, nations frantically seek to give their fighter pilots the winning edge in planes, engines, guns and tactics in combat by day and by night. The Germans shock the Allies when they win the race for committing jet and rocket fighters to the battle- a race won too late.
- Episode 9 - Assault on Fortress Europe: The Allies take the offensive as the tide of war turns against the Axis in the Mediterranean and in Europe. The fury of war in the air takes a heavy toll on attacker and defender alike but the undermanned and outgunned Luftwaffe is defiant in the face of certain defeat.

Part 3:
- Episode 10 - Closing the Ring: Marine valor paves the way for the aerial assault on Japan. During the relentless march westward, the rivalry heats up between top aces Dick Bong and Tom McGuire, and Admiral Yamamoto is the victim of aerial assassination.
- Episode 11 - Fall of the Third Reich: The final aerial battles between Soviet and German fighter pilots. Russian aircraft now equal those flown by the Luftwaffe, whose pilots face incursion from the east as well as the west. The top Russian ace reaches 62 kills, the top German ace is credited with 352.
- Episode 12 - Victory in the Pacific: After the Great Marianas Turkey shoot, Japanese airpower declines as American fighter pilots in the Pacific reach the zenith of their deadly profession. The final fighter pilot kill of the war is over Japan.
- Episode 13 - Reflections on War: In this final episode, victors of aerial duels in the skies of every theater of war reach inside memories etched in steel for the skills and relentless purpose that elevated them to the ranks of the great aces.