Dogfight Documentary

Barrett · 16 March 2000, 06:43 PM

Just caught Discovery's documentary "Dangerous Duel: The Dogfight" Thursday nite. Worth a look if it repeats. Interviews with

Ray Brooks and several of The Usual Suspects from WW II/Korea. Robin Olds looks terrific--just doesn't age. Impressive graphics help illustrate maneuvers and specific combats.

However, one of the aces repeats the fallacy that 85% of aerial kills are achieved by surprise. Interviews of WWI to VN fighter pilots show remarkable consistency until the jet age: usually no more than 25% were unwary victims. Radar coverage of the aerial arenas in Korea and VN made surprise extremely rare: approximately zero. Owing to ECM, more recent dustups may be different.

stephen · 16 March 2000, 11:44 PM

A friend of mine taped that for me; thanks for the review. I was wondering whether it was worth watching and if it was strictly on WWI. Be anxious to see good ol'

Ray Brooks again. I hope its one I haven't seen yet.

17 March 2000, 06:57 AM

Saw the show and thought it was very well done overall. While I liked computer generated graphics in terms of the information they imparted I thought that the quality was 3rd rate.

Any flight sim on the market today provides much more in terms of eye candy.

Oh well, the footage from the Great War was - great!! We saw some SE5's, Camels, a DVII and MvR himself taking flight in a DrI.

Now that's entertainment!

Regards,
Barkhorn.