Didn't see this posted:
PBS Wed Nov 8 8pm EST
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/
Deep in the jungle of Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, scattered among tall trees and thick, razor-sharp grasses, are the rusting remains of a World War II-era fighter plane. A fragment of the tail still bears traces of the light blue paint of U.S. Navy aircraft of the period, and the number 5192. Research has confirmed that the plane is the doomed Wildcat flown by James "Pug" Southerland in one of the most heroic and legendary dogfights in aviation history. Now, a new episode of SECRETS OF THE DEAD, "Dogfight Over Guadalcanal," examines and re-creates every dramatic moment of the showdown between 30-year-old Southerland in his Wildcat, and Saburo Sakai, 25, in his Mitsubishi Zero.
PBS Wed Nov 8 9pm EST
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/warplane/
A century of flight has seen the warplane develop from a crude instrument of wood and wires into a decisive weapon of modern combat. Join us as we trace the technologies that drove the evolution of warplanes through two World Wars and into the future.
Watch aces battle for the skies over Western Europe in World War One; and as Britain's outnumbered Royal Air Force uses a new technology, radar, to fight off the Nazi war machine in World War Two. Later see designers develop the jet engine and the all-moving tail to penetrate the sound barrier; and Lockheed's "Skunk Works" race to develop groundbreaking, high-flying aircraft that could peek behind the Iron Curtain; and Stealth aircraft that would wreak havoc over Iraq. And, finally, take a look at the F-22 Raptor, the pinnacle of modern fighter technology - and the warplanes of the future, which go into battle without pilots.
Four part series over two weeks.
BK