Speaking as a never-served civilian that would have been easy meat in
any dogfight...
Of all the luminaries on The History Channel’s “Dogfights”, DeBlanc’s
monologue on the “Guadacanal” episode is just the greatest. When he
recalls his plea to his group to stick together and that he’s making
a one-way trip with a leaking gas tank,
then he drawls out “Now, ah ain’t no hero...”
Just classic.
Better dialogue than 99.99% of all the war-time movies made in Hollyweird.
My next favorite is Robin Olds of WWII and Vietnam conflict.
And the pilot (name escapes me) that pursues a likely Russian pilot
back into China in the “Mig Alley” episode, blowing the holy cr-p out
of a row of Migs.
But for one favorite episode, I go with the underdogs of “Long Odds”.
Links below:
Dogfights: Guadalcanal DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76951
Dogfights: Long Odds DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=77190
Dogfights: MiG Alley DVD
http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=76923
It’s great to know DeBlanc is still with us to share his experiences..
Gunther Rall is the highest scoring WWII ace still surviving, he published a book of his aviation career in 2004.
The also is a very good older series from the 90’s called “Hunters in the Sky”, noteworthy because it contains some candid interviews with some of the great fighter pilots of WWII, most who have since passed on; Saburo Sakai, Adolph Galland, Joseph Gabreski, and many others.
With the development of the “Thatch Weave” tactic, the F4Fs became very competitive against the A6M Zeros.
Anyone interested in the most thoroughly researched and detailed accounts of the air battles these Wildcats took part in during the first years of the war should read “First Team And the Guadalcanal Campaign: Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942”
A superb book..