On TV: Wednesday   (ET/PT)

• 7:00 PM
  Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of WWII.:
  Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of WWII.

  Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of WWII. Secret Luftwaffe Aircraft of WWII.

  Tune in: Wednesday, May 16 @ 7:00 PM ET/PT

  German military aircraft designs were decades ahead of their Allied counterparts. To insure Luftwaffe superiority, their designers tested advanced concepts including swept-wing and vertical take-off aircraft and stealth bombers. Using computer-generated images and archival footage, we trace development of Hitler's airborne arsenal.

  TVPG V | CC

• 8:00 PM
  Secret Japanese Aircraft of WWII.:
  Secret Japanese Aircraft of WWII.

  Secret Japanese Aircraft of WWII. Secret Japanese Aircraft of WWII.

  Tune in: Wednesday, May 16 @ 8:00 PM ET/PT

  In the 1930s, Japanese designers created a range of warplanes, culminating in the legendary Ki-43 Oscar and the A6M Zero. As the war turned against Japan, designers created the rocket-powered Shusui, the Kikka jet fighter, and the experimental R2Y Keiun. We also disclose frantic preparations to assemble a secret airforce of jet and rocket planes to counter an anticipated US invasion in1945, and chronicle post-war aviation and the birth of the Japanese rocket program in the 1950s and '60s.

  TVPG V | CC

• 9:00 PM
  Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII.:
  Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII.

  Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII. Secret Russian Aircraft of WWII.

  Tune in: Wednesday, May 16 @ 9:00 PM ET/PT

  History has overlooked the unimaginable hardships Russian designers faced under the paranoid rule of Josef Stalin. Frequent purges represented a constant threat. Yet, in spite of the ever-present danger, Soviet aircraft designers mastered technical hurdles astonishing even by today's standards. This hour features extensive archive images of never-before-seen aircraft and the designers who brought them to life. The innovative aircraft profiled include a swept-wing EM Delta /EM aircraft design; a rocket-powered fighter; a long distance fixed-wing aircraft with features later incorporated in the EM U-2 /EM spyplane; a flying tank prototype; a submarine-bomber combination; and a canard-wing aircraft. And we highlight remarkable aircraft launched after Stalin's death in 1953, like the delta-winged supersonic EM Concordski /EM and the world's largest plane, the EM Antonov 124 Ruslan /EM .

  TVPG V | CC

• 10:00 PM
  The Last Days Of WWII:
  March 25-31.

  The Last Days Of WWII March 25-31.

  Tune in: Wednesday, May 16 @ 10:00 PM ET/PT

  Allied troops continue Operation Plunder, their thrust across the Rhine into Germany's heartland. Realizing the situation is hopeless, thousands of German troops surrender. The race to Berlin continues, and disagreement over their strategy plagues the Allies. Hitler is now holed up in his Berlin bunker, totally divorced from reality. In the Pacific, fighting finally comes to a head on Iwo Jima. As US Marines close in around them, 200 Japanese soldiers make a last desperate mass suicide--or banzai--charge at the Americans. The attack on Okinawa begins.

  TVPG V | CC

• 11:00 PM
  Great Escapes of World War II:
  Pt. 3.

  Great Escapes of World War II Pt. 3.

  Tune in: Wednesday, May 16 @ 11:00 PM ET/PT

  Rare archival footage and survivors recount daring escapes of World War Two. Episode 3 reconstructs the events of December 7, 1941, when sailors were trapped aboard the USS Oklahoma after it was attacked at Pearl Harbor, and shows how they effected their escape.

  TVPG V | CC