Throughout the 20th century, U.S. airpower flew past mighty enemies in flaming skies. But the decades saw rickety box kites turn into supersonic jets with apocalyptic firepower fueled with the blood of brave airmen. Fly with them through a fighting century and relive the proud history of the U.S. Air Force--from the first air pioneers and visionaries, WWI and the hero Aces, Billy Mitchell's battle for a separate service, and the disastrous early days of WWII to Ira Eaker's rebuilding of the 8th Air Force.

A low-level attack on the Ploesti oil fields proves disastrous, and an increasingly powerful Air Force suffers heartbreaking losses over Regensburg and Schweinfurt. Jimmy Doolittle changes fighter escort tactics, the 15th Air Force develops shuttle bombing in Italy, the Tuskegee Airmen gain fame, women come aboard, the Air Force turns its wrath on Japan as Germany collapses.

From the birth of the nuclear age with the immolation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, WWII's end, the Berlin Air Lift, creation of the Strategic Air Command, the Korean War, the Cold War, the missile race and the doctrine of mutual destruction, up to the Cuban Missile Crisis showdown--it's an adrenaline-packed, heart-stopping hour!

By the end of the Vietnam War, Air Force losses were huge and victory denied, though many new weapons, including the first smart bombs, were developed. But then Desert Storm unleashes and vindicates high-tech airpower, and stealth technology comes of age. Air war over the Balkans sharpens precision tools, and the shape of the 21st-century Air Force that will dominate the second Gulf War emerges. After a century of courage and innovation, no power on earth can challenge the U.S. Air Force.

Viewers will go where only the most elite insiders from the highest levels of the US government are allowed--on board Air Force One.

Witness one of the best stunt pilots in the world slam into the ground at 300 miles an hour and as a massive oil tank explosion puts a firefighter on the frontline facedown in the flames.

The most harrowing rescue ever at Niagara Falls takes place as a suicidal man stands at the edge of the falls with his feet trapped in an underwater crevice.

Watch as a derailed train whose cars are loaded with toxic chemicals explodes like a rocket in the Illinois countryside.