Secrets of the Dead

Dogfight Over Guadalcanal

In the summer of 1942, two ace fighter pilots -- one American and one Japanese -- faced off during a dramatic dogfight in the skies over Guadalcanal. Eventually the Japanese pilot shot down the American, who crash landed behind enemy lines but managed to escape before being captured. Using both pilots' comprehensive (but sometimes contradictory) memoirs, and following a forensic expedition to the recently-found American plane, "Dogfight Over Guadalcanal" examines and recreates every anxious second of the WWII showdown over the Pacific, revealing just how evenly matched the two men were and how they both survived, despite serious injuries.