Vietnam

S1, E2: The helicopter came of age in Vietnam. By 1967 the first helicopter war at its bloodiest with casualty rates among young pilots worse than in the infantry. This film tells the story of one of the most dangerous helicopter missions of the war. Forty years later the crews who flew this mission return to Vietnam to recount this extraordinary feat of bravery. Tom Baca, Larry Liss and Jack Swickard were all in their early 20s when they arrived in Vietnam. Using unique personal footage shot at the time, they describe how an acute shortage of pilots meant they were rushed through flight school in less than a year. They were catapulted into combat in the jungles and mountains of South East Asia. Tom had already been shot down five times and Larry wounded twice before, when they embarked on their epic helicopter rescue mission. By the end they will each have earned one of the aviators' highest awards for gallantry, the Distinguished Flying Cross.