The History Channel’s “Dogfights” series is in a new season. Friday night, 9:00PM (Eastern). Tune up your recorders if you can’t sit down and watch it live. Tomorrow will be two heavy duty WWII fighters and their battles: The P-47 “Jug” and the FW-190.

Last week was a fascinating look, from the “other side” as well as ours, at the Kamikaze phenomena, including a detailed breakdown of the tribulations of the USS LAFFEY (DD-724) that suffered through 80 minutes of kamikaze attacks off Okinawa, taking 6 hits by aircraft and four bomb strikes. She took some of the 50 planes that hurtled themselves at her that one day in her RADAR picket station. She didn’t sink, and her crew saved her to fight all the way into the Cold War. She is now a museum ship at Patriot’s Point in Charleston, SC, alongside USS YORKTOWN (CV-10).

In addition to the Japanese suicide program, the show covered Sturmstaffel 1 of the Luftwaffe, which took volunteer pilots that trained to ram Allied bombers. The plan was to bail out and come back and fly more missions, if you could…but not to intentionally kill yourself on the first mission.

Anyhow, tune in for more detailed interviews and computer animations of the most incredible aerial battles documented!