Plot Synopsis

The military uses helicopters to scout enemy terrain, deploy soldiers into battle, fight off approaching foes and save lives. This series examines what made each chopper ideal for its mission and what made it vulnerable, through battle re-enactments and interviews with the heroic pilots who flew into the face of danger. The four episodes in this series are: "Vietnam Firefight," in which pilot Tom Baca and his team used a Bell UH-1 helicopter to rescue 100 soldiers who were ambushed; "White Out," where a single Humphrey must save 16 men in a driving snow during the Falklands War in 1982; "The Taliban Gambit," during which US Air Force reservists flew The Pave Hawk to save a four-man Navy SEAL team high in the Eastern Afghan mountains; and "Duel in the Desert," when a helicopter in the British Royal Air Force does battle with a heavily concealed Iraqi armored tank. HELICOPTER MISSIONS premiered on Veteran's Day 2010, and Smithsonian Channel aired one episode on each of four consecutive nights.