TV Party for Tuesday, August 9th

It’s the 60^th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, an act which helped end World War Two, start the cold-war nuclear arms race, and possibly spawned Godzilla. And to celebrate this inauspicious day KCTS is focusing their broadcasts tonight on…World War I.

First up at 8 is Nova: Who Killed the Red Baron? On April 21, 1918, Germany's most feared fighter ace, Manfred von Richthofen (known as the 'Red Baron') took off on patrol over the Somme valley with his notorious red-painted Flying Circus. What happened next has divided historians and air buffs for decades. Nova presents newly discovered documents that overturn the conventional theory of von Richthofen's demise. In accounting for the Baron's singular success, NOVA also explores the origins of the first fighter planes and the evolution of aerial tactics. You’ll have to watch the show to see if Snoopy plays any role in it.

At 9 it’s time for “1914: The War Revolution.” World War I was the war that, famously, would be 'over by Christmas.' Instead, Allied and German troops fought across hundreds of miles of trenches for three long years. The bloody stalemate was routinely blamed on unimaginative generals. How did the opposing forces survive, and what did a French candymaker, an American cowboy and an American fairground-ride designer have to do with it? 1914: THE WAR REVOLUTION reveals how a wave of inventions changed the face of warfare forever.

At 10 switch over to the History Channel for “Man, Moment, Machine.” Tonight’s episode, The Great Sub Rescue, is especially timely given the events in Russia last week. It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death.

That’s your TV Party for Tuesday, August 9th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken