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Ancient Discoveries : Airborne Assault Airs on Sunday November 08 07:00 PM

Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it with startling new insights and success. Ancient bouncing bombs that actually skipped across water--the forerunners of the famous Dam Buster projectiles--terrorized shipping in Turkey in 1453. Learn the secrets of ancient China's whistling arrows--used by commanders to direct the flow of a battle. Investigate the world's earliest rocket-powered explosive missile from the ancient battlefields of China. Finally, in one of the most dramatic tests ever conducted, we'll build the earliest known successful parachute and drops a skydiver from 6,000 feet.

Ancient Discoveries : Guns n' Ammo Airs on Thursday November 12 10:00 PM

Some of the strangest and deadliest weapons ever built were prototypes of the modern gun. Find out whether a simple bamboo tube could have been the world's first gun. Hidden in an ancient manuscript lays a secret recipe for ancient tracer fire, but does it really work? How far and how high could the mega-mortar "Roaring Meg" have fired its shots to take out a Royalist stronghold? Can a team of experts discover the truth behind the bizarre battlefield phenomena of "wind of the cannonball," when men were seen to drop dead without apparently having been touched by a shot? And did a nine-barreled medieval volleygun mark the birth of the modern machine gun?

Ancient Discoveries : Guns n' Ammo Airs on Friday November 13 02:00 AM

Some of the strangest and deadliest weapons ever built were prototypes of the modern gun. Find out whether a simple bamboo tube could have been the world's first gun. Hidden in an ancient manuscript lays a secret recipe for ancient tracer fire, but does it really work? How far and how high could the mega-mortar "Roaring Meg" have fired its shots to take out a Royalist stronghold? Can a team of experts discover the truth behind the bizarre battlefield phenomena of "wind of the cannonball," when men were seen to drop dead without apparently having been touched by a shot? And did a nine-barreled medieval volleygun mark the birth of the modern machine gun?

Ancient Discoveries : Airborne Assault Airs on Friday November 13 08:00 PM

Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it with startling new insights and success. Ancient bouncing bombs that actually skipped across water--the forerunners of the famous Dam Buster projectiles--terrorized shipping in Turkey in 1453. Learn the secrets of ancient China's whistling arrows--used by commanders to direct the flow of a battle. Investigate the world's earliest rocket-powered explosive missile from the ancient battlefields of China. Finally, in one of the most dramatic tests ever conducted, we'll build the earliest known successful parachute and drops a skydiver from 6,000 feet.

Ancient Discoveries : Airborne Assault Airs on Saturday November 14 12:00 AM

Assault from the air didn't begin with the era of the airplane. Take a look back at early methods of airborne attack. The kite bomb was a medieval siege weapon that dropped bombs from a kite over cities. We'll build one and test it with startling new insights and success. Ancient bouncing bombs that actually skipped across water--the forerunners of the famous Dam Buster projectiles--terrorized shipping in Turkey in 1453. Learn the secrets of ancient China's whistling arrows--used by commanders to direct the flow of a battle. Investigate the world's earliest rocket-powered explosive missile from the ancient battlefields of China. Finally, in one of the most dramatic tests ever conducted, we'll build the earliest known successful parachute and drops a skydiver from 6,000 feet.