The Flying Tigers: American fighter pilots who fought for China in WWII

Hear the story of the daring Doolittle Raid, America’s first strike back at Japan

This podcast recounts the 1942 Doolittle Raid, when US airmen launched a risky bombing mission over Japan just months after Pearl Harbor. The episode also highlights Jimmy Doolittle’s leadership, piloting skills, and his lifelong impact on aviation.

Japan had the world's best carrier aviation in 1941

In late 1941, Japan possessed the world’s most powerful carrier fleet and the best-trained naval aviators, giving it a short-term edge over the US. But Japan couldn’t replace ships or pilots quickly, and US industry would soon outbuild it.

Learn how Japan used the jet stream to launch attacks on US soil during World War II

In the final two years of the war, over 9,000 Fu-Go balloon bombs were launched from Japan, with about a thousand estimated to have reached North America. Six civilians killed by a Fu-Go bomb in Bly, Oregon, on May 5, 1945, became the only known deaths on American soil by enemy action during the war.

Eleanor Roosevelt's 1941 flight with a Black pilot helped legitimize the Tuskegee Airmen program

During a 1941 visit to the Tuskegee Institute, Roosevelt ignored protests from her Secret Service detail and flew for an hour over Alabama with chief instructor Charles Alfred Anderson. Photos of the flight were shared nationwide and helped advance the case for Black pilots in combat.

The history of the Chinese civil war from 1945-49

Today's tensions were formed after the Chinese Communist Party defeated the Kuomintang shortly after World War II. Here's a thorough explainer on what happened.

What happened to Americans who were in Japan during Pearl Harbor?

When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in December 1941, roughly 10,000 American civilians were stranded in Japanese-occupied territory. Tense diplomatic negotiations eventually secured two prisoner exchanges conducted via ship across 20,000 nautical miles to return nearly 3,000 Allied civilians, while Japanese Americans in North and South America were sent in the opposite direction, many to a country they had never called home.

The Night Witches

During World War II, one of the most effective Soviet bombing units flew wooden crop dusters that maxed out at 94 mph. They had no radios, no radar, and no parachutes. And the pilots? Young Soviet women, mostly in their teens and early twenties. The Germans called them Nachthexen—Night Witches. Shooting one down earned a Nazi soldier an Iron Cross, one of the highest military honors. However, for decades, most of the world forgot they existed. In this video, we trace how the Night Witches became one of the most feared units of WWII—and why their story nearly disappeared from history.

The Harlem Hellfighters, WWI's longest-serving US regiment

The nickname was given to the 369th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black fighting force of Americans attached to the French Army during World War I. The group fought for 191 days, longer than any other regiment in the United States Army, and lost more men (1,500) than any other.

A book series aimed at World War II soldiers helped popularize works like 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Of Mice and Men.'

The usual rules of fate do not apply': Race car driver-turned-ace WWI fighter pilot survives being lost at sea

Eddie Rickenbacker had an amazing career as a World War I hero, fighter pilot, and race care driver, among other accomplishments. This restored footage of an short 12-minute documentary about his early life, war stories, and survival at sea for 24 days provides amazing insight on a truly American character.

One US Marine fighter squadron made their own ice cream during World War II

To boost his squad’s morale during World War II, squadron commander J. Hunter Reinburg developed a method for making ice cream on the fly: Empty ammo cans filled with ingredients were flown at altitudes high enough for them to freeze.

How the US entered WWI in 1917

Originally taking a position of neutrality during the course of World War I, the United States of America eventually relented. Entering the war in 1917, support for the British and French had risen and Americans were incensed by Germany's overtures to Mexico and U-boat attacks that sank ships and ended American lives. See how and why the US entered WWI in this article.

Meet Icarus the Second, the first English pig to fly

"When pigs fly" is an ironic phrase meant to express disbelief or impossibility, though it isn't as true today as it may once have been. This article details how a piglet dubbed "Icarus the Second" took flight in November 1909. Stashed in a basket...

In the 1930s, three Australian soldiers were sent to fight emus with machine guns—and lost

As part of a post-WWI initiative to turn veterans into farmers, soldiers were given plots of land. After emus were found damaging the farmland, three men were sent to handle the flightless birds. These men ended up losing to the second-largest bird species in the world and potentially exacerbating crop losses by sending swaths of the birds running and trampling over wheat.

Yellow fever sidelined more US troops than enemy fire during the Spanish-American War

The disease, transmitted by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, sickened more than 2,000 soldiers. Fewer than 400 American soldiers died in the 1898 war.

The ‘Bullshit Bombers’ of the Vietnam War and their mountain ghost

Armed with marketing insight and leaflets, these US soldiers tried to use propaganda to get the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese military to abandon their weapons and leave the war. But what’s more effective than a leaflet’s promise of a decent cup of coffee amid bombing? Ghostly threats from the great beyond. Learn more about weaponized superstition in this 42-minute podcast episode.

The US never formally declared war in Vietnam

Instead of formally declaring war, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, granting President Johnson broad authority to use military force. The resolution became the legal basis for escalating US involvement without an official declaration of war.

Pterosaurs were dinosaur cousins that ruled the skies

Giant flying lizards or massive leathery birds? Pterosaurs were neither. What they were were the first vertebrates to fly through the skies. This National Geographic video discusses the anatomical features that made their flight possible, how big these awesome creatures could get, and which species was named after a legendary vampire.

The Berlin Airlift was the largest in history and a major Cold War victory for the US

In 1948, the USSR blockaded West Berlin to pressure America and its allies. In response, the US and its partners launched the largest airlift in history—delivering supplies daily for nearly a year until Stalin backed down.

Guerilla warfare was a significant part of the success of the Americans

Francis Marion, also known as the Swamp Fox, was a Patriot general who used guerrilla warfare tactics in the Carolinas during the Revolutionary War’s southern campaigns. Also called “maneuver warfare,” the approach focuses on disorienting the enemy and exploiting their weaknesses while avoiding their strengths.

How Taiwan residents view China and the US

There is widespread support in Taiwan for increased economic and political ties with the US, compared to China. This deep dive of data from the Pew Research Center breaks down how various segments of Taiwan's population perceive the US and China individually and among other Asia-Pacific countries.

The Wrights were inspired by a toy helicopter as kids

The pair tinkered with toys and dreamed of building a flying machine at a young age. Founders Podcast host David Senra read David McCullough’s 2015 book on the duo and distilled key insights for leaders to take from their work and lives, focusing on their relentless resourcefulness.

Wojtek the bear fought for Poland in World War II

Wojtek was a Syrian brown bear who eventually became a mascot, symbol, and eventually a soldier attached to the Polish II Corps during World War II. Learn about the amazing Wojtek, the Polish II Corps, and the incredible history of the Polish soldiers, many of whom had been imprisoned by the Germans or Soviets, who served during World War II.

How a Nazi leader became known as the 'living Buddha' of Nanjing

Nazi party leader John Rabe helped Chinese civilians and soldiers survive Japan’s World War II invasion, earning the title living Buddha of Nanjing, previously anglicized as Nanking. Read more about his efforts in this article.

Twain's ‘To the Person Sitting in the Darkness’ satirized American imperialism

The 1901 essay was a response to the Philippine-American War as well as Rudyard Kipling’s poem, “The White Man’s Burden,” which argued that Western nations had a moral duty to rescue non-Western nations from ignorance. Twain’s essay ironically encouraged lecturing citizens of the countries being invaded: “for the sake of the Business we must persuade him to look at the Philippine matter in another and healthier way. We must arrange his opinions for him.”

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

The identity of the Tank Man in the iconic photo from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests remains unknown and was possibly killed.

The name 'Silicon Valley' arose from the founding of Shockley Semiconductor Laboratory in Fairchild Semiconductor in 1956-57, founded near Stanford University in Palo Alto

In 1915, workers recovered a submarine-like vessel from the Chicago River, prompting fears of German espionage

'Shogun,' a 1980s TV series, helped popularize sushi in the US by stimulating an American interest in Japanese culture.

Explore an interactive map of battles from the American Revolution, along with detailed summaries of each engagement

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

Brandi Chastain, the star of the 1999 US victory over China in the 1999 Women's World Cup, was a last-second choice to take the penalty kick that sealed the victory.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The Beatles' US label rejected the band's first two singles, 'Please Please Me' and 'From Me to You,' with one executive calling the band 'dead in the water.'

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

In 2018, 26-year-old missionary John Allen Chau was killed by tribesmen after attempting to reach and evangelize on India's isolated North Sentinel Island

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

How Amazon operates a 'flywheel' business model, a self-reinforcing cycle that drives continuous growth