Smithsonian HD Network

Rare archive footage charts the German Army in 1940 as it unleashes a new Blitzkrieg tactic.

Cameras roll as Nazi Germany launches an all-out assault on the Soviet Union.

Footage of life and death on the battlefield of El Alamein and behind the lines in the African desert.

The story of the greatest tank battle the world has ever seen.

After touching down, a Taiwanese commuter plane is rocked by a massive explosion, but investigators find no evidence of a bomb on board.

A design fault leads to an explosion on a DC-10 and two years later the same design fault causes another tragedy.

A freight train carrying an excess of cargo loses its brakes while descending a mountain causing it to gain speed and derail into a neighborhood killing several people.

The dashcam of a passing car captures stunning footage of the final moments of a Taiwanese commuter aircraft as it banks steeply, clips an elevated highway and nosedives into the river; investigators find no signs of pre-impact malfunction.

A Boeing 737 is rocked by a midair explosion that challenges its pilots and nearly ejects a passenger out of a blown-out window.

A large cargo jet slices into an apartment complex in Amsterdam and reveals a potentially lethal problem threatening every 747 in the sky.

Investigators try to solve the mystery of a plane whose captain and co-pilot are missing.

Trans-Air Service Flight 671 suffers an in-flight separation of its two right engines while en route to Kano, Nigeria, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Istres-Le Tubé Air Base in France.

When a DC-8 cargo jet crashes on approach to a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo, investigators wonder if Cuba played a role.

Facing a cascade of failures and a fire on board, a turboprop is just seconds from landing when it flips over and crashes.

The investigation into the 2014 crash of a TransAsia flight uncovers a systemic problem with the airline.

Three planes fatally out of balance force investigators to question every calculation; it's a flight risk that's entirely preventable, and yet repeated disasters reconfirm the need for critical backup systems.

The crash of a commuter flight to Detroit leads investigators to a cause the industry has known about for years.

On the 24th of February 1989, part of the right-side fuselage of United Airlines Flight 811 rips off, ejecting nine people from the aircraft and causing explosive decompression; the flight later lands safely at Honolulu without any more loss of life.

While landing at a notoriously tricky Alaskan island airport, the pilots of a twin turboprop can't stop their plane.

Atlantic Airways Flight 670 careened off the runway and became engulfed in flames.

While landing at a notoriously tricky Alaskan island airport, the pilots of a twin turboprop can't stop their plane.

On the 24th of February 1989, part of the right-side fuselage of United Airlines Flight 811 rips off, ejecting nine people from the aircraft and causing explosive decompression; the flight later lands safely at Honolulu without any more loss of life.

While landing at a notoriously tricky Alaskan island airport, the pilots of a twin turboprop can't stop their plane.